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The joy of food...

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 10:41 am
by fjm
Me: Tilly, you are losing weight, and the vet says this is Not Good. Have some of your favourite food.
Tilly: Not hungry. Don't want it.
Me: What would you like, then?
Tilly: Chunks of raw beef and chicken and liver and...
Me, after shopping: Here you are!
Tilly: YUM, Yum, ummm - had enough.

Next day
Tilly: Don't like chicken, where's the beef?

And the next day
Tilly: Yuck, beef - where's the chicken?

And the next
Tilly: EWWWW - it's all raw! Why can't you cook it?

And the next
Tilly: OOOOOOHHH! Lick-e-lix!!

Chorus from Pippin and both dogs: It's not FAIR!

Tilly likes to eat at night, so I carefully prepare a tempting bowlful and leave it on ice in the middle of the dining table, first moving all the chairs so Pippin and the dogs can't get at it. Delighted to find the bowl licked clean in the morning - then notice Pippin investigating to see if it has been refilled. He had jumped from the coffee table - that Seraquin is definitely working.

Move more furniture. Investigate local shops for small packs of cat food. Lace a portion of Tilly's highly nutritious, carefully low phosphorus cooked food with a squeeze of Gourmet something or other, and put another dab on top. Bowl is quickly emptied. Now we are motoring! A few hours later persuade her into the carrier and take her to be weighed. On the way she is travel sick and throws it all up. Even so her weight is up by a few ounces, and she demands more food when we get home.

The fridge, freezer and cupboards are full of small portions of cat food, all the sitting room furniture has been uncomfortably rearranged to leave the dining table isolated in the middle of the floor, the other animals are utterly disgruntled at not being the ones to be offered 6 small delicious meals a day, and Tilly? Tilly has gone hunting!

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:27 pm
by alanc
Reminds me of the weeks spent trying to get a few ounces onto an elderly cat and then seeing it all disappear seemingly overnight. (PS I'm not letting my Tilly see this thread - she has quite enough ideas of her own regarding the standard of food that should be supplied.)

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:20 pm
by fjm
It is not easy - she likes to eat a mouse-equivalent portion every few hours, but also likes it to be the right food, absolutely fresh and at exactly the right moment. The blackbirds have been raiding the outside bowl, and there are few places indoors safe from the dogs. The frozen bowl seems to be working, fortunately, and she is deigning to eat on the table (probably counts it as stealing human food). I would like to get her weight back up as a cushion against the future - in her prime 2 or 3 years ago she was around 3.9 kilos; she was 3.5 kilos when diagnosed with CKD a few months back, and had since dropped down to 3.35. My aim is 3.75 - we shall see!

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:07 pm
by Lilith
Lol! That is so very typical!

Think of everything, devise an apparently catproof arrangement, and they will undermine it.

All the best nevertheless - she is a very lucky Tilly to be so pampered :)

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:37 pm
by Catotum
Chip operated cat bowl no good? I solved my cat food thief antics by buying those. Very easy to use & very efficient. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2xEmMmYfBs


I sympathise with the ever-changing desires. I'm fostering a 16y old with a thyroid problem & she likes different foods every day. Or twice a day. Ummm, 3x? I keep telling myself I wouldn't want to eat the same thing all the time but .. :?

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 6:32 am
by fjm
I have considered a chip operated bowl, but I don't think they work to keep out extra noses that join in while they are still open - my animals are all prone to barge in rather than take turns if I am not there to supervise. I suspect the tiny noise of one opening would have the others running to try to join in, so I would still have to find a spot only Tilly can get to, as if Pippin can scramble up to her food he then jumps down and hurts his arthritic shoulder. Fortunately Tilly is still very athletic and can easily reach the parts other animals cannot! When I took her in for weighing the vet nurse was astonished to hear she is 16 - she said she looks very fit and healthy, even if she does need to gain a little weight.

She has just persuaded Poppy-dog to budge over and make room on my lap - we will have a cuddle and then see what Madam fancies for breakfast!

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:30 am
by Mollycat
I invested in two chip feeders when my two were on different diets and one would just hoover up everything, then a dog came along as well. Best £200 I ever spent. They are very well designed to keep out other noses while they are in there, they keep the food fresh, and you can set how long they stay open after they are left. Pretty much burglar proof. One of mine is now spare, sadly.

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:47 am
by fjm
Which make are they, Mollycat?

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 6:16 pm
by Mollycat
fjm wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:47 am Which make are they, Mollycat?
Surefeed, by Sureflap. The video looks like a sales pitch, which it is, but it's all accurate. They haven't come down much in price so still not much change from £100 a piece but last well, the batteries last well too, and worth it in my book.

The only flaw is that they are identical once you remove the mat and bowl for cleaning, so if you have more than one it's a good idea to write on the thing itself which is whose. Mine always went to their own and if I got them the wrong way round both would go hungry!!!

Re: The joy of food...

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:19 am
by Catotum
Yes, those are the ones I use. If a different cat approaches, the "right" cat tends to withdraw & so the lid closes. It is possible for a really sneaky cat to stand behind the bowl & attempt to hook out pieces of food but that's about it. And yes, they do rush to the sound of the opening feeder - at first. However, they soon learn it is a wasted effort.