Confessions

[Mollycat]

Just for fun - who wants to admit to some naughty indulgences and bad discipline habits?

Molly has titbits at the table though there is an improvement since we don't live alone any more in that she perches on the windowsill behind me now and doesn't sit ON the table with me any more. Usually it's meat though she loves mashed potato and yesterday she had a tiny amount of gammon which is a very rare treat partly because I don't eat it very often and it's too salty for cats.

But her naughty indulgence is dairy foods. She absolutely loves cheese, yoghurt, milk and ice cream and I give her little dabs on my finger. I know, cats don't need dairy and many can't tolerate it, but she can. For anyone who remembers that I struggled for 10 months with her loose stools, we did test dairy properly and found it made absolutely no difference whatsoever and she has now been clear for 3 months.

Oh and another thing to add, she is indoor and sometimes I'm a bad kitty-mommy and don't grow her cat grass quick enough, so she greets me at the door with raised paw and a searching look and I have to go back down 2 flights of stairs to pick some grass for her. She has me well trained.

Please no lectures, this is supposed to be a fun thread.

[fjm]

I have cut back on "unhealthy" treats all round - Poppy, my toy poodle, has been very ill with acute liver failure, and I have become scrupulous about diet to avoid anything that might make things worse (she is stable at the moment, but too soon to know the long term prognosis). But the result is that we are going through an awful lot of "healthy" chicken breast - Poppy gets her many tablets wrapped in a small piece, with a couple more bits to make it a fun treat session, and of course I can't give one chicken and not the others. So now "Medicine time" has all four animals (two dogs, two cats) lined up in the kitchen, eagerly awaiting the rain of chicken chunks. I have set alarms but don't really need them - I get plenty of reminders when it is nearly time without needing to rely on technology!

[booktigger]

Lucy has really bad food aggression that is eased by letting her have tidbits, she draws blood if she thinks shes going to miss out. She's been off this week so I have been strict but absentmindedly put down a plate with some leftover carrot and parsnip mash and garlic mushrooms, she enjoyed them! Chinese is her favourite, I rarely eat it now. I do wonder what she would have been like if they'd homed her with a meat eater! The thing she's fussy with is cat food

[Mollycat]

Lucy has really bad food aggression that is eased by letting her have tidbits, she draws blood if she thinks shes going to miss out. She's been off this week so I have been strict but absentmindedly put down a plate with some leftover carrot and parsnip mash and garlic mushrooms, she enjoyed them! Chinese is her favourite, I rarely eat it now. I do wonder what she would have been like if they'd homed her with a meat eater! The thing she's fussy with is cat food

Wow we had a cat when I was a child who ate the beetroot from an unattended plate and left the cooked liver! I'm with you on developing bad habits for good causes though. Molly sitting on the table with me was one of the first ways she could begin to get comfortable with being near me. She was so fearful it was more important to develop a bond than to worry about an antisocial habit.

Fjm - sorry to hear about Poppy's troubles, hope you still have plenty of good quality time together. I wasn't going to mention our dog who has enjoyed a daily cup of coffee and a few chocolate buttons his whole life, sleeps on the bed and has to pad mud around the whole house, carpet bed and sofa, before I can get him into the shower and rinse off! He's a digger and we don't have a garden so the local woods look at if badgers are moving in.

[Ruth B]

I will admit to the 'rough tongue cycle' being common when it comes to cleaning the dinner plates. Chinese is popular, I think the cats like the saltyness of it, and a chickeny, cheesy pasta sauce is always a favourite, if I'm really feeling generous and they haven't tried to help themselves they might even get a few bits of chicken left for them.

We also make hot chocolate using cocoa powder, water and cream rather than the the ready mixed varieties you can buy as they all send my blood sugar sky high. Saturn very quickly learnt the sound of a cream pot being opened and now insists on licking the spoon clean, Tiggy has learnt from him so often there is an extra spoon being used so they both get a bit to lick off.

As for ones from the past, Sam still takes some beating, he was willing to try anything on offer, he would happily munch his way down cauliflower, carrots, beans or roast potato, suck up lengths of spaghetti bolognese, and even licked the chille con carne plate clean, but he did then make a dash for the water bowl afterwards.