The Household Menagerie
Jul. 9th, 2012 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
As those of you who read
tamidon know, we've taken custody of Brodie,
tikva's wonderful ex-guide-dog. Brodie has bonded strongly with
tamidon, so that part of the change in the household menagerie is going just fine.
The two cats, however, still believe that Brodie is going to eat them. They generally stay on different floors from Brodie, so I've had to feed them on the second floor, next to the washer-dryer. This is awkward, but it's working for now.
Now, turn the calendar back a couple of years, when my old cat Haiku was living with those same two cats. Among other elderly ailments, Haiku was arthritic, and required daily doses of Cosequin. It came in powdered form, and chicken-flavored, and I gave it to him by sprinkling it on his gooshy (canned) food. To keep the younger cats from eating that medicine, I'd shake the cat food out of the can into a cat-food bowl, then set the can on the floor. Both young cats would bump heads vying for the small amount of "gravy" left in the can. I'd powder the cat food, set it down, and Haiku would lick off the Cosequin powder in peace, and even eat some of the food before the other two got around to nosing at it.
This morning, instead of putting the gooshy food directly into the bowl and bringing it upstairs, I brought the can upstairs because the cat food bowl was already there. Both cats joined me next to the washer-dryer as I shook the food from the can into the bowl. I set the bowl down. The cats were having none of it.
"Really?", I asked, which was somewhat foolish, because cats aren't verbal.
I set down the can, and they bumped heads to lick the "gravy" out. Right next to the cat-food bowl full of cat-food. Because, apparently, the can is the best part.
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The two cats, however, still believe that Brodie is going to eat them. They generally stay on different floors from Brodie, so I've had to feed them on the second floor, next to the washer-dryer. This is awkward, but it's working for now.
Now, turn the calendar back a couple of years, when my old cat Haiku was living with those same two cats. Among other elderly ailments, Haiku was arthritic, and required daily doses of Cosequin. It came in powdered form, and chicken-flavored, and I gave it to him by sprinkling it on his gooshy (canned) food. To keep the younger cats from eating that medicine, I'd shake the cat food out of the can into a cat-food bowl, then set the can on the floor. Both young cats would bump heads vying for the small amount of "gravy" left in the can. I'd powder the cat food, set it down, and Haiku would lick off the Cosequin powder in peace, and even eat some of the food before the other two got around to nosing at it.
This morning, instead of putting the gooshy food directly into the bowl and bringing it upstairs, I brought the can upstairs because the cat food bowl was already there. Both cats joined me next to the washer-dryer as I shook the food from the can into the bowl. I set the bowl down. The cats were having none of it.
"Really?", I asked, which was somewhat foolish, because cats aren't verbal.
I set down the can, and they bumped heads to lick the "gravy" out. Right next to the cat-food bowl full of cat-food. Because, apparently, the can is the best part.