The pendulum swings

Basti looking annoyed, waiting for food

About 3 weeks ago, the vet came by for the yearly shots of all 3 cats. We discussed the medication of Basti and when we told her that she got her Prednisone only once every 10 days, she said: Well, then it's almost a placebo at this point'. I don't quite get how a real medicine can become a placebo but I figured that she meant that there was no use in giving it to Basti anymore. As I know how nasty this medicine can be, I decided to simply stop giving it to her. And that was no problem. 

At this point, you would think that that was the end of the story but something strange happened: after we stopped giving her Pred, she didn't start eating less, the started eating more. For the last consecutive days, she does what I've described in my last blog: where it would usually take her 6 to 8 hours to go through the first 20 grams of kibble for the day, she currently finishes in two and then start the staring contest in front of her food bowl. I upped her intake from 45 to 50 grams for a few days and than figured that if I kept giving in, she'd soon weigh more than the almost 4 kg she weighs now. And that was unacceptable. So no more than 45 grams for my black girl.

I should have known however, that Basti figured out a way to circumvent the problem; mice. For the last few days, she's been bringing her pray inside the house and eating it underneath a piece of furniture. Besides the fact that my red cookie monster is absolutely ticked off that she won't hand Mr. Mouse over to him like she used to, she actually totally finishes said Mr. Mouse. Now I have an entirely new problem on my hands; she's getting constipated, throwing up grass from trying to fix the constipation and I'm afraid that combining kibble with raw food is causing Basti's stomach to get upset again.

I might be time to change food again...she wasn't interested in raw food before but if she keeps up eating mice on a daily basis, I may have to get her off the kibble entirely; I don't think that letting her combine kibble with mice is doing her tummy any good. 

I beg your pardon?

Unlike Blinky, my monster of a red cat who was taught by his previous owner that begging was a perfectly acceptable way to get extra food, my two ladies have not been raised that way perse.

Basti 'begging'..

Yes, they do beg in their own cute way but it's never over the top and in your face. Nike will start making noise around 9 AM to get her treats (any other time I'll give her treats and she'll be suspicious of my motives..we might be going to the vet for all she knows) and Basti has her own weird way of begging which looks more like a staring contest.

Sometimes, in the morning, Basti will be going through her food like there is no tomorrow...and by 9 or 10 AM, the first round of food will be gone. I usually won't give her anything more until around 4 PM but she's not apposed to giving it a try. We'll then have a staring contest which I usually lose because I feel sorry for her. Sometimes I try to trick into giving more healthier options that her dry food but she's usually not that interested...

I still think that even though I haven't raised my two girls to beg, they have still  managed to come up with their own way to squeeze food out of me...but it's more like the Lady than like the Tramp.