Musings February 7 2012 "Fat Cats"

"Fat Cats"

Is there anyone who doesn’t love Garfield? You know, the big orange cat whose motto in life is “All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat's life than that. But I hope not.” Well, I have three cats, and though they may not have Garfield’s attitude two of the three are definitely a mite, well, tubby. Not huge, but certainly overweight. They have never had lasagna, but being indoor cats they do not get a lot of exercise. Plus we have normally free fed all of our cats. The dry cat food and lots of fresh water stay out all the time and are refilled whenever empty. This has worked well for previous cats, but obviously is not the correct process for these ones!  I have often wondered how I could reduce the food intake for one or two cats without starving the other and have never come upon a workable solution, or at least not one that didn’t have me policing each cat so as to ensure no one eats two meals while someone else gets little or nothing. But . . . I now have a plan. After much research on cat foods - protein levels, weight control vs not, etc - and some pondering, I started a new feeding regime. No more food out all the time. There are now three meal times, and only three meal times, and at all other times the food is put away out of the reach of little paws. The dish goes down for a half hour when I get up, a half hour at supper time and another half hour at bedtime. They can eat all they want during those time periods, but when the timer goes, the dish goes!  Wisely, I started this on a workday so that I did not have to listen to the pitiful cries of a starving cat. Smudge has always been VERY vocal when the food dish even begins to approach empty, so a missing food dish definitely warrants complaint. Loud and often! Within a few days, however, even she seems to have adapted and while there are still moments of distress they are dwindling. And not because she is prostate, weak from hunger, but because she has learned it does no good. It has only been a couple of weeks, too soon to tell if it is going to result in any weight reduction. Crossing my fingers.  Meanwhile for all you non-morning people who hate to get up: “I'll rise, but I won't shine.” ~ Garfield.   801

		As our fearless leader, Debbie’s work is never done. After jumping into the publishing business with both feet and no publishing experience she has done the impossible, found a way to work with all of us unique personalities, including her husband, and produce 4 extraordinary magazines. You can hear her infectious laughter throughout the office and after meeting her just once you feel like you have known her forever. When she is not working (which is rarely), Debbie loves to read and garden. In the winter she loves to read about gardening. You can find out anything about Debbie, her husband Mike, two grown daughters and grand-daughter by reading her Musings found on this website and in our publications. Contact Debbie at: Debbie@ossekeag.ca
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