Cat Psychology 101
Ever since odogoddess and I brought Percy home from her mom's house to live with us, I've been learning fascinating things about the workings of the feline mind. For example - everything is a cat toy. Things which the cat does not play with are only cat toys that have either become boring, or which have not yet been discovered by the cat. Simple things like that are fairly easy for the lesser-evolved human brain to grasp. It's the higher workings of the feline psyche that really fascinate me...
When Percy first settled in to his new home, we went out and bought him a food and water dispenser set - the food dispenser would hold about 5lbs of kibble, if filled all the way, and the water dispenser probably holds a gallon or so. We figured it'd make things convenient, especially if we had to leave him for a day or two, now and again. The water dispenser he didn't like much; I think it got stale-tasting too quick, so we switched to a plain water bowl, and he also drinks out of any tap that happens to have a slight drip.
The food dispenser, on the other hand, worked out great - Percy's a nibbler, and always having food available for a quick crunchy or two when he walks by is convenient for him and for us. If his Mama and I (loyal catslave that I try to be) failed to notice when all the food in the reservoir had gone down, and there was only a bowlful left, His Feline Majesty lost no time in pointing out to us that we'd fallen down on the job, to his extreme displeasure.
"Mmmmehhhhh!!! Yowrl! Mr'yowww!!! Meeeee!"
"There is NO FOOD! There is only a cupful of already-cracked kibble crumbs! I STARVE!!! Fill the feeder, worthless slave! Now!" (Rough translation, based on context.)
And of course we would hop to it and fill the feeder, he would strop and head-butt in royal appreciation, and order would be restored to the universe. Percy is a slender cat - he only weighs about 9lbs, and he could probably stand to put on weight, but despite having a continual supply of food and whatever treats he can cadge out of us, he stays fairly slim. However...
We had a bit of a problem with ants and a few determined spiders last month, so we decided to bug-bomb the house. Since odogoddess has trouble with most of the sprays, we needed to stay out for a couple of days and really let the house air out before it would be livable again. We figured we'd get a hotel room for a couple of nights.
Leeta was okay - the weather had been mild and she normally stays outside unless it's cold or rainy, so all we had to do was make sure to come by and pet her, feed her and check her water.
For Percy, we had the options of either boarding him, or taking him with us. We decided it'd be less traumatic to take him along, so we did, and it worked out okay. He was a bit perturbed with us, but seemed to have forgiven us by the time we brought him back home. I washed out his water dish and refilled it, and picked up his feeder. Since it had to be disassembled and washed, I set it aside, washed out one of his "snack" bowls, filled it with kibble and set it down for him.
Sounds simple, right?
I thought everything was fine, but odogoddess told me the next day that Percy'd been throwing up. Hm. He didn't seem to be feeling bad, but he upchucked his food a couple of times, so we figured we'd better keep an eye on him, in case there was some pesticide residue bothering him. His bowl was almost empty, so I refilled it. Still hadn't gotten around to taking the feeder apart and cleaning it, but hey, he didn't seem to mind the snack bowl...
It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed I was having to refill that bowl a lot. As soon as the bottom of the bowl became visible, Percy would start complaining.
"MROWRRR! MEeeehh! Yowwrrrl! Wahhhhh!"
The BOWL is EMPTY! I will STARVE! FEEED MEEEE! (Again, loose translation - they didn't offer Feline at my high school.)
I thought maybe I'd just never noticed how much Percy really ate, since he'd been using the feeder all the time. The bowl was pretty small; maybe I just had to keep filling it because it didn't hold much...but then I realized the sack of cat food - that normally lasts him almost a month - was 3/4 empty already.
%-/
Humans, in comparison to felines, are sadly slow on the uptake. Until I picked him up one day and realized he was heavy, I didn't understand what was going on. I pointed it out to odogoddess and we've been watching in fascination/amusement/annoyance/concern for the past week. Percy's reasoning on this issue apparently goes something like this:
1) Food! I will eat!
2) :nibble, nibble, nibble:
3) OMG! I can see the bottom of the Bowl!
4) Soon, there will be NO FOOD! Woe!
5) I must eat all I can, because of the looming TIME OF NO FOOD!
6) :scarf, scarf, scarf, crunch, crunch, crunch, gobble, gobble gobble:
6a) (optional) I feel a little too full... :BARF!:
6b) (optional) I feel sleepy... :waddle, waddle, waddle: :SNORE!:
7) OMG!!! The BOWL IS EMPTY!!! The TIME OF NO FOOD HAS COME!!!!
8) Mama!!! Catslave!!! Feed me! I'm going to STARVE! There's no FOOD in the BOWL! I'm going to DIE!!!
9) Oh, the glorious sound of kibble being poured into the Bowl!
10) Repeat steps 1-10.
He's on special kibble we have to get from the vet, and by the time we'd figured all this out, the bag was down to a scant handful and the vet had closed. Nevertheless, last night I took his feeder apart, carefully washed, rinsed and dried it, and poured that handful of kibble into it.
He started eating right away, but I noticed he didn't spend too long at the feeder. I heard him crunching kibble a couple times during the night, but there was still kibble in the bowl of the feeder this morning.
I stopped by the vet and got him a fresh sack, so I can fill up the Sacred Dispenser of Food for his Royal Catliness. Hopefully, this will ease his neurosis a bit. If not, he'll probably weigh 20 lbs by the end of the month. *g*
ETA: I really should have noted that J's allergies - which include a very severe one to cat fluids - made it impossible for her to handle the feeder disassembly, cleaning, etc, without gloves, which we didn't have on hand and which I kept forgetting to pick up. Even with gloves, she really shouldn't be breathing in the combination of pesticide, kibble dust, cat spit, soap and bleach that cleaning that thing involved. Sorry, chere!
When Percy first settled in to his new home, we went out and bought him a food and water dispenser set - the food dispenser would hold about 5lbs of kibble, if filled all the way, and the water dispenser probably holds a gallon or so. We figured it'd make things convenient, especially if we had to leave him for a day or two, now and again. The water dispenser he didn't like much; I think it got stale-tasting too quick, so we switched to a plain water bowl, and he also drinks out of any tap that happens to have a slight drip.
The food dispenser, on the other hand, worked out great - Percy's a nibbler, and always having food available for a quick crunchy or two when he walks by is convenient for him and for us. If his Mama and I (loyal catslave that I try to be) failed to notice when all the food in the reservoir had gone down, and there was only a bowlful left, His Feline Majesty lost no time in pointing out to us that we'd fallen down on the job, to his extreme displeasure.
"Mmmmehhhhh!!! Yowrl! Mr'yowww!!! Meeeee!"
"There is NO FOOD! There is only a cupful of already-cracked kibble crumbs! I STARVE!!! Fill the feeder, worthless slave! Now!" (Rough translation, based on context.)
And of course we would hop to it and fill the feeder, he would strop and head-butt in royal appreciation, and order would be restored to the universe. Percy is a slender cat - he only weighs about 9lbs, and he could probably stand to put on weight, but despite having a continual supply of food and whatever treats he can cadge out of us, he stays fairly slim. However...
We had a bit of a problem with ants and a few determined spiders last month, so we decided to bug-bomb the house. Since odogoddess has trouble with most of the sprays, we needed to stay out for a couple of days and really let the house air out before it would be livable again. We figured we'd get a hotel room for a couple of nights.
Leeta was okay - the weather had been mild and she normally stays outside unless it's cold or rainy, so all we had to do was make sure to come by and pet her, feed her and check her water.
For Percy, we had the options of either boarding him, or taking him with us. We decided it'd be less traumatic to take him along, so we did, and it worked out okay. He was a bit perturbed with us, but seemed to have forgiven us by the time we brought him back home. I washed out his water dish and refilled it, and picked up his feeder. Since it had to be disassembled and washed, I set it aside, washed out one of his "snack" bowls, filled it with kibble and set it down for him.
Sounds simple, right?
I thought everything was fine, but odogoddess told me the next day that Percy'd been throwing up. Hm. He didn't seem to be feeling bad, but he upchucked his food a couple of times, so we figured we'd better keep an eye on him, in case there was some pesticide residue bothering him. His bowl was almost empty, so I refilled it. Still hadn't gotten around to taking the feeder apart and cleaning it, but hey, he didn't seem to mind the snack bowl...
It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed I was having to refill that bowl a lot. As soon as the bottom of the bowl became visible, Percy would start complaining.
"MROWRRR! MEeeehh! Yowwrrrl! Wahhhhh!"
The BOWL is EMPTY! I will STARVE! FEEED MEEEE! (Again, loose translation - they didn't offer Feline at my high school.)
I thought maybe I'd just never noticed how much Percy really ate, since he'd been using the feeder all the time. The bowl was pretty small; maybe I just had to keep filling it because it didn't hold much...but then I realized the sack of cat food - that normally lasts him almost a month - was 3/4 empty already.
%-/
Humans, in comparison to felines, are sadly slow on the uptake. Until I picked him up one day and realized he was heavy, I didn't understand what was going on. I pointed it out to odogoddess and we've been watching in fascination/amusement/annoyance/concern for the past week. Percy's reasoning on this issue apparently goes something like this:
1) Food! I will eat!
2) :nibble, nibble, nibble:
3) OMG! I can see the bottom of the Bowl!
4) Soon, there will be NO FOOD! Woe!
5) I must eat all I can, because of the looming TIME OF NO FOOD!
6) :scarf, scarf, scarf, crunch, crunch, crunch, gobble, gobble gobble:
6a) (optional) I feel a little too full... :BARF!:
6b) (optional) I feel sleepy... :waddle, waddle, waddle: :SNORE!:
7) OMG!!! The BOWL IS EMPTY!!! The TIME OF NO FOOD HAS COME!!!!
8) Mama!!! Catslave!!! Feed me! I'm going to STARVE! There's no FOOD in the BOWL! I'm going to DIE!!!
9) Oh, the glorious sound of kibble being poured into the Bowl!
10) Repeat steps 1-10.
He's on special kibble we have to get from the vet, and by the time we'd figured all this out, the bag was down to a scant handful and the vet had closed. Nevertheless, last night I took his feeder apart, carefully washed, rinsed and dried it, and poured that handful of kibble into it.
He started eating right away, but I noticed he didn't spend too long at the feeder. I heard him crunching kibble a couple times during the night, but there was still kibble in the bowl of the feeder this morning.
I stopped by the vet and got him a fresh sack, so I can fill up the Sacred Dispenser of Food for his Royal Catliness. Hopefully, this will ease his neurosis a bit. If not, he'll probably weigh 20 lbs by the end of the month. *g*
ETA: I really should have noted that J's allergies - which include a very severe one to cat fluids - made it impossible for her to handle the feeder disassembly, cleaning, etc, without gloves, which we didn't have on hand and which I kept forgetting to pick up. Even with gloves, she really shouldn't be breathing in the combination of pesticide, kibble dust, cat spit, soap and bleach that cleaning that thing involved. Sorry, chere!