Time for the "full story"...
A few of you have asked about what transpired last week that necessitated me to overhaul my internet presence. While I have spoken to a couple of folks over the phone about the matter, I felt it would be much more efficient to put it here for all of my friends to view if they so chose
( Read more... )
One of the things the father tried to throw up at me was some cockamamie story about how I had put my cat (I currently have four) on a vegetarian diet until it nearly starved to death. The gist of this tale was to illustrate A.) That I was some sort of drama queen who was constantly calling his daughter to rant about "frivolous" issues; and B.) Who was I to criticize her questionable childcare decisions since I was CLEARLY incapable of caring for a pet.
So, what was the real story? Last fall, when myself and Mr. Man took in cat #4, I went ahead and had all of the cats get full checkups, including a senior profile test for the oldest, who had turned 10 years old. The cat, Phantom, had gained a bunch of weight since her hysterectomy several years ago. The test came out rather well except for a couple of very minor potential issues which could be easily reversed by diet. I switched to a high-protein all-natural dry food recommended by the vet (the brand name is Wellness). BTW, the food was not vegetarian, it is much higher in meat than most pet foods. In essence, it is varaious meats, some veggies, fruits (cranberry), added nutrients, low magnesium and grain-free. The vet had told us to anticipate some weight loss for all of the cats because of the more efficient nutrition. Additionally, I occasionally supplemented their diet with pumpkin or sweet potato puree (among other treats throughout the week) because it is a good preventative against furballs and constipation. Eventually the cats, except for the kitten, all lost excess weight, but Mr. Man and I thought the oldest lost too much. Not by appearance; it wasn't like Phantom's ribs were sticking out; her back just felt too bony to us. And how did we know this? Because both of us spend a lot of time around the cats.
After a few days' observation, we discovered two things - the younger cats were attempting to bully Phantom in order to usurp her dominance and were pulling some of the antics around the food dispenser, AND that she apparently didn't like the food. We kept the dry food in the dispenser as a steady food supply for everyone else, but switched over to the canned version of the same brand for Phantom, which she adores. Myself andMr. Man had discussed that if she didn't improve, we would take Phantom to the vet again and have her tested. In the meantime, the other cats have taken to eating it as well (we have to use separate platters in order to get the others away from Phantom's portion.) and she gained back a small, healthy portion of the weight back in a short amount of time. Everyone is now doing beautifully.
Now, I mentioned this matter to T in passing during one of our regular conversations. You know, a normal phone call most people have every few days with friends when you catch up and discuss recent everyday business. However, apparently this topic (and many others) was magically transformed into an episode of, "Drama Queen Who Calls Friends Hysterically When They Get a Hangnail". Yepper, that's me - the featherbrain who's undertaking 15 graduate credit hours, stupidly neglecting their cats and calling a 23 year old for personal advice over any trivial matter. Incidentally, dear old dad supported these assertions by my Facebook profile updates (which he "tolerated"). Of course, you must be aware of this, because as one of my Facebook pals, you know that I do nothing but bitch and moan over unimportant issues such as financial fubars, etc.
Seeing such allegations thrown at me was really the last straw, and made me wake up to all of the wackiness that I considered "normal" was just a white trash nightmare - like my former marriage. You're a brilliant girl with a bright future that I dearly miss, learn from my mistakes.
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