critter treats
I'm sure it says something about me that I have candy dishes in almost every room, and that all of them have dog treats in them. Recently I had to add a container of cat treats, because, well...Artemis.
Every day Artemis (aka The Ckatten) comes into my office and demands treats. If I do not provide such, she proceeds to bite my computer cords and rip all the things down off my walls. I'm sure this is a teachable moment, but I don't honestly feel like teaching before I've had my coffee. The only lesson I'm able to provide before coffee is something along the lines of OMGSTOPPITORDIE.
So I added the container of cat treats, and now she comes in and demands treats, and the dogs hear the first crunch and they come in and want treats, and what the hell. We have bed time treats (mine is a sugar-free lifesaver) and we have breakfast treats (mine is coffee).
But so many treats are not so great, so I have substituted dog treats for other brands of food, which they think are treats because it's not what is in their bowl. They have "high value" treats also, but those are mostly kept in the fridge.
When we went to Woofstock this year we received several free samples of those veterinary office type brands, and Cobie and Kelly love those. I'm thinking those foods are too expensive for food, but not too expensive for treats.
I'm debating doing the same with Artemis's treats, buying a small package of something-or-other, but the thing is with cats, they might not eat them. Case in point, Oliver, whose absence from this discussion you may have noticed. That would be because he does not eat any pet treats, not ever. He only recently developed a taste for an occasional table scrap and a morning teaspoonful of milk, the latter of which I serve in special dishes on the kitchen table while the rest of us go on to have treats and coffee in the office.
Oliver also likes my brothers homegrown Wildcat Weed, although I suppose that's a different topic.
Anyway, that's today's big news. Debating how to fill Artemis The Ckatten's need for treats. She wants a lot, in fact tries to shove her entire head in the treat jar and hoover them up, so actual food might be better. (She also likes the vet-brand kibble from Woofstock, but cats shouldn't have dog food because it's too high in protein, which--if I remember correctly--can have an adverse effect on their urinary tracts.
So. When we go to pick up the flea-n-heartworm stuff, I'll be pricing ridiculously expensive pet chow, and feeling guilty because there are starving people in the world. Animals too, for that matter. And when those people on the animal forums are being all, "If you can't afford to feed your animals well, you shouldn't have them," I want to be all, "I'm not convinced animals are better off dead than eating Purina or Pedigree..."
But anyway. I was trying to keep this matter of fact, and not visit my current wallow in angst and bleak.