AnimalCare

Indy and Cleo are not easy when it comes to feeding. But between the two, Indy poses the greater challenge.

Besides his finicky nature, Indy also has a vomiting problem. Sometimes, he would vomit his entire breakfast out, then demands to be given baby food as compensation. I figured this probably has something to do with his stomach being empty for the whole night and there is some gastric disturbance in the morning.

Ginger and Cow also have this problem, but it’s definitely not as often as Indy’s.

When it comes to feeding Indy, he treats me like a total slave. Sometimes, he is really hungry, but you’ll have to get the food “right” according to what he wants. “Right” can range from adding the correct treats, the correct dry food or even raising the height of the bowl to his preferred height (for that meal).

If you don’t get it right, he walks away and goes on a hunger strike. And you cannot let him wait it out until the next meal, he will make so much noise after that until your ears pop.

So, I have to be a slave and learn to “read” what Indy wants. This is to spare my ears from popping after that!

Once you get it right, he will start eating and can even eat two helpings, which clearly means that he IS hungry but just wants to be demanding and difficult.

Sometimes, Indy will refuse to eat his raw food until I add ONE pellet (yes, just one pellet of kibble) on top. Then, he can eat two or even three helpings of raw food and finally leave that one pellet behind. Go figure, right? What was the pellet for, I don’t know.

Cleo has this attitude of being finicky as well, but it’s to a much lesser degree. She is totally okay with skipping a meal every now and then. Whenever I feel that she can eat, I will continue giving her food until she has had enough, because you can never be sure if she would eat in the next meal. If she skips a meal, at least she doesn’t complain like Indy after that.

Cleo thinks she is still living in the wild – when hungry, eat as much as you can, you don’t know when your next meal is coming, I’m living in the jungle. But what jungle? Cleo was born in a wardrobe and has been served three square meals daily for the last fourteen years!

Maybe it’s more fashionable to live as a wild cat?

The easiest to feed would be Cow and Bunny. Ginger and Tabs are okay too.

To be able to eat is indeed a blessing, so we will continue being cat slaves…as long as they eat!

My husband just returned from work and told me that Pole was actually active this morning, at dawn, when he went off to work.

He came downstairs and found Pole sitting upright waiting for him at the foot of the stairs. She looked unusually alert too.

Then, Pole followed him into the kitchen and circled round the kitchen. He said it appeared as though Pole wanted food.

So, Pole was “active” this morning.

Just now, Pole came into the kitchen too and she even came to accompany me while I was doing work. She was asking for something, but I did not know what it was, so I just patted her and praised her.

This is all quite unusual as she had been down for the past few days.

I can only hope that this means we are doing something right. By “something right”, I mean something that makes her a little bit more comfortable, a little bit happier, hopefully or something that makes her feel a little bit better.

Being able to sleep is so good.