Feeding Fatty, Part 2

In a previous post, I wrote about ways to feed cats in a multi-cat household. Inevitably, it seems one cat always eats more than his/her fair share. We’ve been struggling with this issue for as long as we’ve had more than one cat.

Liv (Left), Wayne (Middle) and Lucian (Right)

Our latest attempt at feeding seems to be working so far. It’s a bit unconventional and requires some handy-man/crafter skills. The basic premise is to create narrow feeding corrals so that the cats are guided into areas where they will ignore the other cats and just eat their own food. This is the prototype using soymilk cartons from Costco lined with contact paper and taped together.

Liv took to it immediately. We had already been feeding her in something similar, so it was familiar. Wayne hates it! He will eat, but only if he’s really hungry. He tends to leave as soon as he’s satiated instead of hoovering up whatever the other’s have left behind. Lucian eats well and is less apt to go smack Liv to get her out-of-the-way so he can finish hers.

Saying Good-bye

The sad truth to sharing your life with anyone is that eventually there will come a time to say good-bye. Last week, two friends of mine dealt with this first-hand when their beloved cats died. Both cats had been sick and the terrible decision of whether or not to euthanize needed to be made. This choice is agonizing even though you don’t want to see your cat suffer, you also aren’t ready to let go. Some people say that you will know when the time is right. I’m not so sure.

Kiggy as a kitten

When Kiggy was ill, it took me by surprise. She was 16 and was slowing down, but she seemed very healthy. At her regular vet checkup earlier that year, she came through with flying colors. I thought we still had years together, so it was a shock when I took her in for a mild cough only to find that her lungs were filled with fluid. We never knew exactly what was wrong. They initially thought cardiomyopathy, but her heart was fine. Most likely it was cancer. After two weeks of care and hoping she’d get better, we opted for euthanasia. She wasn’t eating and her breathing was increasingly labored. It was the right decision, but it was agonizing.