Monday, August 25, 2008

It Was Bound To Happen Sometime...

I've been pretty lucky with the allergies this season.  I think it might be related to the rain.  We've had a lot of it and I believe that it has smooshed down all the pollen.  Normally, I have a bout of the sneezies in the Fall and another in the Spring.  I can almost mark the calendar in advance.

Not so this year, though.  Spring and summer have been gloriously sneeze-free this season!  At least until the last week or so...

I've been a bit on the snuffly side for a while and today the pollen rallied in spectacular fashion.  I awoke aching, sneezing and chilled.  The planned trip into school to do those last few things what need doin' was put off in order that I might be achy, sneezy and chilly at home.

It would have been a great day to cuddle up on the couch and knit, frankly.  Nothing I'm working on is in the OMG This Is So Hard stage.  I could easily perform the knitting magic whilst all NyQuilled up.

But I didn't.  And to those of you who wish to question just how cleaning the bathroom and putting up shelves is any different than going into school and doing the same sort of things, I have all kinds of answers. 

 For example, it is not a forty minute drive to my bathroom.  (I think we can all see how that would be inconvenient, right?)  I can putter around cleaning and shelving the bathroom with lots of rest breaks and no commute.

You can clean and shelve the bathroom while under the influence of cold medications.  You cannot drive forty minutes and make nice with your colleagues while in that condition.

Besides, the only way I could face cleaning the bathroom was with the assistance of narcotic cold remedies.  It's been a while.  I consider the whole allergy thing to be nothing short of Fate's Timely Intervention Before The Summer Vacation Ends.

In addition to the shelving of the bathroom, I continued with another project that's been going on around here for a couple of days.  It's a little something I like to call:  Project Low Karb Kitty.

As I was attempting to pull the Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty off the valences the other day, it became apparent that he is perhaps just a bit more gi-normous than he was back in June.  In fact, he is maybe well on his way to chubby.  

The vet (aka The Cat Whisperer) made a point of telling me to watch his weight carefully.  Marmalades tend to be hearty eaters and end up rather round.  The percentage of the red-heads who develop diabetes is pretty high.  She strongly recommended a carb-free diet.  But he would have none of it.  I went with a low cal dry food and thought myself quite the fine example of motherhood.

Until the cat got fat.  So we've been trying to introduce the meatier types of foods before school starts.  It's been slow going.  The AGK has not shown much enthusiasm, but we've made progress.  Today went very well.  

However, I have to say that his approach to the new food has been interesting, to say the least.  In fact, in all my years of kitty parenthood, I have never once seen a cat consume canned food in this manner.  Dry food, yes.  But the wet stuff?  Never.




He dips.


Then nibbles


Piece by piece, morsel by morsel.  Twenty minutes of this.  Each individual bite was thoroughly consumed and the paw meticulously washed before returning to the bowl.  Sometimes he used the right paw.  Sometimes the left.  Twenty minutes.  I was mesmerized.  Pleased as all get-out to see that he was accepting the change in diet, but mesmerized.  The Big, Fluffy Kitty and I sat there staring like it was the most amazing thing we'd ever witnessed.  Well....she was actually waiting her turn at the bowl and getting more perturbed by the moment.  But I was utterly entranced by this.

Of course that could have been the cold medicine.  Yet I still think I would have been mesmerized even without that...

SA

15 comments:

Mia said...

Dipping? You may have discovered an unknown phenomema! My girl just gobbles. The poor dog never has a chance.

Anonymous said...

Back when we used to feed the kitties tuna, Ralph used to eat his using the dip and nibble method; it is pretty amusing to watch.

I hope you're feeling better real soon (at least by tomorrow evening). :-)

Knitting Linguist said...

Wow. That's a new way of eating wet food. Sort of like fondue, except not so hot.

Feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

I hope you feel better. The pollen is bad here too. I have the telltale headache.
I think AGK has brought a lot of excitement to your life and I thank you for bringing it to us.

Jeanne said...

Oh, he's a funny cat! Any chance of a video of it one day?

You got the summer cold, too? Achoo! May we both feel better soon. (I'm sure mine's a cold. I don't have allergies. I don't think.)

sheep#100 said...

Wow. Hmm, perhaps he read that thing about how if we eat our food more slowly, our tummies recognize when we are full more soonly?

PS - Achoo! It's reached here, too :o(

Anonymous said...

I have had cats that drink water that way, but never one that used the dip method on canned cat food. Of course, I have never fed my cats canned cat food, so that might be a factor.

Allergy season is late arriving here, too. Yay. Although I have found myself sneezing a bit in the past few days...

Donna Lee said...

He is doing exactly what the diet experts all say to do. He is eating slowly and chewing his food and appreciating it before taking the next bite. Look at how smart he is!

And I feel your allergy pain. I managed to stay medication free most of the summer but there has been a veritable explosion of pollen this last week. Sinus, runny nose and leaky eyes. I think it's because we have had a few dry days in a row for a change.

Lorraine said...

Bummer on allergies on the heels of a "noteworthy" headache. Guess my migraines have been misnamed all these years. I like "noteworthy" so much better.

Get better soon!

LOL, btw! What a silly kitty!

Cursing Mama said...

Lots of thoughts; must be the lack of nyquil:

Jack does the same thing sometimes....with water. I wonder if it is a trait of the "tubbier" cat.

--bought Gameboy a Netti Pot last night in an attempt to deal with his allergies in a non-medicinal way. So far he reports that he feels "better" and that doing it feels weird.

--I think I may try nyquil at work tomorrow and see if this place can be more fun..

Anne said...

He dips! Fascinating. Sirius (the GK of this crew) sits down a foot from the water bowl, puts his paw in (yes) and pulls the bowl toward him, THEN drinks from it. I have never seen him walk right up to the bowl for his libation.

Feel better soon! p.s. The chief allergy sufferer in this house has also gone to the neti pot system after a truly horrible experience with Flonase and it seems to work for him...

April said...

DeeDee is a dip 'n nibbler kinda girl. All 600 pounds of her.

knitseashore said...

I think Trek and Donna Lee may be right. Charlie used to use his paw to eat like that, and we have a video of him dipping it into the milk pitcher, which had a narrow opening at the top. We were laughing too hard to be mad at him.

I'm sorry you don't feel well, but glad you posted about the allergies. I noticed mine were acting up too which seemed too early in the season. Hmmm. Xyzal is my favorite of the allergy meds so far for this fun and games.

Ronni said...

I hope you feel better soon. Love the kitty eating method story! He really is too cute for words you know. Almost enough to make me want to add a cat to the mix. Which would be a seriously bad idea at the moment.

Kath said...

I would also note that one can clean and shelve the bathroom while attired in the sort of outfit that would not be considered acceptable at school.

I'm pretty impressed by AGK's eating strategy but I have to say that I think the washing of the paw between dips shows excellent table manners!