I usually buy Purina One cat food, because it has the Senior Protection Formula and my cat is a senior.
A few weeks ago my mom gave me coupons for Friskies cat food. I’m not religious about what I feed my cat; the next time I went to the grocery store I got some Friskies. There was still a third of a bag of Purina, so I stuck the Friskies underneath it, and refilled his bowl with Purina.
With four people dipping in and out of the pantry all day, its door is often left ajar. The next morning I found the Purina bag shoved aside and several holes ripped in the Friskies bag. Apparently Phurball really likes Friskies.
But there’s no reason for him not to finish off a bag of perfectly good cat food when there are cats going hungry all over the country. (Okay, I’m a mom and it carries over.) I made sure to keep the pantry door closed so he couldn’t get into the Friskies, and would have to eat what was in his bowl.
He didn’t.
Several days went by.
He’d have a bite when he got really hungry, but not much. I decided that once the Purina was used up I would switch to Friskies brand, since he obviously likes it better. But first he had to finish off the old bag. My mate, as always, found my discussions with the cat amusing:
“Meow!”
“No, you eat what’s in your bowl.”
“Maaoooooow!”
“That is perfectly good food in your bowl. Eat that and then I’ll give you the other kind.”
“Mrrrp?”
“No, this is not for you, this is for me.”
And so on.
One night one of us forgot to shut the pantry, and I went into the kitchen to find Phurball tucking in to the Friskies bag. I shooed him out and shut the door. “Eat what’s in your bowl,” I instructed.
People who tell you only dogs can look pitiful have not spent time with cats. Phurball didn’t say anything, but he sat by the pantry door, looking at me with such forlorn resignation that I couldn’t stand it. Sighing, I dumped out the food in his bowl, gave it a quick rinse in the sink, and filled it with the Friskies. After all, he’s an old man and it’s not good for him to be skipping meals.
Shut up.
