4/17/07
Whiskers (our orange tabby of 49 years...that is....feline years) nonchalantly passes me by, weaving in and out of the obstacle course of clothing piles on the floor appearing to have somewhat of a 'zombie' look to her eyes.
Her destination? Behind the large, black curtain veil. To the land of plenty...
The Food Dish.
In my mind I thought, "weren't you just here a few minutes ago!??". Geeze. You can't be hungry AGAIN, can you?
Was I jumping to conclusions?
Maybe she's just using the restroom.
I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
SILENCE...
Only a moment later do I hear the 'clankity, clank, clank' of metal tags on a metal dish. Yep. I knew it. She had nothing more exciting to do (not even sleep) in her life at that moment than to eat. A few minutes later, she exits from behind the 'veil', licking residue of salmon and tuna from her guilty chops.
'Whiskers, what are you doing?", I ask as if expecting an answer. Just a gratified stare. My eyes dart to the back side of her physique. What seemingly use to be slender has significantly grown. Yes, seems though there is more junk in the kitteh trunk.
Whiskers has a problem and it's larger than I had ever realized.
She has been comfort eating. COMFORT EATING!?
Ai Dios...how did that come to be? Was she upset about something? How long has she been practicing this behavior? Were we not paying enough attention to her lately? Are we blind?! I had reminded the kids ('specially #4) NOT to fill her bowl to the rim. I could do nothing but blame myself. I had not seen the warning signs.
I was a bad catmom.
For the remainder of the day, until I went to bed, I counted the number of times I heard her clanking around. It was 7 times. Including the last one when she rubbed against my leg begging for more.
Needless to say, I've put the kitty chow up on the top shelf and under strict rule. But the thing that I learned is we all (including pets) can eat out of boredom.
Her destination? Behind the large, black curtain veil. To the land of plenty...
The Food Dish.
In my mind I thought, "weren't you just here a few minutes ago!??". Geeze. You can't be hungry AGAIN, can you?
Was I jumping to conclusions?
Maybe she's just using the restroom.
I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
SILENCE...
Only a moment later do I hear the 'clankity, clank, clank' of metal tags on a metal dish. Yep. I knew it. She had nothing more exciting to do (not even sleep) in her life at that moment than to eat. A few minutes later, she exits from behind the 'veil', licking residue of salmon and tuna from her guilty chops.
'Whiskers, what are you doing?", I ask as if expecting an answer. Just a gratified stare. My eyes dart to the back side of her physique. What seemingly use to be slender has significantly grown. Yes, seems though there is more junk in the kitteh trunk.
Whiskers has a problem and it's larger than I had ever realized.
She has been comfort eating. COMFORT EATING!?
Ai Dios...how did that come to be? Was she upset about something? How long has she been practicing this behavior? Were we not paying enough attention to her lately? Are we blind?! I had reminded the kids ('specially #4) NOT to fill her bowl to the rim. I could do nothing but blame myself. I had not seen the warning signs.
I was a bad catmom.
For the remainder of the day, until I went to bed, I counted the number of times I heard her clanking around. It was 7 times. Including the last one when she rubbed against my leg begging for more.
Needless to say, I've put the kitty chow up on the top shelf and under strict rule. But the thing that I learned is we all (including pets) can eat out of boredom.
God help us all.
