Parental Manual Part 1: Are they eating right?

Let me summarize previous comments like they do on TV:

Previously on the Hines Cat Blog regarding feeding:

1. Marley is biggest, eats anything as long as it is seafood in gravy, then looks for food left by the others. After eating his wet food, will eat any of theirs before starting his own dry food. Like me, he can always eat. There are exceptions
2. Lucky is lean and growing, and goes through his dry food like a chainsaw on speed. He doesnt want wet (cat) food, but watch the poultry being prepared for our dinner. He eats fast and hard, gets full and doesnt need more. THere are exceptions
3. Powder Puff is finicky, eats little, often just licking the gravy from her wet food. She seems like she wants to eat if only we could provide something good. There are exceptions.

If they dont like the food:

1. Marley will wait to eat it last, and wont like it, but he will eat it anyway as long as it is his universe of acceptable food. This universe is expanding as he comes to appreciate the other cats tastes.
2. Lucky wont eat it. He will sometimes check out the food of the other cats, but always has the same reactions - a disgusted look on his face and then he scratches the floor towards it as if to say "I've GOT to bury this stinking mess!"
3. Powder Puff will briefly look at it or sniff it, then walk away and look up at me as if to say, "Isn't there something decent to eat?" You can't tell when this will happen - It could be her reaction to the same kind of food that she just devoured (an exception) yesterday.

On todays episode - Chip breaks down

Today started out okay. Marley did his normal supervisory overview which is to say he jumped up just out of arms reach of me and perched on the kitchen pass through to watch my progress. Im not sure how he seems to know when I get to his food, since I prepare all the dishes before I give any out, but sure enough, as I start on his food, he looks carefully to be sure its his, then walks through my preparation area with a quick sniff of the food then jumps down to anxiously await delivery.

Lucky does his best to help by swirling between my legs and almost tripping me whenever I have to move. Usually he will jump up to see mostly to prove he can and has the right to do so, then gets down and starts a-swirling. Powder Puff exponentially adds to this confusion by simultaneously trying to also rub up against my legs while trying to rub up against Lucky. For me it seems like Im standing in swirling flood waters, and I think of all the warnings about not moving through flood waters, but, like all those who foolishly proceed, I do have to move around to get the food done.

So this morning I finish prep work, put Marleys food down and he sets to it: guiet, professional, a man who knows what he is doing, and do it he does. He is efficient, and even places his body in a position that protects his food from the others. Lucky and Powder Puff go instantly from mid swirl to see if their food is being put down. THis used to concern me because I thought Marley would fiercly defend his food, but as they are trying to get around him I stand up, grab their bowls and call them as I walk to their eating place. Suddenly they are on board, and follow me to the annointed place. As I get ready to put down the food the black (Lucky) and white (Powder Puff) swirling activity has a dizzing effect which complicates me predicting when to put each bowl down to be sure they get their intended food. Once the food is there, things sort out quickly, Lucky turns on his eating buzz saw and eats like a vacuum cleaner on speed.

Powder Puff is the problem child. She eats her food normally just barely enough to leave me wondering why I cant interest her in food most of the time. If its true that she is trying to be a super model, she is succeeding in being skinny enough, and she probably purges later. Mostly she hardly eats at all, I have to defend her food from Marley until I am convinced she isnt going to eat more, then just let nature take its course.

Last night Mary Ann explained to me what I ought to do for Powder Puff since she had loved the food she got yesterday. Today was a different story. Not only didnt she want it, but in an unprecedent moved, actually scratched at it eventually. I tried several ways of presenting it to her but

She did not like it on the floor
She did not like it by the door
She wouldnt eat it on a mat
She wouldnt eat and that is that

I tried to tell her that if she ate
Surely she would think its great
I even told her it was clam
I pulled my hair and bald-I-am

Nothing seemed to work with her, and as I was just giving up, I looked up and saw 6 eyes staring at me with "I need to eat" written in their expressions. So I did what every parent has done some time when they are at the end of the rope - I gave them treats, and since they are Greenies, they must have some nutrition in them right?