Guy & Loki: Not BFFs

I brought Loki back with me from San Francisco.  For the first few days I was back in Minnesota Loki was staying with me at my mom's place. Her cat, Guy, was not exacty pleased that I had brought another cat into his territory.  The first day there was fighting, the second day there was hissing, but by the third there was mostly quiet creeping about and stare downs.

Fatty Kiddle-iddle'ey

People use to comment on how skinny the kitty was. He has an eating disorder, I'd explain. He can't eat too much. He's not that skinny, I'd protest.  (I was blind, I guess, to the truth.)

But he's been gaining weight since we got that automatic feeder.  Remember that?  I said I hoped he would get fat and become a brand new kitty.  And he has been gaining weight, developing a little swaying pouch of stomach fat.  When a friend stopped by a couple weeks ago and saw Loki for the first time he commented that he was a big kitty and Jeff loves teasing me about how fat he's become.  I do call out to him a sing-song voice "hey fatty fatty fat" now, but when Jeff suggested he couldn't jump up on the fridge anymore I disagreed.

Until last night, when he made a leap for the desk and didn't make it.  Embarrassed he retreated to the lower end of the bookcase.  Even though the tiny ledge can barely contain his girth.

One Day, I Won't Blog About the Damn Cat...

brand new world, originally uploaded by margosita.

...But today is that not that day.

And here's why. This automatic cat feeder has CHANGED MY LIFE*. No, seriously. My life is substantially different than it was a week ago when this had not yet showed up in the mail. Anyone who has spent two seconds in a room with my cat knows that he is nothing if not hungry. The minute anyone walks into the apartment or into the kitchen Loki is there, meowing and pacing back and forth in an attempt to get you to put some food in his bowl. Which he then scarfs down and, often, promptly throws up. What he absolutely doesn't do is leave food in his bowl, untouched.

EXCEPT ALL OF THAT WAS BEFORE.

Because as you can clearly see, there is Loki, calmly drinking some water next to a bowl. A bowl with food it in. A bowl with food in it that he isn't madly gobbling down.

And seriously, it's kind of like he is a different cat. Gone is his annoying habit of waking me up once a night and right away in the morning to feed him. I walk in the door after being gone (for hours!) and he might get up. Or he might just sort of lazily pick up his head from where he is sprawled out across the bed. I can take off my shoes without saying, "Ok! Calm down, kitty! I'm gonna get you the food! Hold on!"

He's gone from being a stressed out cat to a relatively calm one. From, "Food! Food! Feed me!" to "Oh, human, you're back? I've already eaten... yawn."

Maybe he'll get fat. Than he'd really be a brand new cat!


*Yes, changed it enough to warrant caps lock. Which someone recently told me is "cruise control for cool" but which I believe is mostly "cruise control for idiots." Except, of course, when discussing MIRACLES.