Basil beloved

[sonia]

Basil continues wonderful. He's getting a sense of home, both staying closer to home and coming in more willingly after he's gone wandering.

He'll eat "dry" food if I pour a little water over it, which relieves my worry about having to figure out exactly how much wet food he should eat, or exactly how long it can sit out and available to him before I should wash it down the sink to avoid spoilage. Probably the dry food doesn't keep that long when wet either, but it seems less worrisome.

I tried to talk to the vet about him not eating very much and being quite thin under all that fur, and got the "overweight cats" lecture. Twice. With no info about underweight cats whatsoever. "He's at his ideal weight," she cooed. Sure he is, with no resilience if it's too hot to eat much or he gets a stomach bug or something. I looked up another vet I've heard good things about that's farther away, but they have a whole section on their website about pet weight loss programs. Good money-makers, I guess.

I always thought Maine Coone cats were stocky, but someone told me they're often lanky like Basil. As long as it's normal for him, that's fine.

Anyway, have a photo of Basil on his cat tree. (Click through for larger images.)

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Basil is handsome!

(My understanding is that Maine Coone cats tend to be large--they are not jockeys!)

[sonia]

Yes, he's good at being very appealing. It's a survival skill!

Not jockeys as in not small? Yeah, that's always been my understanding too. He's definitely long-bodied and long-legged. Apparently they can sometimes been lanky, but I touch a lot of bodies, and he feels *thin* to me. My experience has been that thin cats are dying cats, so the whole thing is stressful.

Ah well, I will continue to offer him plentiful food and hopefully it will all settle out.