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

[untonuggan]

Pretty kitty!

With Chance we have been leaving food down at specific times for about 20 minutes and if he doesn't eat it, we pick it up. The first couple of days he missed out on some food, but ever since then he has been sure to eat his food quickly when it's put down. (Except for when we tried this one food that was Chicken and Pumpkin, of which he was *not* a fan.)

Partner used some formula to determine how much he needed to eat based on age and weight, and we have been basing his eatingses off of that. He is also getting closer to a weight our vet is happier with, as at the rescue he'd put on weight from inactivity.

As you know, I am sure, cat nutrition is, er, Controversial. As one dreamwidth friend of mine put it, people seem to think you're not feeding your cat right if they don't get a fresh mouse a day for them to hunt themselves; for it to count the mouse must also be antibiotic free, farm-raised and montessori schooled.

He looks very happy with you!

[sonia]

Thank you! He's super-affectionate with everyone, which is also a survival skill and makes him very rewarding to have around. He does seem to be happy here on the whole, which delights me.

Sounds like you're doing a wonderful job with training Chance. I'm not doing formal clicker training, but Basil does more-or-less come in when I call, is no longer harassing me when I eat, and gets on the dining room table less often. Peaceful co-habitation is being achieved.