I've Created a Monster

I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription
food (for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no,
don't give her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give
her a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was
diagnosed with early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a
day to help keep her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about
the canned Friskies so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She
found out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet
consideration. Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I
felt it only polite to accept and thanked her, even though I'd never
really fed Persia cat treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So
I put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after
the treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat
*any* gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh
oh! Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother
just said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

On 2013-03-26 2:13 PM, jmcquown wrote:
I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription
food (for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no,
don't give her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give
her a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was
diagnosed with early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a
day to help keep her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about
the canned Friskies so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She
found out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet
consideration. Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I
felt it only polite to accept and thanked her, even though I'd never
really fed Persia cat treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So
I put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after
the treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat
*any* gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh
oh! Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother
just said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

I don't know what they put in cat treats to make them so appealing.

Years ago, I was showing the small daughter of a friend how Mandy and
Betsy (both now RB) would come when called and eat from her hand - the
trick, of course, was that she was holding out a cat treat each time. So
she asked me why the cats loved the treats so much. I said without
thinking about it much that they must taste good. No, she said, they
didn't. I asked how she knew...sure enough, she'd tasted the cat treats
herself!

Small children didn't like them nearly as much as the cats did!

I still rarely give my cats cat treats, although I sometimes buy them a
tin of food as a treat, often something a bit special like Fancy Feast.
It seems healthier somehow, and besides I seem to need something like
Fort Knox to keep the cats out of an open but re-sealed bag of cat treats.

--
Cheryl

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription food
(for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no, don't give
her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give her
a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was diagnosed with
early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a day to help keep
her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about the canned Friskies
so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She found
out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet consideration.
Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I felt it only polite to
accept and thanked her, even though I'd never really fed Persia cat
treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So I
put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after the
treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat *any*
gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh oh!
Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in the
food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother just
said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

Of course!
Joy

On 3/26/2013 1:19 PM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2013-03-26 2:13 PM, jmcquown wrote:
I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription
food (for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no,
don't give her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give
her a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was
diagnosed with early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a
day to help keep her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about
the canned Friskies so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She
found out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet
consideration. Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I
felt it only polite to accept and thanked her, even though I'd never
really fed Persia cat treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So
I put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after
the treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat
*any* gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh
oh! Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother
just said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

I don't know what they put in cat treats to make them so appealing.

Years ago, I was showing the small daughter of a friend how Mandy and
Betsy (both now RB) would come when called and eat from her hand - the
trick, of course, was that she was holding out a cat treat each time. So
she asked me why the cats loved the treats so much. I said without
thinking about it much that they must taste good. No, she said, they
didn't. I asked how she knew...sure enough, she'd tasted the cat treats
herself!

I don't think I'll be tasting the cat treats! But sure, a child
probably wouldn't have any qualms about giving it a try since they look
a bit like dry cereal. Same thing with dog biscuits looking like
crackers or cookies.

Small children didn't like them nearly as much as the cats did!

Possibly because there was no added sugar.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription food
(for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no, don't give
her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give her
a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was diagnosed with
early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a day to help keep
her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about the canned Friskies
so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She found
out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet consideration.
Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I felt it only polite to
accept and thanked her, even though I'd never really fed Persia cat
treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So I
put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after the
treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat *any*
gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh oh!
Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in the
food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother just
said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

I think I must have lost my memory, I thought I remembered that Persia was
diagnosed with early renal failure a while ago and she was supposed to eat a
kidney diet wet food. Not Fancy Feast or Sheba.
I am obviously wrong. I must have dreamt it.
Tweed

Cheryl wrote:
On 2013-03-26 2:13 PM, jmcquown wrote:
I don't normally give Persia cat treats. She's been on prescription
food (for various reasons) for many years and her first vet said no,
don't give her store-bought treats.

But she's much older now (15? 16? anyone's guess). I always did give
her a can of Fancy Feast as a treat on *Sunday*. Since she was
diagnosed with early stage renal failure I give her canned food twice a
day to help keep her hydrated. Well, she started getting finicky about
the canned Friskies so I bought FF and Sheba instead.

Here's where I made my mistake. My neighbor (owned by Schwarzie) was
given some cat treats. She didn't think Schwartzie liked them. She
found out later she was wrong after he gave them some quiet
consideration. Anyway, she gave me two pouches of cat treats. I
felt it only polite to accept and thanked her, even though I'd never
really fed Persia cat treats.

But then Persia started turning up her nose at the canned Friskies. So
I put a couple of cat treats in it to tempt her. Oooh! She went after
the treats and in the process ate the food, too. But now she won't eat
*any* gooshy food (Sheba, FF) unless I hide a treat in it somewhere. Uh
oh! Yes, I've created a monster.

Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother
just said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

I don't know what they put in cat treats to make them so appealing.

Years ago, I was showing the small daughter of a friend how Mandy and
Betsy (both now RB) would come when called and eat from her hand - the
trick, of course, was that she was holding out a cat treat each time. So
she asked me why the cats loved the treats so much. I said without
thinking about it much that they must taste good. No, she said, they
didn't. I asked how she knew...sure enough, she'd tasted the cat treats
herself!

Small children didn't like them nearly as much as the cats did!

I still rarely give my cats cat treats, although I sometimes buy them a
tin of food as a treat, often something a bit special like Fancy Feast.
It seems healthier somehow, and besides I seem to need something like
Fort Knox to keep the cats out of an open but re-sealed bag of cat treats.

For us adults, it's the IDEA of the thing. In many ways cat food is
more nutritious than a lot of the junk food kids eat. Back during the
hippie era, I was somewhat shocked to see a guy with a can of dog food
and a fork sitting on a bench at a bus stop, eating. (But on
reflection, my disgusted reaction was more that he'd have been better
off with cat-food, since dog-food often contains ground bone.)

My lot are particularly fond of Goodlife Recipe Catnip treats, I only
have to shake the bag and they appear from all over the house in seconds ;-)
--
Nik Simpson

On 3/26/2013 2:48 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in the
food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother just
said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

I think I must have lost my memory, I thought I remembered that Persia was
diagnosed with early renal failure a while ago and she was supposed to eat a
kidney diet wet food. Not Fancy Feast or Sheba.
I am obviously wrong. I must have dreamt it.
Tweed

No, you didn't dream it. She eats prescription dry food and loves it.
But she would *not* eat the canned prescription food. She drinks a good
amount of water but by all accounts canned food also helps maintain
hydration. Her vet said it's fine to give her the little bit of
off-the-shelf canned food along with the R/x kibble.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 3/26/2013 2:48 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the
food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother just
said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

I think I must have lost my memory, I thought I remembered that Persia
was
diagnosed with early renal failure a while ago and she was supposed to
eat a
kidney diet wet food. Not Fancy Feast or Sheba.
I am obviously wrong. I must have dreamt it.
Tweed

No, you didn't dream it. She eats prescription dry food and loves it. But
she would *not* eat the canned prescription food. She drinks a good
amount of water but by all accounts canned food also helps maintain
hydration. Her vet said it's fine to give her the little bit of
off-the-shelf canned food along with the R/x kibble.

Jill

You're doing the right thing. When you're faced with a choice between
having her not eat at all and giving her what she will eat, the choice is
simple.

Joy

On 3/26/2013 6:38 PM, Joy wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 3/26/2013 2:48 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Just a few treats, that's all it took to get her hooked. No treat in
the
food and she yells like a kid at the checkout stand whose mother just
said, "no candy".

Naturally, I'll have to buy more cat treats when these run out.

Jill

I think I must have lost my memory, I thought I remembered that Persia
was
diagnosed with early renal failure a while ago and she was supposed to
eat a
kidney diet wet food. Not Fancy Feast or Sheba.
I am obviously wrong. I must have dreamt it.
Tweed

No, you didn't dream it. She eats prescription dry food and loves it. But
she would *not* eat the canned prescription food. She drinks a good
amount of water but by all accounts canned food also helps maintain
hydration. Her vet said it's fine to give her the little bit of
off-the-shelf canned food along with the R/x kibble.

Jill

You're doing the right thing. When you're faced with a choice between
having her not eat at all and giving her what she will eat, the choice is
simple.

Joy


Exactly. The vet doesn't have a problem with my feeding her a little
bit of off-the-shelf canned food. It keeps things interesting. (I know
*I* wouldn't want to eat the same darn thing every single day.) She
eats plenty of her prescription k/d kibble. I've got the receipts (and
a nearly empty bowl every morning) to prove it. Not to mention I can
hear her crunching on it in the middle of the night.

Jill