Osa…Before

When Osa came to us last February, she was a chunky fifteen-and-a-half-pounder. As Gordon’s beloved and indulged companion of ten plus years, we are pretty sure her kitty bowl was seldom empty. Ditto the six weeks that Gordon’s niece Karen was house-sitting and kitty-sitting. Osa was a kitty who never knew a pang of hunger – or so we believe.

When we took her to the vet for her first-ever ‘well cat check-up’ we learned that she was totally healthy, though a bit overweight. Ideally, we were told, she should weigh eleven to eleven-and-a-half pounds. So, we immediately did for Osa what we never seem able to do for ourselves – put her on a diet!

We determined that a quarter cup of dry cat food morning and evening would be adequate. We based this amount on the information that neighbor Betsy’s cats each get a shot glass of dry food twice a day. A shot glass and a quarter cup are about equal. I checked!

I would not say that Osa has been one hundred percent happy with this arrangement. She pretty much cleans her bowl immediately and, throughout the day follows us to the kitchen yowling hopefully for a snack and complaining loudly when it is not forthcoming.

Weigh Day

Nyel is far firmer than I. As long as he’s in charge (which is usually the case in the kitchen) there are no exceptions. I’m a bit more of a softy but in the five months we’ve had Osa, I’m proud to say I’ve only relented twice. Both times I gave her an afternoon snack of canned cat food. (A six-pack of some smelly gravy laden stuff came with her; we still have four cans left.) But her loud demands make me feel really guilty of cat-neglect.

This morning we weighed Osa. Eleven pounds right on the button! I immediately wanted to give her a little snack as a reward, of course, but I didn’t dare say so right out loud. Maybe a little later…