My friend Michelle's son is feeding the cats while we're gone. We were gone six days until yesterday and leave tomorrow for 12 days. I told Billy that Laverne was a big fat liar and would act like she hadn't eaten at all and that she would try to steal Shirley's food. You have to feed them both, then pull Laverne away when she is done eating because Shirley the slow eater still has food and Laverne's attitude is that if it's still there, it's fair game. Shirley "Let's just talk about this" just steps aside and lets Laverne eat. If I were Shirley, I'd use a quick claw to the nose, but she is a pacifist. Anyhow, Michelle emailed me that Billy was playing with Laverne while Shirley finished eating, so I don't think Laverne was being overfed*.
But last night when SH picked up Laverne and began to baby talk to her because he missed her soooo much ("They're lonely when we're gone!"), he noticed that she was even fatter than before. And indeed, she was: he weighed her and she has gained 1/2 to one pound. That's a lot when your starting weight is 8 pounds. Harder to be more specific because our scale rounds to the half pound. We just changed brands of cat food before the trip and have theorized that the new food has more calories per cup than the old stuff. When we get back from the trip, we are all going on a diet.
*When I was in Miami, my neighbor's son Rudolf fed my cats. I was very clear that they got 1/4 cup of food. That's it. When I came home, the bowl was overflowing with food and the cats were blissfully stuffed to the gills. "But they were 'ungry!" Rudolf the sweet Haitian boy told me. "They are liars!" I told him. "LIARS!"
