Merci à Dieu et à tous ses anges: Louis Catorze is eating food. And it’s food that I want him to eat, not some heinous, cheap, 90%-sawdust rubbish that he’s chosen just to spite me.
It’s been a couple of days since we started putting half a portion each of new and old food into his bowl – sometimes with the halves top and bottom with a horizontal split, like the Earth’s hemispheres, sometimes with a vertical split and the halves left and right, and sometimes in a pleasing yin-yang formation, just for fun – and he has eaten every portion served. And, the other day, when Cat Daddy was drunk and accidentally served him the new food on its own, he ate that, too.
I cannot even BEGIN to articulate how happy this makes me. Unless you have been through it, you will never understand how stressful it is when a cat won’t eat, especially when they’re not even ill (which can be cured) but just being a shite (which can’t). And it’s even worse when you have helpful folk on the sidelines saying things like “He’ll get hungry enough eventually”* and “I don’t see why you can’t just keep giving him his old food”**.
*No, he won’t.
**Which part of “His old food is discontinued” don’t you understand?
I appreciate that some cats will eat absolutely anything put in front of them. If you have one of those, lucky you. We don’t.
The two foods are still served in distinct piles, and I haven’t dared to mix them because this failed the last time, after weeks of us believing it to be going fine. I don’t want the little sod suddenly realising on Day 14 that there is a new food in his bowl and then being difficult. So, after every meal, I go to his plate and re-sort any mixed bits into separate piles again. Yes, it must seem somewhat over the top. But I would rather do this than have Catorze abort the mission at the eleventh hour, and then we would have to start this tedious process ALL OVER AGAIN.
Anyway, Catorze remains utterly unconcerned by the trouble he has been causing. Here he is, having just, erm, ripped a page out of Cat Daddy’s old road atlas and fashioned it into a pillow for himself:
jesuisleroisoleil 
Bon Appétit, my dear Louis! Glad to see you’re eating food again. Going away for a journey or is the road atlas a comfy pillow?
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He is going NOWHERE. He causes enough trouble just in our local area. We couldn’t possibly unleash him anywhere else! 🤪
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I am so happy for you all and I love this photo of le roi! It truly captures his petite size, as well as his outsized personality.
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Haha, yes, I don’t often photograph him in a way that gives a sense of scale! I must try and picture him next to some ants or some such thing. 🐜
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When he next teleports to the Lion’s Head Tavern, I’ll see if I can get a nice shot of him next to his cousin Darth.
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Ohhhh, can you IMAGINE? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Yay! Success (or is it too soon to rejoice!) I have one picky eater out of 4. The worst part is that I have to guard her food until she decides if she will eat or not or one of the others will snatch it up. Argh!
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NO REJOICING YET. 🤣🤣🤣 I can’t imagine having to deal with four of them! One is bad enough!
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Sometimes I just throw my hands up and let it be. There is always dry kibble available if someone is diddling around and their food gets eaten. No one has starved here yet.
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Have they learned that their food gets eaten if they diddle?
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Yes but they still diddle. I assume they are not as hungry and maybe they just had some kibble for a snack.
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Of course, I’m a bit sad for Cat Daddy’s old road atlas but I’m extremely glad for you and the dear Catorze.
😃
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Merci! Let’s hope he keeps it up and doesn’t surprise us on the last day!
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There’s a special place for you in cat heaven, trust me 🙂 I totally understand your worries and efforts! My old Sosso used to eat stuff (hair pins, paper, plastic, yarn, etc.) and I spent years being ultra careful with her and her food (and spending thousands of dollars at the vet, too)!
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Hair pins? My goodness! What was it about them that said “food”? 🤣🤣🤣
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Shhhhh ! Under no circumstances let Catorze see this and learn of your joy .
Any significance to which page of the Atlas he removed ?
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Cat Daddy says it’s the page with the index on it. He is très displeased. 😬
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Hope this comes through as a lesson in Grecoing
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There is no pain in the world like Grecoing a cat.
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Perhaps Louis is planning a road trip for after the lockdown
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He’ll need a travelling companion. Not sure he’s had many takers …
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Lol Tearing the page out of the atlas is such a cat thing to do. Really glad to hear he’s taking to the new food 🙂
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