It’s almost a year since The Great Salmon Grab, and I’m still being screamed at every time I prepare fish.
Cat Daddy: “You know why it’s happening. You left salmon out for him.”
That’s not what happened, but ok.
Cats can, apparently, lose their sense of smell as they grow older. Since Louis Catorze is such a bully for stinky fish, yet only moderately responsive to his almost-odourless Orijen, I wondered, perhaps, if this was happening to him, too.
After looking online, I discovered that the symptoms of this are as follows:
- Sneezing (nope)
- Nasal congestion (nope)
- Changes in behaviour (nope – unless they count “Being even more of an annoying shite” among these)
- Increased respiratory sounds (he’s certainly making more SOUNDS, but they’re definitely not respiratory)
Ok, so maybe there’s nothing wrong with his sense of smell.
Catorze has always favoured fish-flavoured dry food, so much so that it was even mentioned on his documentation when he came to us from the rescue. He has had a couple of forays into the domain of wet food but, although he’s enjoyed them, they have never lasted very long. My next theory, after the sense of smell one, was that, perhaps, his tastes were changing in his old age, and that his fish-bullying was a sign that he needed wet food in his life again. And our lovely friends at The Cool Cat Club were happy to oblige.
When the delivery arrived, as soon as I opened the first tray of cod and salmon pâté, the screaming started. And it wasn’t just normal Catorzian screaming: it was guttural and desperate. He wolfed down the whole tray, plus a scattering of Orijen, and I think he would have happily eaten more had I offered it.
The next morning, the same thing happened. His plate was so clean afterwards that I could have eaten from it (but I didn’t).
It’s only been a few days, but already he’s lost that gaunt, elderly cat look. I can FEEL that he’s chubbing up. Most cat people probably wouldn’t want their cats to gain weight but, trust me, Catorze needed it.
The possibility of him producing a half-decent Official Winter Solstice Portrait, as opposed to looking like something just dug up from an ancient tomb, is growing more likely.
For more Catorzian capers, please visit http://louiscatorze.com
louiscatorze.com 
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