Dear Sparkle,
I love food—not just cat food, human food too. My humans always give me treats when they’re having dinner. Steak, mashed potatoes, chicken, spaghetti—whatever they’re having, they give me. I even get dessert. I especially like Pistachio ice cream. I get hungry just thinking about human food! But now there’s a problem. The last time my humans took me to the vet (never a pleasant experience), he told them that I weighed too much. So they got special food that I have to eat. It’s kind of grainy and unappealing. But what’s even worse is that my humans have stopped sharing their food with me! I am hungry all the time—in fact I have to be starving to eat that disgusting diet food. How can I get my humans to give me treats again?
Signed,
More Fluff Than Fat
Dear Fluff,
I hate to tell you this, but if the vet has put you on a diet, then you are probably more fat than fluff. And as you have discovered, dieting is no fun. Look at it this way, however—being overweight can lead to all sorts of health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure. (Funny, now that I think of it, many overweight humans suffer from a lot of these problems too.) So it might be a good idea to lose a few pounds. Admittedly it’s pretty rotten that all of a sudden you just get cut off from all your favorite foods. I mean, we cats just don’t have a lot of excitement in our lives. Simple pleasures like treats can go a long way to keep us happy. If your humans are smart, they will try to replace the now-absent treats with something else besides food. Interactive cat toys for example. One way to really kick your weight loss program into gear is through exercise. In fact, that’s probably one of the reasons I’m so skinny—I can’t get enough playtime! And I have tons of cat toys too. And a 5-foot tall cat tree. I think your humans should get you all of that, and more, to make up for the lack of food. If they keep playing with you, you will get into shape a lot quicker.
By the way, I do hope your humans are sticking strictly to the diet the vet gave them. Although you should lose weight, you need to do it slowly so you won’t get an affliction called feline hepatic lipidosis (a fancy name for fatty liver disease). It can cause your liver to fail eventually. So dieting needs to be done carefully with us cats. If you really hate the diet food, maybe your humans can get you another brand; since you are the one suffering you should make them work on your behalf. At least you won’t get the lousy diet food forever if you do lose the weight. Keep begging at the dinner table. Once you have dropped a few pounds maybe they will decide it’s okay to give you a treat now and again. It probably won’t be as much or as often as before, which means you’ll just have to learn how to savor it instead of gulping it down like you probably were. But be persistent. If you bother your humans enough it will wear them out eventually, and you will get a little something for your efforts.
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