-- The Jasper, the Food Bowl, and some“ Cat Aggression”--
-- The Jasper, the Food Bowl, and some“ Cat Aggression”--
Some cat problems just take time and patience and are rooted in old memories and habits. Here at Liberty Book Shop, we’ ve had a bout of minor“ food aggression” over the last two months. Much of that is due to Jasper’ s history. You see, as a kitten, he was confined to a small cage and the only stimulus was food. So, he ate- a lot. By the time my friend, Sharon, took him in, he was at 30 pounds. Now, Jasper is a big cat, but that was way too heavy, even for him. Sharon and her mom whittled him down to 20 pounds, mainly by restricting his food intake. Both of these events have colored Jasper’ s attitude towards food, though the availability of food here at all times, coupled with lots of exercise and a great cat friend in Hector has changed Jasper’ s habits. The two of them share a bowl with dry cat food that’ s always available. After we fostered some kittens that needed to get a little older before they could be adopted, we added wet cat food to the adult cats’ diet. Until February, my lovely book shop cats shared a large pie tin with wet cat food and extra water( to make sure that Jasper was well hydrated) every morning.
Then, one day, Jasper would NOT share. Hector was batted away from their dish, with all kinds of cat swearing. Both Hector and I were surprised and confused, but a second day of aggression meant that we needed to change things up. We started with two bowls, and two separate rooms. The first couple of days, we needed two separate times to feed. It even affected their play and grooming times together, as they did not behave as though they liked each other. No snuggling together upstairs or on the couch.
Slowly, as Jasper was once again assured about the food bowl, things eased. The bowls could both be in the kitchen. After about a week, they asked for morning food at the same time. As the weeks passed, the bowls got a little closer together. Finally, last week, they switched bowls at breakfast, and the next morning, although there were two bowls, they shared a dish.
As the food issue solved itself, the friendship they shared blossomed. They returned to grooming each other, play wrestling, and running down the stairs in the morning together. Hector and Jasper began to wait for each other at the patio door, to be outside together for a bit before Hector leaves the porch to walk the boundaries of his property. In the evening, both would go out for a bit of a walk, with Jasper waiting inside for Hector to return from a longer walk before going upstairs.
Two months later, everything is back to normal here. We have one morning dish of wet food. Everyone is fed and full- happy with one another and the world. What happened?? I will probably never know. I am only relieved that my big tuxedo cat with the painful past has a sunny disposition again. Welcome back, Happy Jasper! We missed you.
- by Linda Roller, Bookseller, Writer, & Owner of Liberty Book Shop in beautiful downtown Avis, PA.
LIBERTY BOOK SHOP Linda Roller
Hours: Thursday & Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-3, or by appt.
“ Where yesterday’ s books are today’ s treasures.”
LibertyBookShop @ comcast. net www. thelibertybookshop. com
570-753-5201
Pawsitively Pets-- May 5