Today it was cold, not a nice day to be outside for too long. Time to fire up the wood-burning stove and dream up something to cook slowly in a big pot. From last summer’s leftovers from the high ranch we had food that languished in the back freezer. Like a slab of thick-cut bacon. Premium stuff. In the fridge was a package with six pieces of corn on the cob. It didn’t take too much imagination to decide to make corn chowder, the perfect chilly-day meal.
I cooked the bacon on the wood stove to perfection. Then I sliced the corn from the cobs. Some of it popped off and landed on the floor. When food-like things hit the floor, Boots the cat pays attention. She glommed onto the raw corn bits as if she were starved! A veggie cat? Cats are strict carnivores, I thought, but then I remembered that Boots has also eaten bits of onion, potato, and even broccoli (kidding!). Earlier today I spotted Florence, Boots’ sister, eating fresh shoots of grass outside.
Am I to toss out the “knowledge” I have about cats’ diets? What if I related my personal observation to someone and had no way to back it up, authority-wise? Would I be dismissed as a mere anecdotal observer?
Cats are strict carnivores, period. I must be wrong. Forget what I said. Whew! Safe in the lap of established scientific dogma, I can sleep tonight.
Boots is wrong.
Stupid cat.
3 comments:
Ana's cat eats grass, comes inside, and barfs on the carpet to get rid of the grass. If you're quick you can get a newspaper under the cat's mouth just in time. I think this is supposed to be therapeutic in some way (for the cat, not for the grass or the people).
Imagine! Throwing up as therapy! Yuck!
I have a friend whose otherwise mild-mannered cat would periodically become a pest in the kitchen while she was preparing dinner, whining and carrying on something awful. One day, while she was chopping broccoli, she accidentally dropped a piece, and the cat pounced on it and devoured it, then looked up at her for more. She realized he had been after raw broccoli the whole time.
Now if only I could train that cat to barf up his grass outside...
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