From Mr. Widgets Perspective

I (notice I'm not using 'we") adopted a lovely friend from the SHHS this past February and found that as much as I loved her, realized that the situation wasn't ideal. Our male standard poodle thought of her as prey and spent a great deal of his day figuring out how to capture her. His behavior made it literally impossible to relax-for everyone involved. Because of this, and wanting to do the right thing, I released her from her solitude in the basement to a cool couple who bonded instantly with her.

I adopted her originally because she was so effervescently friendly and gorgeous. She wanted nothing more than to sit on your lap and be stroked, loved and adored. Jackson, our poodle, wanted nothing of this and made it known that under no certain circumstances would this be tolerated. He barked so loudly and endlessly that it was so tense around here that it could be cut with a knife.

So, I did what felt like the right thing and began looking, quietly, for a new home. One of my new customers told me that her daughter was looking and I called her, she came two days later with hubby in tow and Shazam-instant love. On both Karma's and the Clark's part.

But I forgot one small thing.

Mr. Widget.

Our resident cat who also took a shine to her and I enjoyed seeing the relationship grow from snarls to love and exuberant playtime. Even though she lived in our basement, she wasn't alone-she had the best company with her boyfriend Mr. Widget. They did a lot of things together, but Mr. Widget couldn't protect her from the big brown beast living upstairs.

Never for one second did I consider Mr. Widgets feelings. Here, he had a friend, the same species and the same habits, and had formed a bond with her. Selfishly, I had taken that friend away from him. Now I question if I did the right thing or not. For the overall energy in the family, yes, but today, I see Mr. Widget not being himself. Clearly, he is depressed. He's been sleeping all day and Mr. Widget is generally the first out and the last one in. Go figure.

Advice. Consider the entire family before acting. There are bonds we, as humans don't see, but when they are no longer there, they are as plain as day.

How Could I Have Done That?

As I laid awake this morning at 4 am, I was thinking about the animals under my charge, thinking about past animals and other things..... but I was also thinking about nutrition. Yeah. A funny subject at 4 am. But we all do things at the wee hours of the morning that we don't normally think about.

To change the subject a minute, I had the pleasure of spending 11 years with a gorgeous grey cat named Leo. The minute I saw him I was in love. Perhaps even more so than the former fiance who owned him. Leo was a gracious, tall, lanky domestic short hair with more canine qualities than feline. He used to greet guests at the door as well as go up to each dinner guest and beg for food. He could give a look that appeared that he was undernourished, rarely fed and down right pitiful. Perhaps, in his way, he was.

I grew up thinking that commercial diets such as Iams and Science Diet were "superior" and that I was doing the right thing by putting bowls of dry food out for Leo. I mean really, with a name like Science Diet, one thinks that chemical masterminds have concocted the worlds most nutritious food for our companion animals, don't we? I firmly believed, because my vet told me, that feeding Leo this food would guarantee a long, healthy life.

I failed miserably.

About two years before Leo's death, he started vomiting daily-a bile which the vet said was "normal for his age." She told me to feed him his daily diet of dry food and sometimes wet.

I failed miserably for my sweet Leo.

After years of research and asking a lot of questions from my NAPPS camraderie, I've come to find out that it would have been better for Leo if I had been feeding him off of my plate instead of the cardboard like nuggets that Science Diet was putting out. With the nutrition equal to styrofoam, Leo would have been better off with cans of tuna placed at his paws. Instead, I believed that he was eating a balanced meal.

Friends and others who are reading this. Do your Leo a favor. Cats survive in the wild on what they catch. They don't hunt corn stalks. They don't hunt sheathes of wheat. They hunt juicy, gorey, bloodly animals to get their protien and their water. By giving a cat kibble, aside from the premium brands which are freeze dried proteins and veggies, you are literally cutting your companion cats lives by a third aside from causing a whole tuna boat load of issues.

I have two companion cats now who will no more touch commercial kibble than I will ever have the pleasure of meeting Johnny Depp. While I'd love to one, day, unless he moves to Kenosha Wisconsin and has animals he needs taking care of, the chances are slim to none. The Deppster hopefully has the smarts to feed them fresh fish or sardines, on his income. I'll stick with Innova or Felidae.

I love my animals so much that I would place myself in front of a moving vehicle to save them. I hope you feel equally as strong about yours, and if you do, research what they are eating. The diatribe that the commercial food companies feed us untrue. The best diet for any animal is the diet that is closest to their natural prey diet-plenty of proteins, water and plants.

Feel free to comment if you disagree. I'm open for discussion.