The Fat Cat Diet

Our vet has an obese white office cat (long-haired and maybe a few pounds less than the cat pictured). I see him every time I go in to get Tiger's blood sugar checked or to pick up more insulin or needles.

When I was recently there, I saw a great big fat white cat -- shaved and sitting in a cage. The cat looked pissed.

"Is that your office cat?" I asked.

"Yes. We shaved him so he could see how fat he was," the receptionist said.

"So the cat could see how fat he was?" I asked.

"Yes. So he'd be ashamed and lose weight," she said.

This is crazy. Does a cat care if its fat? Maybe excess poundage is a turn-on for cats. Who knows how a cat thinks? Does this cat have a mirror? Is he vain?

He sure was shaved. He looked like a cat army recruit. I asked, "Did it work?"

"No."

I stared at him. They had a big sign on his cage that said, "Do not feed, no matter what he tells you." And then instructions to feed him one spoonful of a special food in the morning and one spoonful at night. And he looked mad.

"Why's he in the cage?" I asked.

"Because he's so mad he's on a diet that he's been swatting us."

I've been thinking about this a lot. Instead of going to a spa-resort to lose weight while getting massaged and fed slices of cucumber down by the pool, what about going to a local place where they lock you naked in a room with mirrors and stick a spoonful of food through the window twice a day?

Comments

[groovyoldlady]

*snort*

Hahahahahahaha!

Poor fat kitty...

[Indiana Keetha]

Oh this IS funny. De we ALL believe animals think like we do??? This was in a VET's office?!?!

We live in silly times.

(I found you through Groovy's Squidoo list)

[Anwyn]

I, um, wouldn't like to question a vet, but are we really sure a cat can survive at normal bodily functions on two spoonfuls of food per day? That sounds draconian to me. Why do cats get fat? It's not like the vet was providing him with double the recommended daily allowance of calories for a cat because the cat was emotionally needy or something. If a cat gets fat on a normal amount of cat food ... send him outside to play or something. Geesh. Maybe some cats are just fat.

[lori]

i'll swat you, too.