Vet Visits & Dry Food Wet Food Dry Food

Around the beginning of August we realized that the possibility of Kenji's job being transferred back to Hawaii might be drawing near. As such, I began researching the regulations for avoiding Hawaii's pet quarantine. The two main things we had to do was 1) have microchips implanted in Spammy and Musubi, and 2) get a rabies blood test done.

At the kitties' first vet visit to get their microchips, the vet said Spammy was getting too fat from eating dry food. This was the second time that the vet told us we should switch the kitties to wet food, so the next day we went and did it. Some changes in the kitties have followed:

Before Dry Food -- Spammy would noisily beg and beg and beg for food. As soon as the food hit the bowl, he would gobble gobble gobble, and push Musubi out of the way if he wanted to eat from the bowl she was eating from. Musubi would eat, but in a dainty, little girl sort of way, and she would not overeat. Musubi would always ask us for water. She liked to drink water out of a running faucet. Musubi would often try to anticipate when one of us might be going to the bathroom and race in there ahead of us, hoping we'd run some water for her. Spammy loved to lick scraps of lots of different fruits like oranges, pears, nectarines, plums, etc. Also, the kitties would puke maybe 2 or 3 times a week (between the two of them), and oftentimes Musubi would clean it up.

After Dry Food -- Spammy still begs for food, but he's much more patient about it. When I put the food bowls down for the kitties, Musubi is the first one to the bowl, going gobble gobble gobble. Now that Spammy is used to the wet food, he chows down a little bit too, but he usually has had enough well before Musubi is satiated. Musubi no longer begs for water. Spammy no longer cares for his favorite fruits. Oh, and Spammy has lost a couple pounds and the vet says he's a good weight now. Musubi gained a little weight, but she is still not overweight. At first the kitties puked even more than they did on dry food, but now they haven't puked at all for the last week or so.

So anyway last Wednesday we had a second vet visit to get the blood samples drawn for the rabies test. I also had the kitties get updated rabies shots, just so they could have the shots done post-microchip. When I brought the kitties in the second time, Kenji and I seemed to think that it was more likely that we would not get transferred before January, at which time Kenji would temporarily take his name off the list for going to Honolulu. But as it turned out, later that afternoon Kenji got the call that he's being transferred. So now we are all busy getting the house all fixed up looking nice for potential buyers...

But in addition to looking nice we want the house to SMELL nice... and, well, wet cat food does not smell nice. At all. So we're thinking maybe we should switch the kitties back to dry food temporarily while we are showing the house. I know Musubi won't be happy about that. I wonder how Spammy will feel about it.