Okay -- since my furnace isn't working and it is suddenly frozen solid here, I packed up my kitties and we all moved in with my folks until the furnace can be fixed. (I've come home today to check email and do a few things, and my fingers are frozen just trying to type this.) It's a good thing we did move over there, though, because the first night I was there, I found my father struggling for air (even with oxygen) and talking about dying.
I woke Mom up and we took him to the ER, where they found he was in the fairly early stages of congestive heart failure (a couple of years ago, he very nearly died from it in the middle of the night before he finally woke Mom up to tell her). So he's in the hospital, doing very well, and it's good that I'm home with Mom to keep her company.
However. My mom is one of those women who loves you with food, y'know? She herself is a rail, but she's managed to fatten up my father, my brother, and me, as well as her kitties, Dylan, Sassy, and Abby.
And now she's starting on my own babies, Clyde and Pearl. She gives them fresh smoked ham and turkey, warm milk (they seem to tolerate it fine, digestively), bags and bags of high-calorie treats... and then she wonders why they won't eat their regular food! AUGH!
She knows about taurine and about the risk of diabetes, but she just can't say no to a cat, and when I try to talk to her about it, she gets angry. So...
1. Can anyone suggest a way to retrain Mom's cats to enjoy healthier food (and retrain my MOM to feed them RIGHT) before they get seriously ill? One weighs 20 pounds already.
2. How should I deal with my own kitties when I bring them home to our place? I don't want them to be unhappy... but I also do NOT want to keep them on the same path Mom's kitties are on, which leads straight to obesity.
HELP!
I woke Mom up and we took him to the ER, where they found he was in the fairly early stages of congestive heart failure (a couple of years ago, he very nearly died from it in the middle of the night before he finally woke Mom up to tell her). So he's in the hospital, doing very well, and it's good that I'm home with Mom to keep her company.
However. My mom is one of those women who loves you with food, y'know? She herself is a rail, but she's managed to fatten up my father, my brother, and me, as well as her kitties, Dylan, Sassy, and Abby.
And now she's starting on my own babies, Clyde and Pearl. She gives them fresh smoked ham and turkey, warm milk (they seem to tolerate it fine, digestively), bags and bags of high-calorie treats... and then she wonders why they won't eat their regular food! AUGH!
She knows about taurine and about the risk of diabetes, but she just can't say no to a cat, and when I try to talk to her about it, she gets angry. So...
1. Can anyone suggest a way to retrain Mom's cats to enjoy healthier food (and retrain my MOM to feed them RIGHT) before they get seriously ill? One weighs 20 pounds already.
2. How should I deal with my own kitties when I bring them home to our place? I don't want them to be unhappy... but I also do NOT want to keep them on the same path Mom's kitties are on, which leads straight to obesity.
HELP!
