Trying out the tuna and harness

Though the walks aren't going as well, Sam seems to be very comfortable with her harness and with eating wet food. She licked that bowl clean!

Our scale has shipped (our ship has sailed?) and it should be arriving on Nov 4. Can't wait to get a weight on Sam!

No walk today since there are so many 'scary' trick-or-treaters out. It wouldn't do to have Sam growling at the fairies, knights, witches, and french fries I've seen so far.

Trial and Error

A few things we have learned in the past few days...

Sam learned:
1. Cats don't like rain.
2. Neighbors are to be ferociously growled at.
3. Dump trucks are terrifying (Nora agrees).
4. The front porch is a portal to the Outside, but is also the best place to hide when things get too scary.

I learned:
1. Sam is a scaredy cat.
2. Nora is jealous that the cat gets to go on more walks than she does.

Though Sam was initially enamored with the Outdoors, she's gotten a bit more cautious the past couple days. This will be a sloooow process!

The Beginning of the Diary

Since poor little Samantha got spayed for the second time (!) her weight has grown steadily. She seems happy, but she can't clean herself anymore because she can't reach past her belly. Not only are we tired of doing this for her (ew), but we want her to be healthy and to feel better. And so begins our fat cat diary, the feline version of a Weight Watcher's meeting....


Sam's equipment list for losing weight not so fast:

1. Healthy wet cat food for our mini-carnivore based on nutrition information from this helpful table. We're currently in the process of transferring from dry food (which is apparently bad because it contains too many carbs due to grain fillers) to wet food (which is apparently better because it has moisture, fewer carbs, and more protein and fat). Shouldn't be hard since Sam loves to eat!

2. Scale to chart progress and make sure loss rate is healthy. Cat's aren't supposed to lose weight at a rate greater than 2% of their body weight per week. Losing weight too fast can cause 'fatty liver' due to cat's fast metabolism, so Sammy will be hopping on the scale every 3-4 days to check her progress.

The fat cat (i.e., baby) scale we bough on eBay. Maybe someday it will actually be used for humans.

3. (Embarrassing) harness and leash for forays Outside. We've already been Outside a few times and Sam likes it even better than cat food, if that's possible.

Sam's new Whisker City harness. It barely fits around her--right now she's 20 inches around right behind her front legs.

We'll post updates as we work on this. Hopefully this will help keep us accountable!