If you have pets living in your house, working themselves into your lives, then what I’m about to share with you will make sense. I’ve taken a picture of an empty stainless-steel feeding bowl, the one we use every morning to feed one of our Elsa Kitty (aka Little Bit). She’s a rather finicky eater, expecting half a can of premium moist cat food properly presented as she waits on top of the kitchen island.
One of us, usually Lucy, will open a fresh can from a stack of assorted flavors, scoop about half the can into the stainless-steel food bowl and place it in front of Elsa. The other half gets scooped into a pink plastic storage container and placed in the refrigerator until the next day. This process is economical as far as purchasing premium cat food goes, and it has worked for several years.
Then there’s
Part Two which involves Max Puppy, who sits patiently for his turn to finish
whatever Elsa leaves in the bowl. Max isn’t actually our Puppy since he belongs
to the Jacksons who live on the property to our north; but Max lives with us
and gets along better with our Puppies and Kitties so he beds down at our
house. Max knows how everything works at our place, when Elsa eats breakfast,
that starts the day off. As soon as Elsa’s
done Max knows it’s his turn, awaiting eagerly as we place the bowl down to
floor level.
This
morning Elsa acted like she was through eating, Max sat next to us, his ears at
alert mode aimed in the direction of the kitchen island. Then Elsa decided she wanted just a bit more,
licking carefully at what remained in the bowl.
Max’s ears dropped as if to say, “Hey, that’s mine now!” Max shuffled his feet as if marching in
place, letting out a soft but impatient grown as he told us we needed to tell
Elsa she was done and place the food bowl on the floor. Elsa took only a couple
of extra licks before stepping away. Max’s
ear shot back up as soon as he observed her move away from the bowl, “Hey,
Folks, she’s done. My turn, my turn!”
This ritual
is repeated daily and it’s followed by Max watching me slice open an English
Muffin, place the halves in the toaster, fill a glass with milk, add chocolate
to the milk and stir, spread peanut butter and jelly on the toasted muffins and
walk to the den where Max follows so he can share a small portion of each
muffin. Max counts how many English
Muffin halves are on the plate and knows how many small chunks he’s going to
receive. When the last piece is finished
Max knows the day has officially started.
