Charlotte Makes Photos

No, Scott Baio‘s (very thankfully) not in charge, but rather Charlie, our 17 16-pound house cat. Equal parts grey, white, and hungry, it’s almost as if he knows when we’re getting low on food and transfers that anxiety onto us.

When you step back and think about it, he’s really a very effective communicator and knows how to get what he wants. He hasn’t really taken to any sort of training or discipline himself but has reflected our efforts back at us with skill and aplomb.

All to say that on Thursday after work, I really didn’t feel like paying visit to the store and to schlep both kibble and wet food cans back home in addition to our normal groceries, but there I was, loading the big sac of dental kibble and his preferred¹ pate cans into my backpack.

1. Martha has the self-discipline to free-feed, so we keep a bowl of kibble on top of the microwave, which she can reach, but he cannot. She also knows this, so when he’s hounding for food long before his mealtimes, she’ll proudly scoot into the kitchen, jump up to her bowl and crunch-crunch a few kibble while keeping an eye on him. She will eat pate when she feels like it, but that might be twice per week. ↩︎