Well, I slept 9 hours! Yeah... I was meant to be at my mom's 90 minutes ago. As you can see... Not hurrying over there. I need an hour to wake up, shower, dress, and just care enough to not go back to bed when it's this kind of fibro-achy day.

She's been asking me if I'm okay. A lot. Everyone is wondering what's next. Like, she tried calling me an abuser and nearly had me investigated by cops, soooo... I realllllly miss my pre-tumor mother. Mom was amazing. This person... So different. *sigh* They write books on dementia and stuff. Not so much "giant unusual meningioma survivor". First off, not many survive what Mom did. Second, most don't  have it where she did. Third... Well, that's why most people don't survive. My mom, the medical journal article...?

And, yes, btw, we slept through the cats meowing their heads off. Take it as given we were tired!

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For cat-lovers with Netflix streaming, "Lion in th eliving room" is a cute special but it sin't 100% on the nose as far as I'm concerned in two regards. 1. Why we started keeping/allowing cats around and 2. Feral cat eating habits. I call no cat fussy who eats crickets to get his daily nutritional needs. ANyway, my cats loved watching it. I was hoping they'd take some hints on Good Behavior;-D

Meanwhile, cats are obligate carnivores, as we mostly all know --- meat only, critters only, and yes, that's why they hunt. It's literally programmed into them. You can train dogs out of it, but if you try to prevent cats from hunting, you're going to have miserable cats. Thus, we have playtime objects for cats. (A cat who gets lots of play will frequently abandon all notion of hunting your songbirds, btw, so... Feed the ferals, play with Fluffy, and the pretty birdies live. This is purely my experience, btw, on the birds, but I'm talking 40 years plus of observation and such, and seeing all kinds of cats in all knids of environments.)

Since dogs can eat a wider variety of foods, one must wonder: Do their close cousins? Yes, wolves do eat things like berries an dsuch, but not enough to count as "necessary" to a diet. Also, wolves rarely eat fish. They hunt land animals. Rodents? Yes. Mice to beavers, no problem for the wolf. Big hoofed critters like moose/elk/deer? Yes, when a pack can safely bring down such. (Lone wolf versus a lone deer usually ends up ab out an equal match, interestingly enough. Deer has wicked hooves and a lone wolf is usually not that stupid anyway... They go for rodents and bunnies.)

So, yes, your dog needs "different" foods, but not like the packaging says. Wolves have to compete in the wild with bobcats, lynx, pumas, and both black and brown bears (and grizzly bears where applicable) for food resources. Fish are prime for bears. You want to get in trouble with a bear, go after its fish. Nope.

Neitehr wolves nor dogs are adept at digesting *fiber*. That one's for you humans. Suckered? Probably. The fact is, if Fido's poop is not ideal to you, then it's b/c of the grains. Dogs, like wolves, can eat a bit of carbs --- but it's a tiny bit. The wolf is evolve dto live on protein, fat, and in feast-famine swings (ana dult wolf can eat about 20 pounds at a sitting after a long hungry stretch). Dogs are related enough to wolves to make their metabolisms similar (enough) that we can safely say: Carbs (grains) should be last on th elist. Filler, so to speak.

Some people thus claim you cannot have obese dogs b/c wolves don't get obese (in the wild or, of course, in controlled environs like zoos where their food is monitored and is stil basically a haunch of something hoofed and dead)... But yes, dogs and cats alike can get obese. Inactivity, wrong food, jus tlike humans.

Now, do dogs digest carbs? Yep. It's not gonna kill 'em. They prefer protein-rich, fat-rich diets with a smidge of carbs, and fiber only if vet-ordered for a health issue.

No, we can't eat like dogs, despite Dr. Atkins.

Cats, btw, can partially digest even feathers. That's why a cat kill can look so different from a dog kill, for thsoe of us who've encountered both. Feline kills don't stop to spit out feathers and such in the way. Canines tear in and tend to avoid such, if they're eating birds at all. (E.g., chickens, geese, such as we farm kids knew...)  Birds, btw, will shred off the long feathers and down, if eatinh another bird. It's kinda weird to know this, btw, but there it is. Chickens and geese were part of my childhood. Thus, so were their downfalls.

A good toy for a cat? A quill. Natural only. No dye. Why? They love to crunch the spine of th efeather. It satisfies instinct and helps clean teeth, and if they eat it, who cares? (I keep natural feathers around for my cats for this reason. God bless the season of plumage molting where relevant...)

Dogs? Bone. Same basic idea, and happy days all around.

So --- just remember --- packaging is meant to sucker YOU! And even if they're eating imperfect kibbles --- which are affordable --- then pet cats and dogs alike will be fine as long as we keep them active and make sure they're getting their vitamins and all that stuff. Like us humans, really, only we can tolerate a train-load more carbs in our diets.

If you know any farmers or local butchers, they're pretty nice as a rule about keeping back bones for your dogs, btw, and also feathers from wild game birds for your cats. Or were/are in my experience. Odd, as I'm a vegetarian, but I get on well with the meat people who butcher/dress game and such for people. Possibly b/c I don't provide them with work?

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OK, off to force myself to face the day. It's Mom, sleet and ice, and... well, y'know.

BLessings, all!