dealing with other things
I can so see how parenthood can inspire you to indulge your children.
I love my Blue and I am having a hard time right now structuring his feeding time.
He is my one reserve of indulgence and relationship here at home. I take care of him
and try to keep his kitty emotional and enriched life supported, but as well this means when he cries
for food, I haven't been so disciplined about saying "no" to him. His 'welps' go right through me
and I cave and give it to him. As a result he is getting very chubby. I don't mind a chubby cat
but it's not good for his health and longevity.
I can see how one can indulge one's children. They're like a source of refuge from the world.
But I am realizing it - and have to start someway to structure his feeding times so that he gets
used to it - and I do too. On my days off he wakes me at the same time that I would usually feed him
if I were awake and ready to go to work.
I have been so focused on my own emotional life and keeping order in the house that I haven't
been so structured with his feeding. It's a structure I need to create.
Any ideas I would love to hear. I don't want to lose my patience with him when he welps.
I have never really raised my voice with him -and I don't want to do that.
He deserves a safe home.
Replies
Here's what we did when we noticed that our chi was getting a little hefty. We would take him for rides, walks, and outside for play with a tiny snack instead of a regular food feeding.
Add some special outside time for the two of you together. I have a stroller that I put our chi in after he is walking a bit, and he loves standing up in the stroller as we walk. We take him for short rides in the car. We play with him.
Sometimes, we think it is food they want, when it is our full, complete, surrounding attention.
Hope this helps.
thanks Mid!
Whatever the life form I am current loving, indulgence seems to start with all the heart string romances. Then it moves into the lazy way out. From there it gets unpredictable with some gnarly consequences to prove that every healthy relationship needs healthy boundaries.
Who made up these freaking rules, anyway?
He definitely needs and wants attention... then sometimes - like he did right now - he becomes overstimulated or just annoyed and goes to swat me or bite....it's more of a warning shot that I have learned to react to. He's a good boy - and it's definitely a full time job!
Bella girl has a little belly on her. Sometimes when it’s playtime with her assorted fishing wands she plops down and lazily plays while multitasking being lazy haha. Other times she’s so engaged with playing with me and fishing wands that she pulls me into other rooms and I let her bc I can tell she thinks it’s really cool being the catboss of me. The pandemic and me being at home most of the time has spoiled her rotten! So much attention.
I feed her 1/3 can food at 6pm and leave out a small amount of dry food in her bowl in the mornings as I make my coffee. Sometimes that changes when I am working at office in off hours.
She’s very playful and ornery at times. I clap my hands once at her and she jumps down from wherever she is getting into where she shouldn’t be.
I keep catching her going into my bag looking for my ear buds bc she likes to take the cushioned ear pads off to play with them and chew on them. She hasn’t eaten them but I later find them in my shoes. But I now have to zip up my bags bc she knows what’s in my purse. She is a kooky, wild personality cat. I never know what weird thing she’ll do next.
I think Blue might have been abused before I got him. I don't mind him exploring on the counter tops or anything like that.
If he sees me when he's on the counter he freaks and jumps off. He does like tipping the potted plant over and spreading its dirt on the carpet. LOL. He's sweet and I try and shower him with attention. Just have to shift gears to start habituating him to know there's a time to eat and a time to wait to eat. :)