The Sisters

Lucy (red collar), and Ethel (black collar) are now two and a half years old. They have grown from very sick kittens to healthy, mature cats, though they remain on the small side.

But I seldom use their 'names' anymore. I just call the 'the sisters', or big sister (Lucy) and little sister (Ethel).

Well, mostly healthy. I really cannot say they have the ‘health’ of a typical housecat. For one thing, they BOTH have allergies, different of course! Lucy will get terrible sneezes and runny eyes at certain times of the year when she sits in the open window. Ethel gets severe asthma if she eats anything with salmon in it. The first time this happened, I thought I was going to have to figure out how to do kitty mouth to mouth. The second time, I was able to ‘link’ the severe asthma attack to her having JUST eaten cat food with salmon in it. Needless to say, we do not eat salmon around here any more!

Though they are very much alike, they have differences. Lucy is the larger, has shorter hair, and is the ‘boss’. She is more sedate, klutzy, and loves to cuddle at my feet in bed at night. Ethel is the clown, the acrobat, and plays, plays, plays. She is also the ‘talker’ and sometimes drives me nuts with her complaining, nagging, crying if there is something she wants, RIGHT NOW!

Both are fussy eaters. Lucy eats mainly dry food, Deli-Cat, and a couple of other Purina flavors. Ethel wants her ‘fresh’ dinner at sunset every night.

Food has been a major source of frustration for me. I have tried every canned, pouch, (even the expensive stuff) food available. Sometimes they will ‘nibble’ at it, sometimes they will sniff it and walk away.

But after two years, that problem has been solved. Ethel showed me! I had purchased and made a sandwich of that thin sliced chicken. You know the kind, it’s in a ‘one serving’ package. It was good too!

The next morning I found that Ethel had gotten the package out the trash (without turning it over) and left the empty package right in front of my chair. Without much thought, I tossed it back in the trash. Well, Ethel came out of the bedroom like a shot! She again got the package out of the trash, and literally carried/drug it around until I finally took it outside. But by then, I had the message!

I now no longer buy ‘moist’ or canned cat food. I buy good quality thin sliced, beef, chicken, turkey, and ham. I try to get brands that have nothing else added. And I think it’s cheaper in the long run. Even a small package lasts three days. Every evening now, I cut up a few slices of this in small pieces, and they gobble it up!

Tonight, I only had a few pieces of sliced ham left, and I wanted a sandwich! So I fixed them their dinner using only one slice, and made me a sandwich. Well, I had counted wrong. There was ONE slice of meat left in the package, which I had tossed up top of the Toaster Oven.

It was not long after we had eaten that Lucy lugged this BIG almost empty package with one thin slice of ham left in it, to me and literally dropped it in front of my feet, looking at me accusingly. I checked the kitchen, and sure enough, their dinner bowel was empty. I laughed the entire time I was fixing that last slice of ham for the Sisters that were waiting impatiently at my feet.