holidays

We go on holiday for a week on Sunday and, although I'm excited, I'm going to miss little Mabel so much!

I'm sad and nervous to leave her but I know she'll be absolutely fine.

She's moving in with the boyfriend's parents for the week. They love her and I think they're looking forward to having a kitty around the place again.

When we went away for the weekend his mum popped in twice a day to feed and cuddle her but, as we are away for a whole week this time, it works out better to leave her with them.

I have learned that Mabel is not a shy cat and she takes to new places and to people very easily. I know she'll love the attention and the company of having someone with her for most of the day. She'll be spoilt rotten and no doubt will miss me much less than I miss her.

Maybe I'm more worried that she'll never want to come home!

Bowl

It was my birthday last week and, as I'm almost as spoilt as Mabel, I was bought this fancy double cat feeding bowl from Alessi by my sister. It's so cute.

So Mabel is now officially a posh little kitty.

She was very curious when I first put it down for her to sniff and she took the opportunity to have a nice sit in it! Not quite the sophisticated, stylish dining I was hoping for but I'm sure once it has food in it she'll work out what it's for.

Munchies

There's an ongoing debate happening in our house. Wet or dry Mabel food?

I'm sure it's a subject that has been discussed a million times by cat owners the world over but I just can't seem to find a satisfactory answer.

Like most people with pets I want to do the best for Mabel but there seems to be a lot of mixed thought on this topic.

I've read lots of articles online about which is best for her and even vets seem divided.

At the moment we give her a mix of both. I know dry food is good for her teeth but I see wet food as being closer to the foodstuff she would be eating in the wild. 

I feed her wet food for breakfast and tea and she has dry food or kitty biscuits to snack on through the day. I've only ever seen her drink water from her bowl once so I worry that with dry food she might become dehydrated. As usual, I probably worry far too much.

People have told us that dry food doesn't have the sugars and additives that wet food can have but I am careful about the wet food I give her. I always check that there is a high meat content and have found one with no artificial colours or preservatives and the list of ingredients on the back states a minimum of 90% chicken or fish depending on the flavour. 

I have also been told that it's cheaper to feed a cat dry food and that dry keeps for longer and doesn't spoil as quickly once it's put down.

There seems to be positives and negatives for both which just confuses me more.

There's also one other factor that I need to take into consideration... Mabel herself.

She seems to have perfected the 'is this a joke?' look whenever something she dislikes is served up to her. I mentioned before about the large bag of dry food that the boyfriend bought her? The cat he had as a child happily grew up on the exact same brand of dry food. He lived to be a ripe old age but it was not to fussy little Mabel's liking and she only sniffed it briefly and turned away! This isn't a situation we want to (or can afford to) repeat! We've tried other dry food brands (in MUCH smaller bags) and she'll pick at them but it's really only the wet food she's interested in. She'll run to the wet food and always seems satisfied afterwards.

I am more than happy to change her diet to one that's better for her... I just need to know what a better diet is!