OK, so we have a diabetic cat who apart from his illness at least seems to understand he is a cat, whereas the other cat doesn't seem sure. To elaborate; Bob seems to think he is a dog and has done for some time, he doesn't eat dog food but he does like a nice walk around the fields with us. He also leans on you like a Labrador does.
Maybe a cat coming for a walk is not so odd, I have heard about other cats that do that, but what about a chicken who thinks its a cat! Ever since Charlie has got sick we have to be very strict about mealtimes and leaving food out, to the extent that we can't at all. This means that both cats have to eat all their food at the same time. This is no problem for Charlie as part of the problem with his diabetes and having a raised blood sugar means that he is permanently hungry (although recently this has improved as his treatment has progressed). Bob on the other hand can't seem to get the hang of this and does (even after a lot of encouragement) leave food.
At the same time all this started our remaining hen started to go downhill again, she hasn't laid since January and we really thought her time was coming, she stopped eating and looked really miserable. In order to help her try to eat we gave her a little bit of cat food (some people suggest this as a way to boost them when moulting and when they need a bit more protein in their diets, just for a while). Well the chicken just loves cat food (we don't give her chicken flavour of course) and so now rather than chuck out Bob's uneaten food we give it to the hen. She has improved a lot since this started! Now almost flying down the drive for a couple of bits of cat food. Nothing wrong with her then.
So a cat who thinks he's a dog (perhaps we should try him on dog food!) and a hen who thinks she's a cat. Oh yes and as the hen thinks she is a cat she thinks she can now come indoors because they do! Oh the joy of animals...
Maybe a cat coming for a walk is not so odd, I have heard about other cats that do that, but what about a chicken who thinks its a cat! Ever since Charlie has got sick we have to be very strict about mealtimes and leaving food out, to the extent that we can't at all. This means that both cats have to eat all their food at the same time. This is no problem for Charlie as part of the problem with his diabetes and having a raised blood sugar means that he is permanently hungry (although recently this has improved as his treatment has progressed). Bob on the other hand can't seem to get the hang of this and does (even after a lot of encouragement) leave food.
At the same time all this started our remaining hen started to go downhill again, she hasn't laid since January and we really thought her time was coming, she stopped eating and looked really miserable. In order to help her try to eat we gave her a little bit of cat food (some people suggest this as a way to boost them when moulting and when they need a bit more protein in their diets, just for a while). Well the chicken just loves cat food (we don't give her chicken flavour of course) and so now rather than chuck out Bob's uneaten food we give it to the hen. She has improved a lot since this started! Now almost flying down the drive for a couple of bits of cat food. Nothing wrong with her then.
So a cat who thinks he's a dog (perhaps we should try him on dog food!) and a hen who thinks she's a cat. Oh yes and as the hen thinks she is a cat she thinks she can now come indoors because they do! Oh the joy of animals...
