Saturday, July 11, 2015

The Cafe Matou Food Ballet

What we do for our cats ...

This video shows part of the morning food ballet, from after putting PW away to as I dish up Billy:

 Penwiper Wanting to Eat on the Terrace Video

Penwiper, who of course is always dressed formally for breakfast, seems to like to break his fast on the terrace lately.

The normal sequence:

  • Escort PW to his waiting room
  • Collect bowls for Oscar and PW
  • Dish up Oscar and PW (and save two kibbles for Billy & Whitey)
  • Put down Oscar's bowl under phone
  • Put down PW's bowl by back door
  • Shoo Billy away from PW's bowl, point him towards the private dining area
  • Open door to the waiting room, allowing Penwiper to scoot to his bowl ...
  • ... as Billy scoots into the waiting room ...
  • ... because Billy knows I'm going to throw a kibble into it!
  • Also throw a kibble to Whitey (keeps him out of PW's bowl until PW can get to it)
  • Get bowls for Whitey and Billy
  • Dish up Whitey, put bowl down
  • Dish up Billy, put bowl in his private dining room (so he doesn't raid other bowls)
  • After everyone finishes, let Billy out.

This went awry this morning at the "PW scoots to his bowl while I take of Whitey" sequence. He checked his bowl and immediately wandered away, swatting at Whitey to boot. (The swatting before he eats is why he waits in isolation for food).

Putting Penwiper's food on the terrace caused him to hop up and become a happy focused diner. We don't know why.   (He's also the only one allowed to join us for dinner, since he's the only one with the interest to visit and enough manners to mostly stay off the table.)

p.s. Boy do I look stiff in this video.   I need to put thought into moving with more energy.