your ladbroke grove looks turn me on, yeah...

Middle class problems, part LVIII.

When we first got our cat, the RSPCA rescue shelter advised us that it was always better to keep her on dry food and not to get her started on wet food.  Fine by us.  We went to the supermarket and picked up a big bag of kibbles, assuming that all kibbles were more or less the same.

Fast forward a couple of months, and we were dropping our dear little treasure off at the cat hotel for the first time.  When asked what we fed her, the crazy cat lady who runs the shelter/rescue/cattery told us off in no uncertain terms for scrimping on the kibble we bought.  Supermarket own brand, it seems, is definitely not as healthy for a cat as more expensive brands like Hills Science Plan or Royal Canin.  Stung, and feeling like bad cat owners, not only have we always fed the cat the most expensive dried food since then, we even go to the trouble to buy several different types and to create her a custom kibble mix.  She prefers it fresh, you know.  She can tell.

Anyway.  Here's the middle class problem:

Some empty boxes have been appearing around our office, with a plea for people to put in some sort of cat food that will then be collected together and taken to a local cat rescue so that all the poor little rescue cats can have plenty of food over Christmas.

As a cat-tragic household, we were always going to be making a donation.  On my very next trip to the supermarket, I made my way down the pet food aisle.  I don't have to do a great deal of thinking when shopping for my own cat, other than to make sure it's all organic, fair trade goodness for my little princess.  This time though, I hesitated.  Did I really want to spend £12 on a bag of kibbles to donate, or would it be better for everyone if I just spent £5 buying two big bags of supermarket own brand?

After a moment's consideration, I went for quantity over quality.  Partly this was because the brands that I usually buy aren't on sale in the supermarket and I would have to make a stop off at Pets at Home on the way back home, but mostly it was because I thought that rescue cats probably won't be that fussy and more is better.

I've been feeling guilty about this decision ever since.  I can't help but feel bad about the fact that I have tacitly accepted that a rescue cat is not as important as my own cat.  The rescue are presumably grateful for the free food that will enable them to look after more cats for longer, but meanwhile I'm wringing my hands about the whole thing and agonising that I didn't buy them Royal Canin  Poor little mites.

Ridiculous, but true.

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In other cat related news, my wife has been pining somewhat for our cat to sleep on the bed a bit more.  Our cat goes through definite phases of where she likes to sleep: at this time of year she likes the beanbag in the living room that is pressed up against the radiator, but she also likes a good lap and has been known to spend time on the nice, scrunchy duvet on our bed (especially when she's dirty and wet and we have clean bed linen).   Like any self-respecting cat, she won't be put, of course, and has to choose to hop on of her own free will.  Of late, she hasn't been hopping on.

...except when C. was in Monte Carlo last week, when the cat made a point of curling up on the bed and having a snooze against my legs.  Now that C. is back, she's stopped.

My wife is starting to take this personally.