More Pets!

So yes: four cats and a dog just weren't enough. We needed more pets.

About four years ago, a few months after I got Nelson and Healy, I turned my fishtank over to my buddy Bill, whose daughters had expressed an interest in getting some fish. It was a win-win situation: Bill and his girls got fish, I got to stop cleaning a fishtank.

Well, Bill's moving houses now (and in some ways that can be traced to my meddling as well), and asked me if I wanted the fishtank back. He must have caught me after I had had a few drinks, because I said yes. Little did I know that Bill had turned the fishtank into a black-and-gold-molly breeding factory...

So the tank came back this week, loaded with fish. Indeed, while I figured the girls would have fun with it, I was more interested to see how the cats would react. Within two minutes of setting up the tank, Healy had his face plastered to the glass. And here's Miss Stinker herself, Pearl, checking out the new tank:


But the amusement doesn't end there.

The very same day that the tank arrived, Nelson and Healy went to the vet for their every-two-years annual checkup. Now, two years ago when this happened, when Nelson came out of the cat carrier at the vet's office, our vet looked a little shocked and gasped "Oh, my!". Yeah, he's big. I was worried what she'd say this time. What she said were those words that strike fear into the hearts of every living being that has to hear them:

DOCTOR-ORDERED WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM

Uh oh. No more free grazing for the boys. And in our house, when one cat's on a diet ALL cats are on a diet. (Upon hearing this, Pearl immediately lodged a protest with the local chapter of the National Association of Oppressed Felines). So the always-full auto feeder has been taken away, and portion control is the slogan for the house.

So I'm just thinking: hungry cats, new fish..... Hmmm....... This will go well.