Our Pets' Feeding Habits Run Our Lives

Seph begs for food at the closet door

Every morning, our cat Seph wakes me up anywhere from 1-3 hours before my intended wake-up time, usually as soon as the sun comes up.  I try to ignore it, but his persistence is unmatched, and he consistently finds new ways to force me to get out of bed. Some of his favorite tactics are scratching at the bed, standing above my head, knocking things down, meowing loudly enough to wake up the puppy, etc.

Pearl loves to eat

Pearl, our puppy is next.  After we go outside in the morning, she wants food immediately and then wants something to chew on.  She always scarfs down her meals very quickly and needs to eat anything that Kita eats or she throws a temper tantrum.  She also gets very protective over her food if she thinks any of the other pets are too close, which is a behavior that is worrisome and hope to change.

Zoey begs for food with his eyes

My cat, Zoey, doesn't bug us for food so much but he certainly can eat.  He is a little overweight so we try to limit his meals, but he has a habit of stealing all of the other pet's food if he is hungry and has access to the food.  This extends to any of our food that he can find in the garbage or on the counter, so we limit his access to the kitchen.  The only way that this is possible is his fear of the dogs and they are between him and the kitchen.

Kita as a youngster

Our Husky, Kita, is the most well-behaved pet when it comes to food.  He is allergic to chicken, so we have to be very careful that nothing we give him has any chicken in it at all, or he vomits.  Often, his food can sit out all day without him touching it sometimes, but then other days he eats it immediately.  On the rare circumstances that he wants more dry food, he will hit the empty bowl until it flips over in order to get our attention.  He is also crazy about treats, rawhides, and wet food.  Luckily, he doesn't beg for these items, but gets extremely excited about them.

The collective eating habits of the 4 pets combined can get expensive.  To combat this, we collect pet food coupons, watch for sales at the stores, and have loyalty cards for each of the pet stores that are nearby so that we can get discounted prices and coupons in the mail or by email.  We purchase rawhides, bones and toys online when we find sales on Amazon or other sites.  I also have signed up for email alerts for the pet foods we buy most often by visiting their websites, and occasionally they will email coupons and sales.  I have my family members look for coupons for our favorite pet products and they clip and send them to us or give them to me when I see them.  Regardless, their food is costly, so I'm always open to new tips on saving money without buying lower quality food.  They are valued family members and are too important to let them eat anything that could shorten their lifespan or make them sick.

Zoey's Favorite Things

 As I've posted before, Zoey is a bit of a scaredy-cat and slightly overweight, so he isn't the most active kitty.  He's afraid of dogs, so he spends a lot of time in our bedroom away from the rest of the family.  Worse yet, we have to cage him at night and when we are gone so that he doesn't get into everything and pee everywhere.

Zoey eats everything: any type of cat food or treats, dog food, human food and anything that looks like it might be edible.  He once ate part of our fake Christmas tree.  You might think we don't feed him enough but we feed him multiple times daily and more than our other cat, Seph.  Worse yet, we get yelled at by our vet for him being overweight (he is 13 lbs on a good day), but if we limit his food he just finds other things to eat that are worse for him.


The only time he ventures out into the family room is while the dog is outside so that he can eat any dog food that may be left out.  He knows that he has a limited amount of time before I notice and remove the food bowl, so he walks low to the ground very slowly, fill his mouth with as much food as possible, and then runs into another room so that he can dump the food and eat it at his leisure.  His leisure, of course, is about 2 gulps without chewing done within a 30 second time span.  I'm not thrilled about this trait as dog food is not good for cats, is more expensive and it certainly doesn't help solve his weight problem.

 There are a few more things that make Zoey happy.  One is a laser pointer.  However, he can only play with this for a short period of time before he gets tired and simply watches the laser rather than chasing it.  He chases balls and other cat toys for about the same length of time.  He likes to hide and jump out at Seph in an attempt to catch him in a surprise.  Seph is very observant, however, so I've yet to see Zoey successfully surprise him.  Both Zoey and Seph enjoy sitting in front of a window watching birds, squirrels and bunnies, so we put a bird feeder near 2 of the windows to increase the animals' visits to our yard.  This is what we call "TV for cats" and it can keep them busy for hours.  Zoey has a habit of pushing Seph off of the perch to make more room for himself, and Seph typically takes this in stride and finds another window to look out.


Finally, Zoey loves to cuddle.  This is my favorite part of his sometimes frustrating personality.  The best part of Zoey's day is when I am in the bedroom reading my Kindle or watching television because He can lay on my stomach and put his nose to my face.  I assume this is his way of expressing affection, but I could do without a cold nose against my own nose or forehead.  He also purrs and puts his neck out so I can rub his chin.  Despite the fact that Kita is our pride and joy and that Seph is a lot more well-behaved and is always around, at these moments I can see the gratitude and true loyalty that he has to me and I know that he loves me more than he loves anyone or anything in the world.  Something in his big eyes at these times says it all. His frustrating qualities are somehow forgiven and I know that I'm very lucky to have him in our lives.

Many people would not put up with Zoey's five years of bad behavior, and many people told me to give him up over the early years.  That's the thing about pets: they can drive you crazy when they are younger, but most of them settle down eventually.  We give them toys, food and attention, and that is typically paid back at some point.  So frustrated pet-parents and people put off by the expense and the amount of work that they require, hang in there, because they add more to your life than they can ever take away and their gratitude and loyalty last forever.  Don't give up on them.  Right now, Zoey and my kindle are waiting for me to come and relax, and any further blogging can be postponed for another day!

    Find Zoey on

Saving Money on Pet Supplies

Kita with his Christmas Gift

Pet supplies are expensive, but when you love your pets as much as we do, you can't help but spoil them. These are some techniques that we use to keep our pet supply costs down.

Post-Holiday shopping: Just like clothing goes on sale at the end of a season, pet supplies are marked down a lot right after the holidays.  Stock up on toys for the following year right after your favorite holidays and hide the presents for your pets or the pets of family and friends until the following year.

Make sure that you sign up for rewards cards at your favorite stores and register them online. Also, sign up for email updates to find out about upcoming sales and clearances, as well as to find out when there are free or discounted shipping deals.  Add items that you need often to your "shopping carts" online at stores like Petsmart and Amazon.  Then wait until the items go on sale to buy them.  Amazon - Up to 50% Off in Pet Supplies Markdowns

If you have picky pets, be sure to ask the pet store clerks if they have free samples of pet food that you can try out or whether they have an option of returning food that has been opened if your pets do not like it.  Many pet stores will offer one or both of these options, but they are rarely advertised.

Look for pet coupons in your newspapers and mail and ask your friends and family members to clip coupons for you of the items that you buy most often.  This can save you a lot of money if you buy common brands of pet food and treats.  Some stores have coupon books that they will give out or sell for a low cost.  A great example is the new puppy coupon book sold at Petsmart for $20.  The coupon savings in that book far exceed the costs and include discounts on pet supplies and visits to the vet, pets hotel and grooming salon.  Get Pets Coupons for Amazon.

Most importantly, make sure that you are feeding your pets healthy food made by trustworthy companies.  Chicken jerky treats can be particularly dangerous for dogs and sometimes food and treats from China cause pet deaths.  Sign up for alerts from the FDA on recalls, and if you aren't sure about a product, research it online before buying it.  Losing a pet is devastating enough without realizing that it was due to feeding them food that you thought was safe.

Adopt a Shelter Cat Month isn't over yet!

Tips for Adopting a Cat from Petfinder

Petsmart Charities

Find out more information on caring for cats on Animal Planet's site.

Make sure that all of your Pets are healthy with Pets.WebMD and ASPCA's site.

Either check out the FDA site regularly or sign up for email alerts, because Pet food and treats do get recalled.  Just today I was alerted that the dog food Kita was eating was recalled due to potential salmonella...very scary because if I didn't get that info from FDA it is unlikely that I would have found out at all.

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Check out my first youtube video of Kita!