Tuesday, September 6, 2022

The Good Stuff

 Yesterday morning, when I went out, the orange and white tabby was in the back yard. 

The previous day I had seen him for the first time, He slunk out from beneath the dump truck to where two of my other strays were feeding from their dishes. There was some growling, so I got another dish of food and set it out for the newcomer who had returned to hide under the dump truck. This guy looked so awful that I would have given him a can of 'the good stuff', but I didn't want a cat fight.

When I pulled out of the driveway, he'd once again come out from beneath the truck and was eating ravenously. 

I was glad to see him back, and so right away, I went inside and got the last can of good stuff from the top of the fridge and gave it to him. He's very wary. He stood up when I approached with the dish, prepared to bolt. I got as close as I thought I could without scaring him off, set the dish on the ground with a few kind words, and then went back inside to watch. 

He was very interested in the food, but made a great show of grooming himself while keeping a close eye on that food dish. Finally, he dared to move a bit closer to it. And then closer still...and before too awful long he was polishing the bottom of the bowl. 

Tim does not hate the cats, but he's not happy about them. He's not a fan of animals in the house. He never has been. These cats aren't, but I think he has this horrible fear that they will be once the weather turns bad.

But....

He does not mind the occasional bag of kibble.

He doesn't mind the little collection of china bowls that I picked up from Goodwill to keep them fed. 

He did wince a little when I spent $30 on Ivermectin for Mangey. 

He also began to look a bit unhappy when I needed the good food. I could mix the ivermectin into it, and Mangey would gobble down the full dose. 

But for all of that, Mangey healed up so remarkably quickly that Tim stopped complaining at all. He now comes around so infrequently that the little stack of cans sat on top of the fridge for a month or so, which I am sure that Tim found reassuring. 

But now there is another, and I'd fed him the last can of the good stuff. 

I had to pick up a few groceries and thought to pick up another half dozen cans of cat food. It is 83 cents a can. Because I am thrifty, I compared single price cans to multipacks. It got very pricey very quickly. But...I saw one case of 9-Lives. It contained 36 cans. It was $22.84, which worked out to 63 cents a can. Plus, each can was 5.5 oz compared to the fancy feast I'd been buying which was 3 oz. I could get two meals from each can. Doing some math, I figured that I'd be cutting the costs of my feral cat hobby by more than half. 

Tim was not happy to see the carton of cat food. Even with the explanation. 

Huh. 

But I fixed him right up. I can barely keep up with the tomatoes coming ripe in the garden so I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen lately. I made up a batch of my best spaghetti sauce yet. (secret: sautee the peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms in a little olive oil, and then add the tomatoes and simmer.) I made homemade meat balls. He couldn't stop raving about how great this batch of sauce had turned out. "It's perfect," he said. 

Cats aren't the only critters that like the good stuff.

33 comments:

  1. The way to a man's heart and all that 😉

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  2. Jaycee beat me to saying the way to a man's heart but also the way to a cats heart too!

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  3. I was watching a cooking video and the reason we need oil in the pan is that it allows the flavors to come out of the onions and garlic, they are only fat soluble, I believe was the explanation. I like red peppers in my sauce too but I don't like lumpy sauces, so I run it through a food mill after it's cooked. I also add about a tablespoon of butter, for the same reason, it helps hold the flavors better.
    I cooked up ground chicken and added it to my sauce yesterday and it truly was the best spaghetti sauce I've ever made. Instead of salt I used MSG and that helps to enhance the flavors too. I bought the MSG after talking to my daughter. She uses it in place of salt in her Asian dishes and it works wonders. No better or worse for you than regular salt and it brings another flavor to the food.

    I'm so glad you're feeding the strays.

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    1. That really does make perfect sense. I've always just tossed the raw vegetables all together and simmered them down, but adding the vegetables sauteed to the tomatoes REALLY made a difference. (Plus I also simmered it with two Italian sausages). I also got the herbs just right.

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  4. Some butchers sell Pet mince. It's not really suitable for humans but perfectly adequate for cats and dogs.

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    1. Butchers are not a thing here. Giant meat processing plants process the meat and it arrives to the store ready wrapped. We do have a butcher who processes meat for the people who smallhold. My sister and brother in law usually load up a couple cows and take them there every year. I know the butcher sells bones, but I'm not sure how much pet mince he could get away with selling, since he's performing a service for someone else. I should ask.

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  5. Ginger has obviously picked up the good news on the feline grapevine!
    It is good to sit and watch cats, or just be with them.
    Cat Politics gets fun at dusk...YouCan imagine who is saying what to who!!

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    1. Ginger! Perfect! We have yet to have political unrest, but I am sure we will see the day.

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  6. Glad the new sreay is beginning to settle in - strays need friends like you.

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  7. What a kind person you are to feed the cats, and your hubby! My grandcats eat dry food plus only one-fourth of a can of wet can food per day. Might want to mix smaller portions of wet food with, or on top of dry food and see how your feral friends do. Linda in Kansas

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    1. As of now, we will stick with the half can. I want them to be ready for winter, able to generate enough body heat to be comfortable.

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  8. What about keeping some of the offal and other stuff when you butcher your deer this fall? Would the cats eat that? Could it be frozen. Perhaps mixed in with the good stuff to stretch it even further? Heck, our dogs (who are well-fed) always visit the "gut pile" at a nearby deer camp and bring home treats all through deer season (and afterward). Ugh. (smiling as I remember your deer head story!!)

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    1. I am not cooking offal in my kitchen. ( But I totally get you)

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    2. Haha.... there are people who pay good money for offal in fine dining restaurants! (one of those times I'm happy to be vegan)

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    3. LOL. I am not vegan, but I am happy not to be a 'fine diner'.

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  9. I tend to forgive much quicker after a tasty meal too!

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  10. You’re doing what I would do- I couldn’t watch those strays without feeding them! It’s been a while since we saw any here though.. not since years ago when one had babies in our garage loft- be still my heart!😍 Ricki🤗

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    1. Ha! A cat had kittens in my sister's garage. She was not keeping them. Not one!

      The mother died...no idea what happened. Next thing you know. My sister and her husband were bewitched. They couldn't bear to part with them. Not one!

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  11. That's a very good saving indeed. The to and fros of relationships never end.

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    1. When the to and fro-ing stops, you can be sure that the relationship is dying.

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  12. You are such a sweetheart, Debby!

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    1. I am a fixer. I always want to fix things. Usually I can't, so when I come across something I can do something about, I tend to do it with my whole heart.

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  13. Remind Tim you are preparing the mousers for down the track. Keep cooking those delicious meals and he will be putty in your paws.

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  14. Thereby proving the way to a man’s (complaint) is through his stomach.
    Mary

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    1. Tim said, after we were engaged, 'Please don't ever ask me to cook.' After 8 years of bachelorhood, he was sick of it. I've pretty much kept my word for these last 25 years.

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  15. You get off cheaply. I spent $1.50 for small containers for Lacey today. I bought 6 because they are her fave, and they are hard to find. BTW, things are more expensive here, so they would probably only be$1.20 or so for you. If you want to help. . . .

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  16. Hah! I was going to finish that and then add a 😀

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    1. Wow. That is a lot of money to keep a cat happy. Of course, Lacey probably thinks that she's worth every last penny. Plus, she is an indoor cat which means that should you suddenly decide on austerity measures, she'd be able to kill you in your sleep.

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