It’s the Year of the Cat… and #HealthyMeetsHappy

Over the years, people have told us that we treat Newt like a dog. Even a vet said that to us once… to our surprise.

What does that mean?

Well, the first thing is that we had her microchipped! That’s what elicited that vet’s comment. Apparently it’s rare for a cat to be chipped. (But… what if she gets out????)

Another thing: She wears a collar. With an ID tag. (Seriously, you guys… what if she gets out????)

We also have her trained to be on a harness and line. That one, I’ll grant, isn’t super cat-like, but we want her to be able to experience the great outdoors–which is a very cat-like thing–but safely.

I don’t think any of those things are profoundly dog in nature. Rather, I think cats sometimes miss out on stuff like that because some cat folks think those things are profoundly un-cat in nature.

Same goes for routine vet visits. In three minutes of Googling, I found this from the JAVMA from 2013: nearly 45 percent of cat owners don’t take their cats for an annual check up. Say whaaa? I guess it’s because they can be hard to coerce into a carrier, but that care is just as important for a cat as it is for a dog!

The last piece of this “dog-centric” cat treatment comes in with her afternoon food puzzle.

This post is sponsored by Wellness® and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share the availability of Wellness Complete Health and NEW Complete Health Grain Free Cat Food available at PetSmart, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Neither Wellness or PetSmart is not responsible for the content of this article.

Newt eats wet food for breakfast and dinner. From what I understand, this is a fairly un-cat-like behavior, but we had nothing to do with it. It’s all her. She INSISTS on eating her meals when the dogs eat theirs. It makes things pretty convenient. We fix up a stack of bowls twice a day, pills and supplements included, and everyone chows down. Piece of, well, not cake… piece of kibble for the dogs and tuna in ample gravy for Newt…

If we don’t make with her bowl pretty quickly, she’ll shove her face in the dogs’ bowls and eat theirs.

Anyways, back to the afternoon food puzzle.

We’ve always given the dogs food toys, from simple Kongs to elaborate Nina Ottosson puzzles. Years ago, it occurred to me: Why don’t we give one to Newt? Do cats benefit from food puzzles?

Again, a few minutes of Googling, and the answer was a resounding YES!

It’s super stimulating for cats to work for their food. They like to use their brains, paws, noses, and manipulate objects to fish out or sniff out or dig out their food, just as the dogs do. So, we started her on a couple small food puzzles… easy ones, at first, like a kitty Kong and the Snacky Mouse (her fave), and have upgraded her to more elaborate ones that we originally purchased or were given for the dogs.

Afternoon puzzle time has become a non-negotiable part of her day. Around 10 am she starts meowing for it (even though we don’t give it to her until noon).

All that said, with wet food for breakfast and dinner, and kibble in the afternoon, it was on us to keep a super close eye on her weight.

A big part of that is choosing the healthiest food we can for her.

We’ve done a pretty good job so far, but I felt like the food we were giving her was pretty good. And, as tends to happen, right when I started to research other options, the chance to try out Wellness® Complete Health™ came up, and I thought… DUH! We already are a Wellness household. If you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know that it’s been Emmett’s food since 2009. So, why didn’t it occur to me to try Newt on Wellness?

Lightbulb!

So, we went shopping, and yes, this is the face I make when I have like 400 things to choose from at PetSmart… Thanks, John, for catching this one! 😉

I picked a variety because cats are generally known to be pretty fussy, although that hasn’t really ever been Newt’s story… you just never know. So, the assortment I ended up with:

And, for full disclosure, I did not taper her existing food or transition gradually in any responsible way.

Luckily, it worked out!

She’s done just fine on this food. In fact, today we were commenting on how sleek and shiny her coat looks… almost thicker than usual. She’s actually going a smidge bonkers over the chunky meats and the gravy. Her previous food was more like a pate style, and this is really adding some excitement to her day!

As for the dry food, I really, really, really want a grain-free kibble for her afternoon puzzle. The Wellness Complete Health line is that, and there are some choices in formula and flavor, too. I picked up two options, and so far, so good. (Aside: One of the things in their reinvention of these formulas was changing the kibble size and shape, so it’s smaller and rounder. That’s a big deal for a teeny, tiny cat like Newt. So we’re pretty happy about that change!)

OK, so what does all this have to do with the headline, the year of the cat? Wellness declared 2017 The Year of the Cat, and Newtie told me to tell everyone, “It’s about damn time!!!” Cats deserve love, attention, health, happiness, and a fulfilled life, of course. Healthy food is one sliver of that, so we’re pretty thrilled to be trying out all this food.

BTW, go check out all the Wellness options here!

Anyway, we’re still new to this food. I’m going to give it a few weeks, and I’ll report back on how it’s going. If you have any specific Qs, let me know, and I’ll try to address them next month!

In the meantime, I better go fill her puzzle toy before she gets too irritated with me… it is her year, after all!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wellness®. The opinions and text are all mine.