We don't like these, mom!

Weekend mornings are a time to sleep in, usually. But last Saturday and Sunday, I was not allowed to.

When I adopted the girls, they came with a big bag of cat food and several containers of kitty litter. These had been purchased at Meijer, a warehouse Target/Wal-Mart-ish store, for those of you who don't know the name. I don't shop there because there isn't one near me. So, they had to adapt to the litter I use and to different cat food. I found a couple brands of litter and a couple different types of cat food that they enjoy.

Two weeks ago, I needed litter so I went to Target as they had several brands on sale. I got Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Litter. You can see it kind of looks like very fine wood chips. It's supposed to be corn fibers and baking soda to cut down on odor and to be a softer footing for the cat.

The girls hate it.

I have 3 litter boxes. It is recommended you have one box per cat and a spare. When I had 5 cats, I had 6 boxes. With just the 2 of them, I have 3 boxes. Two boxes contained this stuff and the other contained what was left of the Fresh Step litter I usually buy. The Fresh Step was "over used" while the Arm and Hammer was barely used. Perhaps they need to get used to it but it's clear to me they don't like it.

I don't like cleaning it. The corn fibers are bigger than the Fresh Step stuff and I find that I might as well use a shovel because the slotted litter scoop I use catches everything. We are back to Fresh Step which was on sale at Dominicks over the weekend. Plus, Fresh Step has a "members reward program" and I get points for buying this product. I have several sets of points to enter into my total. I might be able to get something free for the girls. Points and free cat stuff isn't an overriding reason to stick with a brand. I will buy Arm and Hammer's litter that looks like Fresh Step if it's on sale. The girls have spoken and we all know I like to make my cats happy.

The next issue was the food. We were low on food last week but I had limited resources. There were coupons in the paper for Friskies. Dominicks had it on sale. The $5.99 bag was reduced to $3.99 and I had a $1.00 off coupon. So, for $2.99, I got a bag of cat food.

It was not appreciated.

Maybe it was the texture. These are more oddly-shaped pieces and, perhaps, they don't like that. Maybe it's the taste. How am I to know if the stuff tastes good? I just know that I bought the bag on Wednesday because we were completely out and they looked at me Wednesday night as if I had gone crazy. They nibbled because they were hungry but, if you have never been "yelled at" by a cat, you don't understand what Pilchard did Saturday morning to awaken me.

Mija was lying on top of me, purring up a storm. Pilchard came into the bedroom, stood by the bed and meowed. It was the tone of the meow. She was not happy. Both dishes still had food in them but I freshened it. She looked at the bowl and then looked up at me and meowed. Okay, that message is clear. My grocery run on Saturday included new litter and new cat food. I got the big bag of Purina Indoor Cat food. They do like this.

But, I've already spent money on the litter and cat food that they don't like. I don't want to just toss the stuff. The one bag of litter is going in the car for winter. You should carry a bag, if you live in northern climes, because putting litter under a spinning wheel allows you to get out of being stuck. I mixed the last of the corn litter into the Fresh Step and we'll just phase that out of use. I also mixed the food they like with the food they dislike and they are happily eating all of it.

Am I nuts for going to these lengths to make the girls happy? Maybe, but they provide so much peace and enjoyment to me, the least I can do is make them happy.

Beverage: Apple Cider Tea

Deb