A Stitch In Time

Last week Gunther had a lump on his back removed.

It was nothing serious, but the lump was kind of gross, and had a habit of bleeding and oozing goo everywhere, and in an effort to make my dog less disgusting, we had this procedure done. Gunther has spent the last few days with this frankensteinish hairless patch of skin on his back. He isn't wearing a cone, because he can't quite reach the spot, but it hasn't stopped him from trying to bend himself in half like a pretzel.

While Gunther was at the vet, I made a change that has been a long time coming. If you've been to our home, you know that we fed the pets at the end of this hallway-like pantry off the kitchen. The dog was fed on the floor, and the cats on the counter, so that Gunther wouldn't eat their food. Unfortunately, the dog would just wait until he thought we weren't looking, and then he'd jump up and eat the cats' food anyway. He learned how to push aside any barrier we put up, bread machine, hand held vacuum, you name it.

Last week I put a baby gate up to the pantry. I moved to dog's food bowl and the water bowl to just outside the baby gate. Then I move the cats' bowls to the floor on the far end of the pantry, where Gunther's bowl used to be, so they no longer need to jump up on the counter.

Problem solved, right?

But not quite. Because our pets have taken this opportunity to show us just how stupid they are. Yes, they can probably do more algebra than I can, but the cats can NOT figure out that I have moved their bowls. And now, every single time I feed them, they watch me put the food into their bowls on the floor, and then jump up on the counter and start meowing their heads off. "Where is my food? Where? Feed us! Feed us, you mean old lady! Meowwwww!" Stupid cats. I have to pick up each furball and plop his right in front of his bowl. Despite the fact that it's the same bowls they used before, and the same food, they don't get it. And they only eat about three bites before wandering off.

Gunther, on the other hand, eats his food right away. But when he sees the cats eating in the spot that used to be his, and realizes he can't get there to eat the food first, he goes bonkers. He'll bark at the cats, and then at me. "My Food! My Food! The cats are eating my FOOD!" Stupid dog.