Picky eaters

["Kathy Myers" <kathy@nvolve.com>]

We had a cat client when I was in school.  The woman insisted
the cat would only eat lobster and crab.  The cat would turn
it's nose up at everything else.  Certainly no cat food!  The
problem with this... in addition to the cost... was that cat
looked like hell.  What kind of coat do you think that cat had?
Lobster and crab is not exactly a balanced diet for a cat.

I have no idea what kind of eater Magnum was when he was racing...
before he was a handicap riding horse... before they got shutdown
and he was abandoned.  When rescued, he was skin and bones.  Does
he eat?  He'll eat every single stem of hay put in front of him.
I think he'd eat the straw in a stall.

Now this might be a bit drastic, but the "cure" for that cat was
to put down cat food and let it get hungry.  This is *very*
difficult for doting owners.  Few animals will actually starve to
death with some kind of food in front of them, no matter how picky.

I like the welsh pony idea better.  Nothing like competition.
With our picky dogs all I had to do was crate the hoover vacuume
cleaner next to the picky dog and... no more picky dog.  I do
know that if you continue to try to appease a picky eater it
will get worse.  Better to feed a balanced diet and give them
a specified time to eat it.  Then, back out into the drylot.
We're going into winter.  Maybe a good time to work on it.
Obviously, you can't reprogram his eating habits and expect to
compete at the same time.

Blue?  Jackie said he eats and drinks like a champ.  Well, I
packed almost an entire 3 string bale of grass / alfalfa for
our 48 hours going to and from the Gold Country 50.  Must have
been about 100 pounds of hay.  I started feeding the first of
it Friday morning on the way up.  I fed the last of it Sunday
morning when he returned home.  He ate it all.  Very few scraps.
He also ate as much as he had time for in all the vet checks.
He ate a very nice flake of young oat hay the people next door
left when they fled the hail.  I have no idea where it all went.

I'm just guessing here, but a winter up on a range in the Sierra
fending for himself with a herd of ranch horses would probably
have taught him the value of eating...

:) - Kat Myers
in San Mateo, CA with Magnum the TB ex-racer
... took two years for his mane and tail to grow back
and Mr Maajistic... resident incinerator