Second-rate Food

It is sometimes a chore to figure out what the beasts will eat at meal times. Most are consistent in what they enjoy, but inconsistent in enjoying it every day. I try to vary it within the range of what they like, but some food just doesn’t appeal to them, either immediately or eventually.

Then there is the second-rate food. This is the food that the cats - or some of them - will eat, but not for dinner. This nutrition is the equivalent of a bookshop’s remnant table, a bargain basement’s contents, or the merchandise at a garage sale. Someone will eat this food, but only after consideration, and in order to fill the small hole that the preferred fare didn’t quite satisfy.

To serve it as a main course will result in upturned noses, and a determination to starve rather than to consume. Therefore, it is left out with a side-order of time. Weeknights will frequently see a bowl of something that was bought more in hope than conviction, and the long period between breakfast and dinner on weekends will produce the little brother to the favourite dish.

The advantage of having eight cats is that few items purchased will go to waste; someone will sooner or later eat it. It may take a while; it may require numerous offers, but it does go. It is the sad but inevitable fate of being second-rate.