Gourmet girl

Latest update on the pet front is that despite the wife's hankering after a replacement Q-tip, we still have not found one. The one at the SPCA was not a mini-maltese and anyway she, being over four years old, has no history that we know of. We don't know her health condition, temperament, or even how she is going to react with three other cats in the house. Sad, but we gave her up to the third person on the wait list and hope she can find a good home there.

Least of all, I don't want a rebound dog picked up on impulse, thinking the same personality will be perfectly replicated when we should know very well it's not likely to be. If we got a puppy, we could watch her grow up, and adapt to her quirks as they develop.

In the meantime, Elim gave me a sampling of Sunday Pets freeze-dried raw mussels (above) to see how the cats would take to it. Out of the bag, the mussels smell like something even I would like to put in my mouth, but I bested temptation and gave the cats one each in their dinner bowls. The boys ran away screaming. Those two must have been brought up to eat commercial crap. Plebeians!

But Momo proved to have the more discerning palate. After a cautious sniff at the mussel in her bowl, she picked it up and ate it on the kitchen floor. The boys weren't troubling her, so she took her time to savour the delicate bouquet of this rare treat. Then she went back for seconds.

For her thirds --  la piece de resistance -- she chose a cozy spot on the kitchen rug to down the last one. I groaned inwardly over the prospect of having to clear the crumbs away, but Momo did a good job of mopping up most of the mess for me.

Freeze-dried mussels are gourmet food for cats with more mature tastebuds and who can appreciate the finer things in life. But they are only an appetizer, as far as Momo is concerned. She still came back for her regular two scoops of commercial kibble for dinner.