Mystery Solved.

I have a funny story. It's a good one. Prepare to laugh out loud!

Last Friday, my friend stopped by and while we were talking, our cat, Colors, jumped up on the couch to sit next to her. My friend has graduated from Utah State with a degree in Animal Science, so when she said, "Your cat is fat," I knew she wasn't just being judgmental, she was really concerned. I let her know that I had been concerned too, but couldn't figure out why she was so fat since I only feed her once a day, and give her less than a cup at a feeding. So then, my friend felt her stomach and said, "maybe it's worms. You could administer a de-wormer, but I would start by cutting back on her food. It doesn't feel like she has worms. She just feels fat."

Then she asked, "What time of day do you feed her? Or does she get to eat whenever she wants?" And I responded that I only feed her a cup in the morning after the kids get on the bus and she doesn't seem to want to eat it then. But she will come back to it later in the day. I was really confused when my friend suggested to give her 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup at night to cut back--because I didn't feed her any more than that already! How was that cutting back? I wondered. So my friend, who works at a farm supply store, told me to come in to the store and she would help me pick out a de-wormer.

So later on, when Amber came home from school, I mentioned to her what my friend had said and suggested we pick up a dewormer, since the cause of her size couldn't be that she was overfed. I only feed Colors once a day. To which Amber replied, "You do? I feed Colors every night!" We both laughed since we each thought no one else ever fed the cat.

We knew that Colors was getting more food than she needed. No wonder she is a fat cat!

...Mystery solved.

And we laughed at ourselves!

We immediately determined to put her on a diet, poor kitty.

But wait. It gets better...

That night, as we were eating pizza around the table, Amber and I shared our discovery with the family so they could laugh too. And they laughed...

Then David exclaimed, "But I feed Colors every day on my way out the door in the morning."

...and we all laughed again.

And then Brigham said, "I feed Colors a handful of cat food each morning when she follows me downstairs."

...and we all laughed harder!

And then Isaac chimed in, "And I feed her every day when I get home from school!" And Amber confirmed the fact that she found him on several occasions filling the cat bowl to the rim.

...and we all laughed even harder, realizing that we each thought, "I am the only one taking care of the cat!" and we had never discussed the issue of feeding our beloved kitty before.

So our mystery is solved. Our cat is fat because she has so many owners who love her. But alas, five cups a day is too much love for any cat!

Poor, fat kitty, her owners can't even keep track of how much food they offer her in a day!

And so, henceforth, the decree has gone forth in the Rad-home that
Brigham shall feed Colors one half cup in the morning
and Amber shall feed Colors one half cup at night.

And we shall see if that fat cat can lose some weight!

...In the mean time, we will be laughing about this for years!

We hope you get a kick out of the story too. :)

My friend did!

When I went in to the farm store and told her our discovery,

she laughed for a long time and then said, "Honey, you don't need a de-wormer!"

(to which I agreed)

...and we were both still laughing when I left the store!