Long gone are the days when Famish, our cuddly friend, was a scrawny alley cat.  Recently he has been tipping the scales at 6.8 kilograms.  That translates to almost 15 pounds of kitty.  In his defense he is naturally a “big-boned” cat.  His head is huge and his paws are big too.  Unfortunately his belly is ginormous and he is always hungry.  It appears to be a brain thing from his days on the streets paired with a life of leisure. We have been feeding him less food than the guidelines on his Costco kibble advise but apparently that’s still too much.  The vet had told us to feed him 75% of the recommended amount in the summer and the full amount in the winter (to help offset the frigidity inside older Japanese houses).  We thought we had been adhering to that but something is amiss.

Anyway, we took Famish to the vet because he had a little bleeding from his gums.  We weren’t sure if it was from illness or from the vigor with which he attacks his string toy when we play with him.  The vet took one look at him and pronounced Famish fat and in need of a diet.  He needs to lose at least 3 pounds and preferably a little more.  He has some new fancy food and we are more carefully measuring his portions.  We are on day five and he looks as chubby as ever to me so we are taking an additional step.

His gums are fine by the way.

We are moving forward on the theory maybe we made a mistake in naming our rotund feline, Famish.  We are hedging our new-age bets and giving him a nickname to help him control his hungry urges.  He is now referred to as “man-chan”.  That’s pronounced “m-aah-n ch-aah-n”.  “Manpuku” means full to capacity in Japanese.  “Chan” has few uses and one of them is an affectionate term to add to a nickname.  Half of “manpuku” plus “chan” gives us the moniker man-chan.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that it works (along with less food).

Please send man-chan your skinniest thoughts!

–The Green Tea Dreamer-chan