I love my cat

Chase Monster is just the best cat ever!! He may not be the most affectionate cat in the world but he definitely loves me. I truly believe that animals can sense when you are pregnant. Lately, he has been by my side a lot more. He knows that something is up and that I am moving quite differently than normal. Well, basically I am waddling.



Here he is looking outside and watching the birds. He can easily push the screen door open and make a run for freedom. But he would never leave the comforts of home and his mama bear. He just loves me too much.



Here you can see his bigness in proportion to the door.

He has never ever even made an attempt to go out, but I often wonder what he is thinking about as he looks out. Out there there is no bed for him to sleep on and no one to feed him when he meows. He must know how good he has it. He is the king of the house and so so spoiled (Baby Bear may disrupt that a bit).

Chase Monster could never be an outdoor kitty, he just doesn't have the street smarts, nor would he be able to run and jump fences as other skinny kitties would. He is big boned and not much of a runner.

Fat cat lifitng weights

Chase Monster decided to get in shape and lift some weights. hehehe

My Monster is not the fattest cat

Check out this article on a really fat cat. I guess he is pretty famous now, he appeared on Regis and Kelly.



And we all thought Chase Monster was really fat.

(Thanks Steph for sharing this article with me)

Photo Source: Newsday.com

The Litter Box Project

As you all probably know by now, Chase Monster is not a skinny cat by any means. Yes, he is really fat! Poor Chase barely squeezes through the hole in his litter box and it is really sad. So yesterday, Mr. Bear got out his power tool and we cut the hole to his litter box bigger so that he can comfortably get in and out of the litter box. I hope it makes him happy.

Mr. Bear says that Chase Monster probably now thinks he is skinny since he doesn't have to squeeze through the hole of the litter box. LOL.



My Disclaimers:
Yes, I am fully aware that is is not healthy for Chase to be so fat. I am doing what I can to help him lose weight and manage it. But he is 12 years old and there is only so much I can do. I have had him tested for possible illnesses and have talked with the vet on what I can do. He has always been a big cat but I do know that he needs to lose a few pounds. I feel bad that he is so fat; I don't want to be abusive, I love my Monster cat.

Yes, I know I could just have an open litter box for Chase. But our home is not very big and the closed litter box helps with the odor. Plus, it gives Chase a little more privacy. He has always had a close litter box, so I really don't want to mess with it. I want him to continue to use his litter box.

Abandonment Issues

I think that Chase Monster might have abandonment issues. I've been gone from home for so long that I may have traumatized my monster cat. He is so glad to have me home and since I have been home, he has been sleeping on my head, literally. He is so big that I have no pillow to sleep on because he is right there with me.

He has been watching my every move. Over the weekend, he sat with me on the couch as I relaxed and watched TV (in between doing many loads of laundry). Any time I got up from the couch, he carefully watched where I was going. He seemed quite relieved when I finally unpacked my luggage and put it away. I think that he may think that I will leave again. Poor Chase. It is nice to know my cat loves me! I love him too.

28 lbs of love

My Chase Monster went to the vet yesterday for his annual check up and vaccines. As they do every year, they weigh him. The last few years he has lost weight so I was curious to see how much he weighed this year. I also noticed a chart in the vet's office that gave average weights for different breeds. Chase Monster is a Norwegian Forest cat and they range from 13-24 lbs, last year he was 24 lbs, at the high end of the average.

Chase Monster came in at 28 lbs!!! He gain 4 lbs since last year! That is a lot of weight for a cat. Other than the weight, he is a healthy cat. Chase is going to be 12 years old in October, so he is not a young cat and this heavy weight gain is not a good thing for him. I don't know how this happened, I haven't been feeding him anything different or any more food. He is on weight management food and actually receives very little. This is worrisome to me and I want to be a good kitty mommy so after talking to the vet, Chase Monster has been prescribed diet cat food. I hope it helps him lose some weight. On a positive note, he was a very good monster at the vet.

Photo Source

Monday Funny: Cats running on treadmill

Hmm, maybe Chase Monster needs a treadmill :-)



Uh, maybe not.

Monster of habit

Chase Monster is definitely a creature of habit. Every night we have our bathroom rendezvous. Every morning, I wake up to a fat cat on my head purring very loudly. He has pretty much stolen my pillow by that time and is watching me very intently, just waiting for me to finally get out of bed to feed him. As soon as I sit up he is meowing at me to feed him and once I get out of bed he rushes to his food bowl, ready and waiting. Once he has had his meal, he heads over to the litter box and does his business then lays at the foot of the bed to rest and watch me get ready for my day. While I have my breakfast he makes his way back onto the bed for his morning nap. Every afternoon, I come home to be greeted by my monster cat meowing and demanding me to feed him. He has his dinner and then goes back into the bedroom for a late evening nap. He wakes up and comes back when we are having dinner to join us and then waits until it is time for our bathroom rendezvous. When I get into bed, he plops onto the bed ready to end his exhausting day of many naps and meals.

As you can probably tell my Chase Monster loves food. If I am eating he wants to eat. In fact, he love crackers, especially Cheez It and Goldfish crackers, and chips (Doritos are his favorite but he is not a fan of Cheetos). He will stare at you as you eat and he will actually lick his lips. He never misses a meal and if you are eating he is there, hoping that you will share some food with him. You would think that he was a dog begging for food, well he is in fact bigger than some dogs so maybe this isn't so surprising. Maybe I will sound like every doting parent, but there is no cat like my monster cat. You just gotta love him!

=^..^=

Kitty Rendezvous

Every night, my monster cat meets me in the bathroom for a kitty rendezvous. It doesn't matter where we live (and we have moved a few times) but he always meets me in the bathroom just before I get ready for bed. It is our special time everyday where I can brush and pet him. It is our strange special time in the bathroom, of all places. He is a creature of habit and this is a habit he has never grown out of. He has not once missed our rendezvous in the bathroom, he anticipates me going to the bathroom and is usually there before me to meet me (please excuse the tattered bathroom rug in the picture, but Chase seems to ruin every bathroom rug I've ever had). Silly kitty!

When I first brought home Chase Monster over 11 years ago, he had some poop stuck to his behind and his first experience with me in a new home, was me holding him up to the bathroom sink trying to clean him up. This was our first bathroom time together, poor thing was sooo scared at first but this was the beginning of our bond and bathroom rendezvous. Funny thing is that after he was cleaned up, I was the one scared of him that first night. Chase Monster is the first real pet I have ever had in my life (unless you count a blue fish my brother had when we were kids named Bloog Bloog). I was 21 when Chase Monster came into my life and a little scared of a little kitten; I didn't know much about cats and I thought that he might scratch me as I slept. Well, now he sleeps with me every night. Generally, he sleeps on my head or right next to me sometimes leaving very little room for Mr. Bear to squeeze in (remember Chase Monster is a 24 lb. cat so he takes up a good portion of our queen size bed). Needless to say, I am no longer scared of my monster cat. I love my monster cat and I love our nightly bathroom rendezvous.

In fact, he is in the bathroom right now! I am off to rendezvous with my monster cat!
=^..^=

Not much of a Superbowl family

We are so not a Superbowl family. The Superbowl game is the only football game that we watch all season. I have been watching it on and off mostly for the commercials and occasionally to see the score, but I have been busying myself with other things like laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking (see post below). Oh yah blogging too :) Mr. Bear fell asleep through the first half of the game and so did Chase Monster. Gotta love his big belly!!

A Monster in the Closet!

I am my cat’s human. Yes, my 24 lb monster of a cat thinks that it is his world and that we are merely players. My cat’s name is Chase, we affectionately call him “monster” for his large size (did I say he was fat!!!). Everyone who meets him is always a little shocked when they see him. “What’s that?” “That’s not a cat!” Oh but he is and he is the best ever!

Despite his bigness, he is a very sweet cat. But it is definitely his world and we are just fortunate that he allows us to live in it. According to my husband, Chase is just working towards getting bigger so he can eventually eat us all!! That is why he loves to lick my head every morning (seriously he is a cat not a dog!). Introducing the majestic, the large and in charge….

Chase Monster!

Isn’t he beautiful and great? His favorite things to do are eat, sleep, and eat some more. Some locations around the house where you will find him (usually sleeping unless I wake him up, as my camera flash has been known to do):

On the couch sleeping,

on the computer chair sleeping,

on the bed sleeping (with Pooh Bear)

oh and of course at the food bowl eating!

If you don't find him in one of the above visible places, then there is probably a Monster in the Closet, sleeping! Life is hard being a fat cat!

Okay, some people might think I am an awful mommy for letting my cat get so big. I am not an abusive mommy, I do worry about my kitty’s health. I had him tested for all possible problems that being overweight may have on a cat and he is – aside from being fat – healthy according to the tests and according to the vet. I have tried everything to help him lose weight (he was 26 lbs at one time), weight management cat food, portioning and restricting his food, I have even chased him around the house to give him exercise! But the darn cat is too smart, he will run (it’s really more like a waddle) to a space where I can’t get to him (usually under a coffee table). My vet did tell me, maybe he is happy being fat. So there we go and so be it. Chase is happy being fat!