Hello everyone,
It’s me Rennie here today to tell you a bit more about what vets call Scarf and Barf! Which much to the annoyance of my humans is something I used to be “very good” at because you see I can be a great Gourmand Gourmet that loves his food just a little too much!
If you are lucky enough not to know what “Scarf and Barf” means… well it means us cute and cuddly little felines completely overstuff ourselves on food before it decides to come back out! But you know… I and my fellow felines just can’t stop ourselves from finishing an entire bowl of food in SECONDS!
And this is a problem that I am sure many of you feline guardians out there are familar with… and now you wonder why?
Well! I am told by our vet friends that our tummies are not much bigger than a ping-pong ball! Of course they are meant to be like that as nature decided we’d be better off with small tummies considering in the wild we wouldn’t exactly have an unlimited supply of food provided by our gullible lovely humans.
My wild relatives would usually hunt between 9-20 times a day (And like I said not every attempt is successful)! They hunt, catch, play with their prey, eat, groom and sleep and they do this over and over all day and all night. They usually catch small rodents (OMC imagine… where those rodents could have been!!!!), insects and birds. The edible portions of these prey are rarely more than 1-2 tablespoons.
Now if you compare that to the all-day buffet a bowl of food provides… that’s where the problem comes from! Because you see me and fellow felines find it very difficult to restrict ourselves to small portions if there is an endless supply of food from an ancient Greek style bottomless cornucopia of delicious food.
If like me your feline friend suffers from the unstoppable feasting followed by natures call to relief their tummy it’s important to reduce their portion size! Now that’s fairly easily done for wet food as of course our humans don’t just leave that stuff lying around the house but what if your human works all day and wants to ensure that you’ve got food available while they are out?
Yes that’s right they are going to use dry-food… but how does one limit this when they are not in? Those of you that have been following our work with Doc & Phoebe’s Co Indoor Hunting Feeder for a while may already know the answer to this! 😉
Yes, you guessed it right! 😀 Their indoor feeder offers a perfect solution as it replicates our natural hunting instinct AND restricts how much food is located within each “prey”.
Some might argue that I could go around the whole house and find them in one go but remember that would be a lot more effort for me and after all the hunting I really just want to take a nap! So most likely I won’t be looking for more little mice for quite some time. 😀
Interested in reading more about our work with Doc & Phoebe’s Co Indoor Hunting Feeder check out the posts below:
Doc and Phoebe’s Indoor Hunting Feeder Review
Feline Veterinary Experts Reach A Surprising Consensus – Your cat will be Happier and Healthier if you Stop Feeding From a Bowl
Katzenworld Cats Cartoons: The Grand Gourmand
Renegade: The Troubles of a Grand “Gourmet”…
Nubia: The Importance of Portion Control and Keeping your Cat Active
Adventures of the Katzenworld Cats: The “joy” of Waking up at 4am
Nubia: Does Your Cat Wake You Up at 4am? Well… I may have a Solution!
The Nation’s Most Eco-Minded Moggies
The Katzenworld Cats: Oliver & Renegade Versus the Mouse! Will They Succeed?
Nubia & Renegade: A Murder Mystery!
Signed by,
His Meowjesty Prince Renegade the Creator of Chaos and Grandest of Connoisseurs
Other than some dry food, chicken and fish, the divas will have none of it. Of course there is always interest in whatever the human may have on her plate…
Oh yes… human food is a great spectacle for ours too. 🙂
Strange, my cats, coming from the stables of a farmer and the third coming from a feral colony never gulped down ALL the food (with one very remarkable exception, but that was after the late Mashka had been deadly ill and was recovering, but she never tried again to overstuff).
No, I am not convinced all felines are bottomless eaters. I have kibbles standing around and Kessy is not very interested – unless she is really hungry. In some of our feline friends the natural instincts are still alive – and those come with feeling full and then stopping to eat.
Very true it’s not all of them! For some reason it seems that orientals are more predisposed to the whole overstuffing tho as I know many fellow cat guardians that have the same problem with their orientals. I guess they are not dubbed mad orientals for nothing. 😉
Oh, we had a dog like that when I was a child, but dogs are more like wolves in their eating habits – they eat as much as they can without causing damage to themselves … while cats are used to smaller portions.
Rennie seems to think he has the tummy of a wolf in that case. ?
I know this is a problem for many cats, but I am very good. For those that aren’t and many may be indoor cats, this is a great and fun way to get exercise and to have food (rather than treat) rewards. I have a 6 portion electronic feeder and can leave food in that for hours before getting to eat it. But that can depend on the number of snack mice I’ve had when out hunting! MOL
Toodlepips and purrs
ERin
Thank you. 🙂
And oh oh I hope the snack mice haven’t started preparing a plan to usurp you as the meowjesty of your kingdom 😉
My new fur-baby. I a only eats dry food. Yes, I will fix this…………I want to put some meat on her bones………Cheers,H
Cats often get “addicted” to dry food. Mixing wet in with dry and reducing the dry food over time can help.
So far so good. Cheers,H
What a beautiful cat ??❤️?
Thank you 🙂
You are so smart, Rennie! Thanks!
He is too smart for his own good sometimes haha
Pingback: Renegade: The Troubles of a Grand "Gourmet"... - Katzenworld Shop
Rennie, the Master of Gourmand Gourmets… 😆
Ciao
Sid
?
I think you are a handsome, healthy looking cat. Exercise might be a good replacement for seconds or treats, but you look trim enough to me. I mean really, Ren, you’re hardly what anyone would call a tub!
You say that! When he first came to live with us he was a typical all skin and bones oriental. Now he feels rather solid. ?
What an awesome idea! It would be useful for cats who “snack” all day and don’t barf too.
Indeed! 🙂
Pingback: Katzenworld Cats Cartoons: The Grand Gourmand - Katzenworld