No help on the cats, but all this talk reminds me of a story from Wolf Haven - which is not too many hours drive from where I live. One old wolf they brought into the refuge had been horribly abused. When he came in, he just lay down and refused to eat. And after he had not eaten for two days, the alpha female wolf came up and started nipping him and nuzzling him and licking him. But in with the affection she never stopped the painful nips.She just would not let him lay down and die. And eventually she nagged him to the point where he got up, ambled over to where the food was laid out and ate some. And she nagged him every day into eating until eventually he got back into eating without being prompted. And he ended up living a fairly long life in the refuge.

Aw, Typo, that's a wonderful story.

Typo, that is a great story.

Fortunately, Finn is not interested in Eddie's kibble, which I have dubbed "shit sprinkles." Eddie would eat his weight in shit sprinkles if he could. I have noticed that the less of it he eats, the less vile his litterbox leavings are.

meant for natter

Score one for the alpha mama. Typo, that story just makes me happy.

Harvey loves eating bread to the point where after grocery shopping, we have to put the bread away before putting the meat away because he goes after the bread more assiduously. He in fact once gnawed his way into a plastic bag full of friendship bread starter and ate that. (And he gets some even more serious effects from eating corn and wheat than he does from any of the meats he's allergic to.)

Turkey, lamb, venison, pork, duck, pheasant.

Ah. I was thinking I'd never seen field mouse or songbird as options so I wasn't sure what was left. R&G get Merrick and the only thing they've ever seemed meh about was beef.

askye, since I don't know if you deleted that post because it was meant for a different thread or because you were hurting in some way, please know that I am thankful to have you in my life. I am glad whenever I see a post from you. When you come here to share the difficult parts of life, I am glad you have this safe place to share them. When you come to tell about you triumphs, I am happy and proud of you. When you simply talk about work, or your family, or cats, I am simply glad to be part of your life.

What andi said. You are a cherished member of this community; don't ever forget that, askye.

I honestly don't remember all of what I posted.

I deleted partly because i keep feeling like I'm over sharing and everyone is cringing any time I post something.

Right now I don't even think I deserve kind words. I don't know this is just a really intense experience and while I thought fighting against self sabatoge with work was hard, fighting not to run from myself is even harder.