S often asks my why I don’t blog about Mose and Samuel, our two cats. The answer is simple: Words to Eat By is about food, not pets, as notably adorable as our boys may be. If either one ever did something food-related, sure, I’d write about it. Well, today is the day.

I just stepped out of the shower (went for a jog—a verry verry slow jog—in my neighborhood. Ahh, exercise!). The kitchen door is cater-cornered (kitty-cornered?) to the bathroom, and a motion from just inside caught my eye. It was Mose, crouched on the floor over a loaf of whole wheat bread like a hunter with some fresh kill. He had clawed his way through the bag, and was eating the heel. My favorite part. Da noive!

Seriously, what’s up with that? The other day my niece was over so we stocked up on white bread for her. She did a little Hansel & Gretel action and wandered all over the apartment with a slice, leaving a trail in her wake. Mose gobbled it up like it was the best-tasting mouse he’d ever caught. At the time, we thought it was just some weird, isolated white-bread incident, since he’s never been the least bit interested in our usual, whole-grained variety. But now…

He has a stomach ailment of some sort, that blood tests and x-rays haven’t been able to pinpoint. I worry that this is somehow related—he’s twelve years old, and S keeps referring to him as a senior citizen. But I think he still looks like a kitten, especially when he’s sleeping:

Does anybody have any expertise with these things? I always thought cats were carnivores, and only ate grain-based things because the Evil Pet Food Industry uses it as filler in their kibble. Mose is due to go to the vet in another week or two, so we’ll bring it up then, but in the meantime I’d love to hear anybody else’s experience with carb-loving cats.

Thanks.