Day 1 of cat hell or fluffy is out! A Hazel story

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After being inspired to post Morgan stories from her first year, I have a few more oldies that many of my current readers never saw so I am announcing Throw Back Tuesday. It may or may not happen every week. It may or may not be about cats. Who knows what I’ll feel like! This is from June 2014. 

Hazel at her largest, before diets.

After looking at the photo of Hazel, our timid chubster, I realized that I have to get serious about a diet – for her, not me!

She would be considered morbidly obese if she were a human. Because of her weight she is susceptible to many chronic diseases.

Some of them require medications. Diabetes requires two injections a day. Neither Hazel nor I like injections. It’s best to keep her healthy for my sake.

It all comes from issues that happened when she was a baby. She was one of an outdoor semi-feral litter that nobody wanted. Based on the way she reacts when people (even me her adoring feeder) are near, I suspect she was chased or harassed or bullied as a youngster.

She was surrendered to a rescue group when she was six months old and full of parasites. Because I am a sucker for the underdog (or undercat) I adopted her despite the fact that she wasn’t the playful, adoring kitten who climbed in your lap. I’m not even sure she like me until she understood the value of opposable thumbs for cat food lids.

She eats to medicate herself for stress or because she fears there will not be another meal (after living with me for 8 years, really?).

Those scars run deep. Perhaps a therapist would be in order but would she fit on the couch?

She fell out of a second story window under my watch when she was young. That’s how she got her last name of Wallenda. She did it with grace and did not hurt anything but her pride. Of course, I was nuts. You can read about it here.

Other than that, she has had a great life. Playmates, regular meals, catnip, toys, windows, sunny beds – what more can a cat ask for? So where is this stress coming from?

Here are Mollie (left) and Hazel shortly after Hazel was adopted.

Here are Mollie (left) and Hazel shortly after Hazel was adopted. it’s hard to tell from this picture but Mollie is a small cat weighing in here at 7 pounds. Hazel weighed around the same.

I had three other cats but they liked her. What’s not to like? She is not an alpha cat. She’s not even a beta cat. According to the Greek alphabet omega is the last letter and she’s it.

Putting one cat on a diet means putting all four on restrictive eating patterns (doesn’t that sound better?). I had been cutting back on the food because Morgan (the new Miss Smarty Pants cat) doesn’t eat wet food. That was just giving another portion to Hazel.

Morgan’s dry food, which is high-powered (high calorie) for her high energy, is on top of a high boy dresser. Hazel couldn’t get up there unless she lost a lot of weight. A lot of weight!

Back to the diet – last night’s supper was the first “diet meal.” It didn’t take long before Hazel, a normally silent cat, was bellyaching sitting next to her empty (and completely licked clean) dish. We muddled through the night with some soulful looks and soft meows.

This morning she was so ready for breakfast. Unfortunately, this didn’t go as she planned either. I gave her a normal serving. By 9:30 a.m. she was fairly loud about her stomach pains. I relented a little and gave her a tablespoon full of dry. (Sure let’s teach her that looking sad gets you what you want. This is where I question my parenting skills).

Normally there is dry food available for them all to eat whenever they want. All my other cats have self-control. Hazel is the first one who will eat until the food is gone. We can’t do that anymore. Now all the cats are cranky.

There is no Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem for cats. Where is Jillian Michaels when you need her? Weight Watchers for cats? It’s going to be a long summer.

Today we are going to start Kitty Boot Camp. For Hazel that will be 90 seconds of exercise. (We will start slow so neither one of us gets a heart attack.) Maybe we should try yoga…..cats-exercising-on-yoga-ballsPostscript: Over time Hazel lost five pounds. She was never a “thin” cat but she was much closer to normal. She didn’t get diabetes (my big worry) but passed away from a cancerous tumor on her lung.

41 thoughts on “Day 1 of cat hell or fluffy is out! A Hazel story”

    • We gave her a good life and she had feline buddies. That’s the best we could do. I was glad she wasn’t adopted as an only cat. She wouldn’t have been successful at that. Her sister was. I often wonder how she made out. I know she had health issues after the adoption.

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  2. I always wondered how deep trauma scars run. Tyler hated getting wrapped in a towel and given medicine but he’d step right back on the towel when it was his next dose. Not the brightest but he was sure a love bucket. His sister, Trinity was smarter all around. But, Trinity would squint her eyes and kinda duck if you went to pet her head from the front. We got them when they were between 5 and 6 weeks old. I always found it odd that after all the time with us, she still acted like we were going to hit her. When she started having seizures (around 7 or 8 maybe?), then quit those for several years, then passed away completely unexpected I started to wonder if she had a brain issue or something wrong that it hurt her head or eyes instead of her being scared. We’ll never know but I always felt like I should explain to the vet, “remember she’s done that since we adopted her” so he didn’t think we had done something to lose her trust.

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  6. Well, no one could ever say you starved poor Hazel. I have seen some funny memes about heavy dogs and cats that sit up like a human in a chair, usually because they are heavy. Well, I’m glad Hazel did not pass away from diabetes from her weight, though I’m sure that dealing with the cancerous tumor was a sad end to her life for all of you. I read about Hazel, the Flying Wallenda. That episode shaved off at least one or two lives of Hazel’s nine lives, and a few years off yours and the beloved husband’s as well.

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  8. They were and are so sweet. Kate, and like you say, they each were different but loved. And really isn’t being loved and respected till the end the most important thing which all of them are and will be as Sassy Cats. I think would I like to be thinner, exercise more and be healthier but really I want to enjoy my life. A glass or two of wine in the afternoon on the lanai listening to the birds with Jerry. Eat good food. Life is short and why not live it doing what makes you happy. I’d hate to find myself with less joy in the everydayness of my life just to extend it without the joy of the little things. Hazel had a good life and she was loved and safe. That sounds good to me.

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  14. Poor little Hazel girl. I am so glad she had friends among the rest of the fur family though. I watched Katie get to 15 pounds and I could not understand how she did it. I never left out wet food any longer than it took for her to eat it. Dry was out when she wanted it, say, over night. She never finished it off…yet she gained weight. They say keep them active. But when you aren’t here (work) hard to do.

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  16. Awwww….Hazel and Teddy would have gotten along great – two biggies (but would they have fit in a cat bed?!). She sounds like a character……I have always loved that cats have such varying personalities. Makes having multiple cats interesting doesn’t it. I never had more than 4 but ALL were different in every possible way. Keeps us on our toes that’s for sure. Like Hazel, Teddy is huge but healthy. I always worry about his weight but his doc says he’s got a very large frame (I may start using that as MY excuse for my weight too!). HAHA

    Hugs, Pam

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    • Unlike Teddy, Hazel had the frame of a 12 lb. cat. She got down to 13 pounds but that was the best she could do. I didn’t want to torture her. Life is too short. All cat personalities are different. I’ve never had 2 alike although both my black cats were cantankerous just in different ways.

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    • Mollie was gorgeous! She was turned into our local shelter as an adult with a kitten. I would have adopted the kitten too but someone adopted it before me. I never understood how someone would turn in such a beautiful and loving cat. Hazel did not eat human food. Only Jake ventured in that area and only one bite, preferably beef. Only Jake would eat cheese. Morgan like to lick the salt off one potato chip. Then she left the soggy mess for me to clean up. They ate cat food the more disgusting the better.

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