It started out simply enough.  I heard on the radio that Americans spend more every year on pet food than baby food.  It sounded logical, but I wanted to confirm it and provide a link to it, so I started searching the Web.  After an hour on multiple sites, and finding figures that ranged from $3 billion to $6 billion a year, I gave up.  It reminded me of the Internet of 10 years ago, when it was said that all the information you ever needed was out there -- you just couldn't find it.

   If it is true, we've done our part to make it so.  For awhile, we were promoting healthy competition in the marketplace by keeping several companies in business.  We'd pick up a free sample and bring it home, and one or more of the cats would prefer it over the standard fare, and so we'd start buying it.  It got a little out of hand; at one point we had 4 different brands of dry food in the pantry, but soon we'll be back down to two.

   However, that doesn't include the non-dry food.  We buy just one brand of canned cat food now, but then, there's also Kelly's weekend treat.  After Lizzie's operation for bladder stones, the vet recommended chicken baby food for her while she recovered.  She went back to regular cat food, but Kelly loved the baby food so much we still get a couple of jars a week for the Big Guy.

   While we don't mind treating the cats to different foods, we don't want them to beg at the kitchen table.  This isn't a problem with Kelly or Lizzie because they've never been much for mooching, but Caitie-Belle got used to foraging when she was homeless, and has kept the habit of looking for food wherever and whenever it's available.  It's impossible for Pat to remove the wrapping from her deli bologna quietly enough; the little Calico Diva always seems to hear it and comes running for a tiny piece.

   Caitie-Belle does her best to get her way with me, too.  I'll admit that she has such beautiful gooseberry-green eyes that even though I tell her no, I can't look her in the eye.