My cat eats asparagus now!

Like most of y'all, I haven't written about my little boy, my goofy orange tomcat Alley. His full name (Baptismal name?) is Alley McBeal. This was when I first thought he was a she. Hey, I hadn't had a kitten since I was a child! My landlords at the time in Riverside, California, gave me one from a litter - they had a hard time convincing me - and said that she was one of the kittens born to their tabby and the slutty male kitty that prowled the neighborhood. So I never had thought to look to see if she really was a he. I only found that out when I saw the large cysts under the tail that the vet soon told me were testicles.

Everybody together now: a - DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

Alley turned all of 8 years old this month - not sure when, so I just lump his birthday with mine. And this strange cat does so many atypically feline things, I really think he believes he is a dog. He talks back to me all the time, for one.

Strangest of all, however, is what he eats. Any meat or fish, he eats, that's a given. But as for the rest? Well, it'll take too long in narrative format, so I will just bullet them:

• pound cake
• whipped cream (not that shocking)
• spinach (okay, that's odd)
• carrots (cooked, of course)
  
• rice (if he feels like it)
• ice cream (again, no surprise)
• red bell peppers (again, cooked, preferably in meat juices but he ate the pepper)
• cheese (all kinds)
• dog food (both the wet and the hard kind, which irritates my dog)
  

And just today he ate grilled asparagus from my lunch at Whole Foods. Oh, Alley (he responds to his name, by the way), I'm surprised your little kitty tummy doesn't hurt. I'm pretty sure it doesn't - otherwise, he wouldn't be pestering me for table scraps every chance he gets!

Apparently Alley is not the only one. Search for "cat" on this page from Dr. C, and you'll find a commenter whose cat eats - yep - asparagus.

Also, please watch out what pet foods you are feeding your cats and dogs these days. Check out this FAQ posted by Yahoo! News about the recent pet food recall, over aminopterin, used as rat poison in many countries, and how it has gotten into the food supply of Menu Foods' wet cat and dog foods, which manifest themselves in a hundred different brand names, from Iams and Eukanuba to America's Choice and Wal-Mart! They said on the news that only wet foods are affected. I myself will still feel better getting him a different brand of dry food than the Iams he has right now. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's still for peace of mind.

Or I could just feed him asparagus.