The sun shines down upon the face of the waters, photosynthesising the simplest forms of aquatic life – the base of the food chain that ends up in an Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Farmed for food by Homo sapiens, the prime cuts of this species of fish are mostly consumed by humans, while lesser parts end up in tins of cat food. Now, Wenusia is a fussy eater, and since she moved in with me on 5 January of this year, she has roundly rejected all forms of meat- or poultry-based nutrition. She eats only only eats salmon or tuna, which she does with gusto. Even cod or whitefish she turns her nose up at. Now, I don't know how cause-and-effect works here, but the sixth of Jan being a public holiday in Poland, and all the shops being shut, the foundling Wenusia had to be fed with what I had in the cupboard and fridge, namely smoked salmon, tuna in olive oil from a jar and Greek yogurt.
Since then, her favourite cat food is Dolina Noteci Premium bogaty w łososiu ('rich in salmon') and Purina Gourmet Gold tuna mousse. These are accompanied by Lidl's own-brand Coshida dry cat food rich in fish protein, which offers the satisfying mouth-feel crunch of rodent bone. Wenusia also loves thick, rich, creamy Greek-style yogurt.
On finding something in her bowl that she doesn't like (turkey, beef etc), Wenusia turns around through 180 degrees, tail towards the bowl, and proceeds to walk sideways in a circle around the bowl, scraping repeatedly at the ground with her paw, as if to say: "I treat this food as though it were my own excrement".
Since giving birth on Saturday, Wenusia has been eating for six; night and day (especially night), she badgers me to crack open another tin of salmon-flavoured cat food and sprinkle the dry crunchy stuff on top. This mélange gets converted into milk; the little ones are chugging away non-stop.
From sunlight to cat milk, the miracle of metabolism is amazing to me. Metabolism is the conversion of the energy in food to into the energy needed to run cellular processes and to construct the building-blocks of life. A perfectly honed food chain, an ecosystem of supreme efficiency, ticking along nicely, with human intervention required only to produce and distribute the fishy cat food.
Below: penultimate phase in the process of converting sunlight into Felis catus. Kittens two days old. Wenusia has to expect another six-plus weeks of this.
Below: out-of-the-box drinking. Wenusia emerges from her birthing box to hydrate.. Very important.
Watching the litter grow, with each kitten putting on some 10 grams of weight a day, I can do a simple calculation as to how much cat food Wenusia needs to convert to keep herself functioning as well as generating the milk needed to turn into muscle, bone, tissue and skin once inside the kitten.
UPDATE, evening of Tuesday 17 June. The kittens are three days old, and putting on weight nicely. My initial assessment: they're all male. [Click on image to enlarge, then right-click to open image in new tab for maximum enlargement.]
UPDATE, afternoon of Wednesday 18 June. The kittens are now four days old. In just 18 hours they have increased their body mass by between 8.7% and 12.5%. Mum's doing fine!
This time last year:
It's my money and I'm not intending to spend it
This time three years ago:
As I walked out one midsummer's morning
This time ten years ago:
Central Warsaw rail update
This time 14 years ago:
On a musical note
This time 15 years ago:
Standing stones
This time 18 years ago:
The year nears its zenith
Give it up, give it up, give it up for the easy crew!
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