lipstick recall

You are looking at the picture of sorrow. It has just dawned on my cat Harry that his beloved stinky fish has been recalled. He will never again eat that smelly mess.

"Stinky fish" is the family name for Harry's favorite food: Hill's Science Diet ocean fish for kittens.

Most pet food seems designed for cat owners. It's made to look like something you'd put on a party cracker.

Stinky fish stunk. It was redolent of a Dumpster on a summer day. Harry adored it. He craved his treat the way I enjoy Lindt dark chocolate.

How would I look if the world's chocolate supply had been recalled?

Check out Harry.

At first the recall was only for dry food. Harry's favorite treat was safe. But then Harry's Science Diet brand was added to the banned list. We had four cans in the cabinet, none with bad numbers. We scoured the pet food stores for more, but there wasn't any.

Each night, we fed Harry another spoonful, knowing his world would soon change for the worse.

"Six more nights, buddy," we told him. He had no idea what we meant.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Don.

We aren't the sort of pet people who brag about spoiling their animals � "My Pookie won't eat anything but beef tenderloin." Harry was a cat. He ate cat food that cost 98 cents a can.

That can of cat food saved us major money.

Harry had a slight problem. Not too long ago, we took him to the vet because the cat was moping. The vet explained that Harry was . . . er, constipated. "He needs an enema," she said. "Can you leave him here?"

Better you than me, I thought, and added the warning. "If you have problems, please call."

The vet called a few hours later. "Harry is holding on to everything. I'm afraid you'll have to take him home and let him use his litter box."

"Oh, no," I said. "We have leather car seats." The Florida roads were clogged with traffic. Our chances of getting Harry home were not good.

"He shouldn't be on a dry food diet only," the vet said. "I can give you some medicine, or you can try introducing a little canned food twice a day. Otherwise, your cat will need frequent enemas."

"How much are those?" Don asked.

"Two hundred dollars," the vet said.

"Do you wear a Victorian costume for that price?" he said.

We could see the family finances going down the drain, gone for high colonics to the cat.

As we rushed home, we debated how to get the cat to eat canned food. Harry, like most felines, doesn't like change. He turned down six brands before he would eat ocean fish for kittens. Then he rolled on the floor in ecstacy.

Now Science Diet was taking away the food he loved most.

We went back to the pet supermarket for a selection of canned foods in different brands. Harry didn't like any of them. We saw vet bills looming.

For days, Don tried to coax Harry with new kinds of cat food. The stubborn cat stared glumly at his untouched dish. Mystery, our con artist in a cat suit, would rush in, distract Harry, and gobble down the new dish before he could try it. Harry was learning about survival of the fattest.

The cat food trials continued behind closed doors. Mystery was locked out during the fish auditions. Harry rejected more treats in private. Between meals, he sat in the kitchen and howled his displeasure: Where was his favorite fish?

One day Don brought home a can of Science Diet Indoor Cat Seafood Entree. We presented it to Harry, then shut the door. Soon we heard the happy banging of a spoon on cat crockery.

Success!

"The little bastard loves it," Don said.

Harry eats his new food twice a day. He's happy. We're happy. Harry is a regular guy.

How Do You Explain Recall to a Cat? I guess this is for the "mature" (older) crowd of this board. I don't know why I was thinking about this last night. But I recall watching a "All in the family" episode where Gloria (Archie's daughter) bought home some steaks. He loved them said it was so tender and juicy. It was the son in law who told Archie it wasn't cow but horse. Then I remember growing up in the eighties where my mom would say McDonalds uses horse meat.


I guess I'm asking was this really true? Did people really eat horse? How did they sell it at the store? Did they give it a fancy name like deer meat Veneson(sp)