Incoherent Scribblings

Hunger Coma

It is nearly 11 pm and Scooter lies on his perch beside my computer table. If you glance over at him, he appears to be too weak to move. I, however, am not swayed by his appearance. He is a healthy 15 pound kitty who is performing his nightly ritual: Here we call it the “hunger coma.”

My cats are fed in the evenings between 10 and 11 pm. They are fed at this time so that they do not find that they are suddenly starving at 3:00 am and then proceed to wake me up to tell me all about it.

They are so used to this schedule that every night about 9:30, whether their bowls are empty or not, they start the Hunger Coma Ritual:

First they sit right beside or in front of me (all three in a row) and stare at me with big eyes. By now I am pretty good at ignoring this, but it doesn’t prevent them from doing it anyway.

After they have stared at me for about a half an hour, they pretend that they aren’t interested in what I might offer anymore and ignore me… until I get up. I might just be walking across the room to replace a book on a shelf, but as soon as I move they jump up and run in the direction of the food bowl. They seem to say, “Here, in case you have forgotten, let me remind you where the food bowl is.” We play this game for another half an hour. Whenever I move ever so slightly, they run to the food bowl and when they realize I am not coming to feed them, they return to sit in front of me again.

Finally, it is as if all of their stamina has been drained away by this cat and mouse game. They lie on the nearest piece of furniture or stretch out on the carpet and assume a position that might remind one of a dead rabbit or a beached whale. Though they may remind one of a completely incapacitated creature, their eyes remained fixed upon me, pleading with me to feed them before they surely starve to death.

At this point they have officially entered into hunger-coma-mode. Luckily for them though, by this time it is usually time for me to get ready for bed and so I take their bowls into the kitchen and (finally!) fill them up.

And these poor starving creatures that only minutes before didn’t even appear to have the strength to move suddenly materialize before my eyes like magic.