Napster's Excellent Adventure

Napster the cat who arrived many years ago in the back seat of an OPP cruiser, lights flashing, has struggled forever with his body image. The crisis came to a head (or a tail?) when a few years back he found himself stuck in the cat flap door at the stable, hind legs air-peddling helplessly. He looked like Winnie the Pooh off to visit Rabbit... but it did nothing for his self esteem. Andrea, one of his best friends, tried to make him feel better by insisting he wasn't fat, that he'd merely beaten anorexia. He loves her for that, and wants the t-shirt... but he still couldn't fit through the flap.

Napster has his own Facebook page, and you can see from his profile picture that he was embarking on a slippery slope... He also has 32 friends, and his own exercise video...

David and his buddy Mike decided action must be taken. Napster was enrolled in his own version of Boot Camp and the Jenny Craig Walking program. It began with limited, very low-cal kibble. It escalated to the boys arriving at unannounced intervals to scoop up the cat, carry him somewhere on the property, put him down and make him walk home. It's been good. He's lost four pounds, which when you are a cat, is a lot of weight.

Put in context, Achmed only weighs in at nine pounds, of which probably five pounds is his halo of fur. When this cat sleeps, he resembles nothing so much as a pile of cat fur. But back to Napster...

Now, following a diligent winter exercise program that includes running laps through the house and over the sofa, the cat flap doors -- whether at the stable or at Nancy's house -- hold no terrors for Napster.

Today, with Spring in the air, he volunteered for his walk -- tromping up the driveway (carefully skirting the muddy bits), and marching boldly into the stable, where he greeted the chickens, flipped his tail in the Pony's direction, and then ascended the Cat-Ramp, vanishing into the hay loft for a little one-on-one with the mice.