The Food Ball

  This is Scamp. I am writing today's column.
    Every morning Colby and I eat some wet cat food and some dry cat food for breakfast. The dry food is served in two small metal dishes near our water dish. (We have a really cool water dish, it's a fountain. I love it. ) A few months ago part of the dry food was in the dishes and the rest was in a food ball. A food ball is a plastic ball with holes in it. There is a way that the holes can be made larger or smaller. The food is inside the ball. The way to get the food out is to roll the ball with your nose or paw. I would eat the food out of the dishes and then go to the food ball and get more. It was kind of fun.
  A few weeks ago when I went to eat some dry food the dishes were gone. There was one food ball in their place. I immediately went to Sophie and asked her what was going on.
  She explained to me that she and C were trying to eat healthier and she decided that should include Colby and me. She said that she was serving our dry food in the balls only so we would have to work to get at it.
 Needless to say, I was not amused. There is no reason for us to have to work to get anything except maybe treats. I asked Sophie why she felt we needed to have the food balls. She told me that she felt we needed more exercise and that it would stimulate our hunting instincts  to use the food balls.
  I told her that while it might be a good thing for Colby, he is the Chief House Cat and protector of the territory and is getting more than a little plump, it is not appropriate for me. I am the Chief Therapy cat. Therapy cats do not need hunting instincts. Therapy cats are petted and groomed. I asked her for an alternative.
  Her alternative was that I could go outside and hunt. I thought about this for a minute. On one hand, I would like to go outside. Maybe I could go out without a harness and lead. These things would get in my way if I tried to hunt.
  I decided that I would look on You Tube to see if I could find any videos of cats hunting. I found several. I was fascinated and also appalled. Hunting is a messy business. My fur would get all dirty and maybe even bloody. I would have to wander around in places that would smell funny. I don't like things that smell funny.
  I went back to Sophie and told her that I didn't want to hunt. I would be all right with her serving our dry food in the food balls.
  I did make one request. I wanted the green one to be my ball. It matches my eyes.