retrospec | Homemade Cat Food

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d. gray-man: lenalee lee

Homemade Cat Food

Derek Matthews shared a photo.
May 15, 2018 near Tisse

Someone please take mercy on my cat and tell me how to make homemade cat food without breaking the bank. Because I'm paying double the rent right now, I can't afford his normal cat food and he is turning his nose up at any of the cheaper store bought food I've bought. It's not like he's starving since I'm mixing some of his new food with his older food, but he only eats his old food and never touches the new food. I curious to find out if he will eat homemade food but I have no idea where to start. HELP!

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[Kenta appears from the depth of the apartment followed by a quite short Japanese woman of undetermined age - well, everyone looks short next to Kenta but she is rather on the short side, wearing western cloths with an apron on top and her dark hair gathered in a ponytail.]

Hi, you made it here fast. Did you come with the broom?

[Derek holds up his broom.]

Yeah. Remember, this thing goes really fast.

[Derek pats the pet slings around his shoulder.]

I brought Blaise, shall I set him down?

[Blaise meows from the pet sling. Obviously wanting out, but also wanting to greet his second favorite human.The man that brings him yummy food.]

Sure, go ahead. Kenti's sleeping in our bedroom right now.

[Free the monster, Derek.]

Suzuki-san, this is my friend Derek, and his cat Blaise who really loved the treats you made last time. Derek, this is Suzuki, my housekeeper.

[Suzuki-san bows her head with a smile.]

'Ara, I am glad he liked the food. kenta-bou said you want to learn hos to make it?'

[Derek being very unused to japanese customs, slightly leans back when the old lady bows her head to him. Does he bow back? Perhaps a simple head nod will suffice? WHAT DOES HE DO?]

Uh, nice to meet you. [Insert awkward head nod here.] And yeah, he loved the treats you made, so if you could show me how you made them, that'd be great.

[Derek reaches for the pet sling, unzips it, pulls out Blaise, and sets him on the floor.]

This is Blaise, the consumer of your culinary skills.

[However, Blaise ignore the old lady and goes right up to Kenta and meows at him, as if saying, "Treats please." He then gets on his hind legs and puts his front paw on Kenta's legs and meows again. Derek's jaw drops.]

Wow Kenta... he really likes you...

[Kenta blinks at the cat. He likes animals, and Fai's cat are cuddly, but he's not used to animals just... coming up to him and being that friendly.]

... I take it that's not something he normally does? We do have some food ready, don't we, Suzuki-san?

'Of course! Let me take it out of the fridge!'

[Kenta doesn't move for now, and when Suzukisan puts some small glass containers on the counter, he just hols out a hand to catch one and open it blindly before crouching to offer it to a cat.]

I'll let Suzuki-san show you around the kitchen.

'This way, Derek-sama.'

He's only ever done that to me.

[Do you hear that slight hint of jealousy Kenta?]

[When Suzuki-san tells Derek to follow her, Derek looks at Kenta and mouths, "Sama?" with a confused look. Derek continues to follow the lady into the kitchen.]

[Sorry Derek. But you know in the end if Kenta does anything to displease Blaise he'll be sent to the dog house and only you will remain.

He waves a hand at Derek when he looks confused.]

She's just being polite. I'll join you in a minute.

[Not to help out, mind you. He's hopeless in a kitchen.

There's a rather strong fish smell in said kitchen. Suzuki-san has been gutting and cleaning fish,and she's preserved the innards on one side, and cut up the heads and tails on another side.]

'I was thinking of frying the innards slightly and chop them, and since I'm making a broth with the heads and tails, we can add the meat from them into it afterwards as well.'

[Here she is handing an apron to Derek. her English has a slight accent, but apart from that it's flawless.]

[Derek takes the apron from Suzuki-san and puts it on.]

So you can use part of the fish that we as humans don't normally eat? What kind of fish is this?

'Animals do not care which part of the animal the meat comes from, and sometimes I believe we should do well to remember it too.'

[She points at the fish in turn.]

'This is mackerel, and this is salmon and these are sardines. Have you ever cleaned a fish?'

[Kenta finally makes his way into the kitchedn, and he takes out three glasses and a bottle of white wine for everyone and takes a seat at the bar near the kitchen counter after pouring, but he's not offering to help.]

Are you sure? Blaise is a fairly picky cat. Though I do know for a fact that he loves salmon and mackerel. I'm not sure about sardines. I haven't fed him that before. And no, I've never cleaned fish before. I usually buy the pre-cleaned and frozen if I even bother to buy fish.

[Kenta offers a glass to Suzuki-san and she takes it with a smile and nod of thanks and takes a sip before she goes back to demonstrating. Another one is pushed towards Derek.]

'I'll show you how to do it on this one. You can ask the fishmonger to descale it, if you prefer.'

[And she'll bring a mackerel to the sink to demonstrate, and then show him how to cut through the fish to get the innards out. And the head sand tail go into water to get boiled and she'll give him the right proportions for seasoning too.]

'Now we'll cook the innards in a pan.'

[Kenta is just watching over the scene with a small smile. Suzuki-san basically raised him, so she's the mother figure he's always had here. Watching her cook brings back memories.]

[Derek watches intently as Suzuki-san cooks the fish. He's going to ignore the booze. No way is he going to handle a knife and drink at the same time.]

What innards are you keeping? Sorry, my science classes consisted of me dissecting frogs, pigs, and cats...

'For these types of fish, you can keep everything since we'll just blend it afterwards. Nothing in this is bad or toxic at all.'

[It actually smells quite good once it starts cooking and Suzuki gives him proportions to season the thing. Just then, Kenta pipes up.]

I know they're for your cat, but when I was a kid I used to love fried fish innards. I asked for them as snack all the time.

Is fish innards a normal treat for kids in Japan?

Not really, no. I just liked it. Also the small fish that you fry completely without taking out the insides.

"Mostly we use them for broth and fish stock. And of course for bigger fish, it's best to avoid it except maybe for the liver."

See, most kids just want cookies, fruit , or Twinkies for snacks.

[Derek looks at Suziki-san.]

Why? What's in larger fish that's not so good?

'Pollution and toxins tend to accumulate in those organs, so that makes them not good for human consumption. small fish accumulate less so you can cook them chole and eat all of them, even the heads and tails.'

[Suzuki-san finishes the broth, and then shows Derek how long to frypan the fish. Then, she blends it, but not completely.]

'You should leave some bits to chews. The cat will enjoy it better.'

Blaise does like his food chunky, I'll attest to that.

[Derek continues to watch Suzuki-san carefully.]

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Homemade Cat Food

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