The pet shop was not very big. Most of the space was effectively used for display cabinets and enough space for the kittens to move around. Now there were three adults in the shop, three adults who were not customers, three adults who were constantly emitting heat. Zhang Zian was very annoyed when he thought of the rapidly spinning electricity meter.
"What else do you want?"
He took the initiative to ask Zhao Qi. What he meant was, "If there is nothing else, go do your work. Don't stay in the shop to cool off."
Zhao Qi stared at him. "You are too snobbish. I just didn't buy anything from you. Are you asking me to leave now? "
"How is that possible? I treat all customers equally, "Zhang Zian said sternly.
"But we are not customers if we don't spend money, right?" She rolled her eyes. "Forget it. I don't want to stay too long on such a hot day. I just want to ask something. My Lan Lan seems to be a bit off lately. Can you give me an idea? Should I take it to the hospital? Is this an after-sales service? "
"Oh? What's wrong? "he asked." You have to tell me first, then I can give you my opinion. "
According to Zhao Qi, Lan Lan was a bit fat after being fed by her, and the British Shorthair was originally round. When she noticed it, Lan Lan was already a lot overweight. She knew from Zhang Zian that it was not a good thing for a cat to be too fat, but it was more difficult for a cat to lose weight than a human. It was impossible to lose weight through exercise, especially for a quiet cat like the British Shorthair, so they could only eat less.
If they ate too much all at once, it would easily cause a stress reaction in the cat and cause fatty liver. She was also very confused about how to help Lan Lan slowly lose weight.
However, recently, through her observation, she found that Lan Lan's appetite seemed to have decreased. There was often some leftover cat food left. Did it know that it should lose weight?
Lan Lan's weight did start to decrease, and the speed was relatively stable. Zhao Qi was quite happy. It ate less on its own, which meant it was full. This was different from being forced to eat less, as it would not cause a stress reaction.
The problem of Lan Lan's appetite was solved, which was a good thing. However, she found that Lan Lan's water consumption had also decreased, which was not a good thing. She had asked Zhang Zian on WeChat, but there was no signal in the Mahogany Forest, and when there was a signal, he received hundreds of messages, WeChat messages, and emails. He could only reply to the important ones, and ignored her and other customers' inquiries about pets.
"Lan Lan used to drink about 300 to 400 milliliters of water a day, but now she only drinks about 200 to 300 milliliters. Is this normal?" she asked.
"That's not normal. The hotter the weather, the more water you drink. The standard is 50 milliliters of water per kilogram of body weight. You can calculate if you've reached the standard. I think your Lan Lan is suffering from anorexia in the summer. Is she not in good spirits? What's your temperature? "he asked.
"Uh … it should be around 28 degrees." Zhao Qi wasn't too sure. "But my house doesn't have a central air conditioner. It's inevitable that some rooms will be warmer than others. I can't stand the cold, so I didn't adjust the temperature too low. Also, when I'm not at home during the day, the air conditioner isn't turned on 24/7. Instead, I leave the windows open for ventilation. Otherwise, the electricity bill …"
"It should be hot. It's not a big deal. The most suitable temperature for cats in the summer is 25 degrees, which is lower than that of humans. Because of their fur, kittens can move around a lot. I adjust the temperature here to 24 degrees." He pointed at the LCD screen of the air conditioner.
"No wonder it feels so cold …" Zhao Qi was wearing a lot of clothes to protect herself from the sun. At first, she didn't feel the difference between the temperature here and her house.
"Should I adjust the temperature in my house to 25 degrees, too?" Tian Yi had been listening to their conversation, so she quickly took the opportunity to ask.
"No, the temperature in your house can't be lower than 30 degrees. Kittens can't adjust their body temperature well, and their fur is very short. They can't stand the cold," Zhang Zian stopped her in time.
"30 degrees …" Xiaowang's face was full of bitterness. Men were more afraid of heat. In the summer, they couldn't even turn on the air conditioner at 30 degrees.
Zhang Zian asked a few more questions and learned a detail. When Zhao Qi was at home, if Lan Lan couldn't finish eating the cat food, she would quickly clean up the remaining cat food to prevent it from attracting insects on a hot day. Even if it didn't attract insects, the cat food could easily go bad when it came in contact with the air.
But this was actually the wrong approach. Cats were originally nocturnal animals, and they ate in the dark of the night. It was only because they lived with humans that they barely adapted to the human schedule. Cats didn't have an accurate sense of time. They judged the time by the brightness of the sun. In the hot summer, when the sunlight was longer, their biological clocks deviated. They couldn't finish the cat food not because they were full, but because they thought it wasn't time to eat yet, or it was already past mealtime. Therefore, in the summer, it was necessary to adjust the feeding time appropriately, or strengthen the indoor shading. When people were not at home during the day, even if they didn't turn on the air conditioner, they should at least close the curtains and turn on the electric fan. They should also prepare a glass or tile countertop without sharp edges and sharp corners so that the cat could lie on it to cool down when it was too hot.
As for drinking water, cats didn't like to drink water. At this time, they could only use catnip. They tore the catnip into small pieces and sprinkled them into the water. A better way was to make their own catnip yogurt. Lactic acid bacteria broke down the lactose in the milk, so even cats with lactose intolerance could drink it. It was nutritious and delicious. Even humans could drink it, but they might not be able to tolerate the acidity.
"Wait, my Lan Lan doesn't seem to like catnip." Zhao Qi frowned. "I tried to use catnip to tease it, but it didn't respond. Is it because it doesn't like the taste of catnip?"
"That's true. Some cats just don't like catnip, but it doesn't matter. You can try other catnip. Catnip is not only catnip, but also wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa leaves, and so on. Try more, and there will always be something that the cat can't stop eating. Don't confuse it with wheat and barley leaves."
Xiaowang and Tian Tian tried to digest the conversation between Zhang Zian and Zhao Qi. Many of the things were strange to them, who were new to raising cats.
When Zhang Zian was speaking, he took care of their feelings and tried to make it as easy as possible to understand. They faced unimaginable hardships when raising a kitten. When the kitten grew up a little, without the mother cat's guidance, it would face the dilemma of inadequate socialization. It didn't know how to retract its claws, wasn't good at coexisting peacefully with other cats, experienced emotional ups and downs, and so on. It might even not know how to go to the bathroom on its own … These things required enough patience to be taught, and even if they were patient, the effect would be minimal. After all, humans weren't cats, and they couldn't replace their mother. They could only hope that the couple could persevere.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
