“Feast”

Many years ago, we had, for reasons, a loveseat on end in the entrance to our living room. The cat I had at the time, D, loved to climb up it and sit on top and be the Tallest Kitty In The World. I came home once and saw him there, sitting up and looking extremely pleased with himself—with red paws. I was frightened at first, but when I went to check on him, I discovered he’d just been eating chili. My partner ate it pretty regularly, and D loved it and would clean the empty dishes. A childhood cat of mine had a fondness for Cool Ranch Doritos, and my current beloved Mouse eats Cheez-Its and popcorn, and our dear Phoenix waits patiently for you to finish your ice cream so she can lick the bowl.

A little Boston Terrier puppy is living on the streets when a man finds him and lures him over with fries. He takes the dog home and cares for him. At first, he feeds the dog sensibly on dog food, but almost immediately, he starts adding People Food to the dishes. The dog, now named Winston, is all in on this. He eats spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, popcorn, bacon, eggs, and anything else his owner eats. Then the man starts dating a waitress at the restaurant the pair go to regularly. She encourages him to eat better, and Winston, to his disgust, is back to kibble. When the man and woman break up, Winston’s owner goes back to his old eating habits, which Winston likes, but it’s clear he’s also deeply unhappy.

Look, a kibble diet is far healthier for Winston than waffles and doughnuts and Gods alone know what else the dog eats. Dogs can digest carbohydrates. It’s fine for them to have some, though they are carnivores. But there’s a difference between “carbohydrates are okay” and “nah, it’s good, just feed your dog pasta.” Dogs are not healthy on a People Food diet. For one thing, it’s not just the carbohydrates. That dog must be consuming far more than its share of fats as well. It’s not healthy, even if it’s adorable.

Generally I don’t like the idea that you should “fix” your partner. It appears the diet the man eats switches from basically Bachelor Chow to a diet heavy in vegetables. Not just with the occasional vegetable, or even the proper proportion of them for an adult human, but “here is a plate of Brussels sprouts for dinner.” I agree that a Bachelor Chow meal is unhealthy, but it’s a bit extreme of a change. I can’t help wondering if it’s what they fought about, given the breakup is mild enough for it to be repaired.

This cartoon is adorable. It played before Big Hero 6, as I recall, and I’m a fan of playing shorts before the feature, animated or not but especially animated. I enjoyed it at the time, and I’m not even a dog person. There is an important place for animated shorts, and we’re just letting it go to waste by not paying attention to them. My partner even remembered this short by name without my telling him which one it was, and he’s not as much a movie person as I am. Not that most people are.