Nysse used to live together with two other cats. When food was served, he was fast and pushy, and always got more than his fair share. Since he was living in the countryside, he probably supplemented the cat food with mice and voles and such as well. Now he’s visibly overweight.

We serve him food according to his weight, and there’s nowhere to get any extras, since he’s staying indoors for now. And he is not happy with this new situation. Add the usual cat curiosity to the mix, and you get a cat that is very, very interested in our food. He jumps up on the kitchen table and the counters while we’re cooking or eating, and tries to steal bites of whatever he can find. We keep shooing him down, but I expect it’s going to take a long while for him to learn that those places are off-limits.

And of course he seizes the opportunity when we’re not in the kitchen keeping an eye on things. No dinner ingredient or half-eaten sandwich or butter lid can be left unguarded. We’ve never been so disciplined about putting any kitchen clutter away immediately.

When he can’t get hold of anything else, he licks the edges of unwashed dishes in the sink.