at Cats

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

Both Lilliland Castle, the home of the Baron, and Alpine Castle, home of Lady Angela, had several pets. Most of the pets were cats. As each cat had a name, it was treated like a member of the royal family.

To keep the cats in tiptop shape, and in good health, a veterinarian was scheduled to check up on them once every other month. First, the vet would go to Alpine Castle and then later to Lilliland Castle. The Baron liked that Lady Angela lived only a brief walk away. Sometimes the cats from both castles would visit each other. This amused both the Baron and Lady Angela immensely.

The vet spoke with the Baron after examining all the cats at his castle and said that they were very fit and received the proper exercise. However, he added the cats at Lady Angela’s were putting on too much weight and looked lazy. The Baron said he would look into the matter.

The next time the Baron visited Lady Angela at Alpine Castle, he did notice that her cats seemed to hang around the kitchen door and waited for their next feast. The cook who fed the cats went slightly overboard in how many times a day she fed them and the abundance of the food on their plates.

Finally, the Baron suggested to Lady Angela that her cats were too fat. He added that they needed to get more exercise and their diet needed to be watched. “Look at my cats. They are alert and nice and trim.”

Lady Angela was concerned about what the Baron had said and wanted to make a comparison of his cats and her cats. She quickly agreed that her cats were fat and lazy. She called in the cook and told her to feed the cats a sensible diet.

Then Lady Angela added privately to the Baron that everything must be going well in Lilliland for him to take the time to worry about her cats.

He replied that he wanted the cats to be happy and live a long time. “I wouldn’t care so much if I didn’t care so much for you.”