“I wish that could say that my cats, Lewis and Clark, get nothing but the best, but that would be a lie. How healthfully they eat varies, just like it varies with me, and for all the same reasons. According to my schedule, they eat: Solid Gold, Iams or, in the most dire of circumstances, Purina Cat Chow from the deli on the corner. I’ve never heard any complaints.

Today I wandered into Whiskers Holistic Pet Care in the east village with a friend and was left feeling inadequate and guilty as a pet owner. Irresponsible, even.

Living in New York I’ve grown accustomed to being in shops, surrounded by merchandise that I know I can’t afford. It just usually happens at the Barney’s Co-op or ABC Carpet & Home and not pet food stores.

At Whiskers I got into a conversation with one of the owners, Randy. Somehow the topic of what I feed my cats came up.

“Do you eat meat?” she asked.

I didn’t know what to say. I weighed all possible options and outcomes and opted for the truth. “Yes, I do,” I said.

“Then share,” she said.

Whiskers has been open since 1988 and occupies a small, crowded space on east 9^th Street. The store has another location in Astoria. At the east village store I peered into one of the gigantic freezers that sit on one side of the store and pulled out what looked like a plastic take-out container of some frozen tofurkey salad like one might find at Whole Foods. I saw what looked like carrots, meat and pasta. It looked delicious, like something that I would absolutely eat. It was dog food.

My friend, Robbie, was there for Primal Canine Beef Patties; Primal Feline Chicken and Salmon Nuggets; Nupro Silver with Glucosamine, MSM, and Ester-C; and Halo Dream Coat. I would probably eat all these items, as well, if they were offered me a silver platter with a ramekin of ranch dressing.

At the end, my guilty conscience prevailed and I left with Primal Feline Chicken and Salmon Nuggets, four of which are defrosting in the fridge and the rest of which are occupying not a small amount of space in my already crowded freezer.”

Thank you for the kind words! Stories like this make our day. Click here for his blog post.