Nom nom nom

Ok, so, this is not really a picture of my cat. But it may as well be. I am about to lose my mind.

Ever since I got Nora, she was tiny. The runt. I have a soft spot for runty pets. I could fill her food bowl up, and, 3 days later, she still had food. She was never on a feeding schedule, always just a grazer. She never, and I mean NEVER, bothered "people" food. I could leave food out, I could eat with her next to me, she never even batted an eye. In fact, I have dropped chicken or turkey on the floor accidentally during food prep, then tore it into pieces and put it in her food bowl thinking, eh, this is what her food is made of anyway. She would never, ever eat it.

Then.....we got her fixed.

And her table manners, among other things, changed drastically.

At first I blamed the dog. One night, we heard a noise downstairs, only to discover the brand new bad of puppy food on the floor in front of Dex's crate, with him in the crate mind you, with a hole chewed through it. Now, he is a bit of a mini-Houdini (houndini is more like it), so we figured he did it. I poured the food into a huge ziplock bag and put it on the buffet, far from his short legged reach. The next day, I discovered said bag with a hole chewed in it. I feared then that the cat and dog were in cahoots.

Now I suspect it is just her.

Hubby found a Hershey kiss in her food bowl on Thursday, still wrapped, as if being saved for later. Her food is in the basement, where Dexter never goes.

Twice yesterday, we caught her trying to steal candy, once the Reese's Pieces in the living room, and once the Valentine's candy that has been in the bedroom for, well, nearly 3 months. She must have really wanted those red hots.

But the coup de grace to her facade of innocence happened today. We went to visit my family for the day, and Dexter went with us. When we got home, Hubby realized Nora had been into the trash. At first we thought she just knocked it over, until I found the remnants of chicken wings in a trail through the kitchen, dining, and living rooms.

You might think perhaps I am not feeding her enough. Well, dear readers, her food dish was filled at 5:30 this morning when I went down to the basement to fold laundry. When we got home, it was empty. So, she ate all that, and then went hunting.

What has happened to my Nora, she used to be such a lady! Is this common to cats that have been spayed?

Do any of my readers have suggestions on how to handle this? I do not want to get upset with her, but clearly, this behavior has got to end, before she eats something that proves harmful to her.

Sigh, this really is like being a mommy you know. Happy Mother's Day to me I guess.