Life of the Lintee Bean

Rumpelmintz, aka Rumpelbarfz, aka Rumpelbeast, has been with me since she was a kitten, in 1995. She was born to a stray a friend took in. Rumpelmintz is extremely smart, unfortunately she never uses her genius for good.

Rumpelmintz spent the first 10 years of her life training for the Barf-Olympics. She scored many a point for “Team Barf”. I asked the vets about it again and again. There had to be something wrong with her. They’d look her over, do some bloodwork, and say she was fine. Meanwhile, she decorated the walls, the floors, and the furniture with her barf artwork. She’d climb to the tallest cat tree and spray the walls, floors, and furniture in one gush. My mother called her the “Exorcist Cat”.

I now know Rumpelmintz suffered from a gastro-intestinal disorder, known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Fixing the problem wasn’t that difficult, she simply needed a food change. No more dry kibble. She did well on a grain-free canned food, and fantastic on raw. Of course, getting her to *eat* it was another matter. She’d only ever eaten dry food, and getting her to understand canned or raw was edible was a long and difficult process. Once her food was changed, she also lost a bit of weight she needed to.

Rumpelmintz adores playing laser tag. She detests the other cats. Hates them. Wants them dead. She loves people to admire her and tell her how beautiful she is, and she’ll run up to them so they can do so. She prefers they not actually *touch* her. She also feels is necessary to supervise any repairs done in the house. Though, I once found she’d fallen asleep on the job.