‘The realisation that what I’d been feeding my cat wasn’t hitting the spot’

“China doesn’t feely well.” These four words were whispered into my ear, accompanied by the tell-tale lisp of a six-year-old missing a few front teeth. “Mummy,” my son said sombrely, as he climbed back into bed: “I don’t think China likes his food very much.” Worried there might be something else wrong, we booked China in for a check-up at the vet, who told us that given China’s age and heft, he needed a balanced diet; one more suited to someone of his weight and maturity and more sensitive stomach. As a busy, full-time working single parent, I didn’t have time to drive miles around town looking for specific cat food – but, as it turned out, I didn’t need to. I hadn’t even realised that you could buy a brand of dry food that was both nutritional and tasty – online, at my vets and also at numerous pet specialist stores.