The Kitty Mush Song

One of my favorite Brian Andreas quotes goes like this:  "There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here:  to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good."  The Kitty Mush Song is kind of like that, without the part at the end about the cooking.  

We developed the Kitty Mush Song years ago as a way of getting the kitties excited about their "mush."  Sean and I both agree that we cannot remember how it started or how it developed.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, "mush" is one of the small cans of wet cat food, split six ways so everybody can have a taste.  The cats are able to free-feed all day long on dry food, but the mush is something special.  So, we decided it needed a special song.  Often, we will tease them by saying the first word of the song in a sing-songy voice, drawing it out meaningfully, and acting all mysterious about it.  Usually, that's all it takes to whip them all into a frenzy.  Sometimes we'll deliberately substitute words in the song to see if they notice.  Sometimes we'll say it with no music at all, to see if they "get it" without the tune.  So far, we haven't been able to stump them.  As soon as we even hint at starting the song, suddenly whiskers are forward, and everyone runs willy-nilly into the kitchen.  We pull out the saucers, on which the mush is always served, and that's all she wrote.  (They actually can tell the difference between the sound of us pulling out the saucers and pulling out the next-biggest sized plate--we've experimented and discovered this to be true.  No reaction at all when the slightly bigger plates are removed.  Talk about impressive hearing.)

So then we start singing the song in earnest.  It's sung to the tune of "The Micky Mouse Club" song, and it goes like this (ahem):

"Who's the leader of the mush

That eats the kitty mush?

K-I-T   T-Y-M   U-S-H spells mush!

(Chorus)

Kitty mush (meow, meow!)!

Kitty mush (meow, meow!)!

The kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty mush (drum roll here)

They eat the mush and poop it out

And then they want some more...

K-I-T  T-Y-M-U-S-H is on the floor.

And then there's another chorus...you get the idea.  I know, it's a little weird (okay, more than a little) but that's just what we do, and the cats really love it.  Sometimes we'll hit the saucers with the side of the fork, to the beat of the song, and that really gets them going.  They vocalize like crazy (sometimes timing it perfectly for the "meow, meow" part of the chorus), and some of them actually get a little mean with each other--particularly Otto and Wanda.  Elroy gets so excited, he just wants to share the happiness with one of his friends, so he leans into everyone lovingly, giving many head bunts.  Otto, on the other hand, would rather have his own private excitement about the feast to come.  Sometimes it gets temporarily ugly.  

But by the time the saucers are all placed (six in all--we always take one down to the basement to Mango), the cats are happily friends again, tails entwined, motors humming, enjoying the thrill of not having to hunt.  Good stuff.  Elroy and Reggie are nice enough to help the others with finishing their food.  Sometimes we have to help them to not help the others.  Mister in particular, who eats so slowly I'm convinced he must have been French in a past life.  Boy, can he ever savor a saucer of turkey and salmon meat.  

So that's the Kitty Mush Song.  Apparently there's some way to add a video of us "performing" it, and our adoring kitty audience, so maybe I'll try to add that later.  In the meantime, Bon Appétit!