Mr. Duke welcomes you to this Feline Friday the 13th.

He’s been “under the weather” for just over a week leading up to today. Actually, “under the chair” would be more accurate. He’s slowing returning to “normal,” but we still don’t understand what’s been going on.

Late last week, his behavior changed. The normally ravenous Duke wasn’t there when I started serving up the seven cat food dishes at meal time. I don’t remember if it was the morning or evening feeding.

This was a dramatic change. Usually he’s right there in the kitchen. I first make a bowl for Ms. Wally, the fussy eater. Ms. Kili gets hers next, else she’ll jump over to the counter where Wally is eating and push into her bowl. Then I take care of Romeo and Toby, who are usually at my feet. Duke is next. I put a scoop of food into his bowl and then I walk him down to the bedroom where he eats behind a closed door. That’s to keep him from immediately coming back out and stealing food from the others, one at a time. After Duke is taken care of, I come back for Annie and Harriet.

But then one day Duke wasn’t there to eat. I found him hiding behind our bed and he didn’t want to come out. Not even a dish of canned cat food could lure him out. Very strange. He later traded the “behind the bed” hideaway for a spot under a chair in the living room, which creates a little cave on one side of the room. For several days, I had to slip his food under the chair, where he displayed a normal appetite. He just didn’t want to come out.

Remember that Duke is diabetic, so when eating patterns are disrupted, I’ve got to figure out how to adjust his insulin doses. Stressful all around.

After 2-3 days, it was off to the vet. And mucho dinero later, we were relieved to learn that various tests returned absolutely normal results. He got an anti-nausea shot, just in case that was an issue, and some fluids, and off we went for the drive home.

That night he acted normal. The next morning he was back under the chair.

For much of this week, he went into hiding in the early morning, but emerged and acted almost normal each night.

So he remains a mystery. I’ve decided that as long as his appetite is mostly normal, I’ll feed him in whatever spot he wants to eat.

–> I’m ready to see the rest of today’s Friday Felines!