Mary and I are vegetarians but our cat isn't.

When Mary and I changed our habits years ago we decided not to force our resident carnivore to join us in meatlessness.

There are certain kinds of veggie chow Sabrina will eat, although why some appeal and others don't, I can't say. She's crazed on one brand of faux hamburger which bears practically no resemblance to real ground beef in taste or smell so far as I can discern. She turns her nose up -- as near as a cat can turn up its nose -- at the brand that seems almost too realistic to me.

Sabrina sometimes gets a tiny sample of human food for a treat. (She begs) Her usual diet is dry cat food, thanks to my finally learning a lesson from a succession of obese felines, but a few times a week, and always when I visit the grocery, she gets her little tin of flesh.

She's particularly fond of the sliced turkey in gravy but she enjoys just about any variety. Chopped turkey, beef chunks, chicken with cheese, liver, salmon, seafood delight, mixed platter. You can find just about every sort of meat prepared any way you like in the pet food aisle. Last week I caught some trout. Who knows, maybe I'll find some perch this week, or veal.

Thanks to my cat, I can still enjoy meat vicariously.