In the novel, Dr. Seward goes on to report his observations about Renfield. The patient has the habit of consuming living creatures around him. He uses sugar to catch flies, uses flies to catch spiders and uses spiders to catch sparrows. He feels joy in the consuming one creature after another. He believes that he gains strength when he eats these creatures himself. He can consume the previous lives in those animals. Dr. Seward names Renfield a “zoophagous”, a life eating maniac.