Any recommendations for feeding a fat cat & a skinny cat?
One eats everything in one sitting and the other one likes to snack whenever she wants. Thus, one is fat because he eats all of the food and the other one is skinny because she has nothing to snack on. I have tried:
1. Auto feeder - good for portion control, bad for the one who gets none of the portion
2. Find a high spot to feed the skinny one - fatty is more agile than I thought, he has successfully infiltrated all locations
3. Separate room feeding - not effective when she walks away after 2 bites
4. Take food away until next feeding time - she puked on my bed because she ate too much too fast
by
underinsomnia
asked 5 months ago
I had the same problem with two of my cats. The vet told me to mix cooked rice with canned cat food. The fat cat will start eating less because it gets full quicker, and will become conditioned to eating smaller amounts.The skinny cat actually gains weight because of the added starches.
Hmmm... I wonder if that would work for my cats.
I normally leave dry food out all the time and feed a half 5.5 oz can of wet food each day (usually in the evening). Unless I don't put out dry food at all, it is rare that they finish the wet food and I frequently throw out almost a 1/4 can (ie. about half of what I put out).
My ~7lb female is much more finicky than my ~13lb male (she won't eat treats, he will). He isn't really fat, though it wouldn't hurt him to lose a pound or two (he is a big cat); she isn't really underweight, though she could gain a pound or two.
@atd15: I will try that, thanks for the tip
@baqui63: 13 lbs is actually pretty good. I have a 17 #er and a 7#er. Both of them are dry food junkies. The Vet told me that dry food is actually bad for them because it is carbs infused with fats. After switching the fatty to the canned food, he has lost half a lb. Her on the other hand... reacts to canned food like a kid to brussel sprouts.
@underinsomnia: Is there a big age difference between the two? My oldest female (now 12) used to be very slender until she hit kitty "middle age"...now she is a chunk, but still very small boned. The male (7) who has giant paws and big bones weighs in around 18lbs+ in the wintertime. I switched all of them to a "senior light" formula and it has helped a bit.
Our oldest female HATED canned food too until I found the flavor she likes...oddly enough she hates anything fish or chicken, but she adores beef flavor. (and ONLY fancy feast brand sigh) The male will eat anything that isn't nailed to the floor...LOL (He's been known to poach snacks from our dinner plates if we aren't looking and she won't touch "people food.)
Some breeds are just naturally chunkier than others, and you just have to be very diligent to keep them from becoming obese.
@baqui63: I had a problem at first trying to get them to eat the rice. So I added a sodium free chicken bullion cube to the rice when I cooked it. Seemed to do the trick.
That's tough. A neighbor had that problem w/ her kitties, but unlike yours, her fatty didn't care to exert himself, so her skinny's chow is safe atop a low bookcase. Could you make the food platform narrow as well as high, to deter your big guy?
Is the size difference sufficient that you could rig up a door with a petite opening on a box or crate, with the little gal's kibble inside?
BTW, for those trying to entice their pet to eat new or different chow, many cats (and dogs) find a little sprinkle of grated parmesan or romano irreistible.
I have a similar issue with my cats. I have a 4 month old kitten weighing in at 3.5lbs and a 14lb 15 month old. Of course, the big cat would much prefer the kitten food. All the kitten food.
Vet suggested I feed them both kitten food and monitor the big guys weight, but its still hard to get the kitten to eat enough, since the big cat will immediately eat all in his dish and move right on onto hers. The kitten only eats a bit at a time. I've taken to watching them while they eat and putting the kittens food away when she is done. They have communal dry food to eat until I put wet food back out.
@meh3884: I added a 4-month-old kitten to my single 10-year old cat household about 14 months ago. Same problem - the old cat wanted to eat the kitten food. I ended up feeding him his kitten food in a separate room - he was a good eater and ate everything quickly. The rest of the day, they would share dry food. My adult cat gained about 1 pound while the kitten was growing up. Now that the kitten is grown, he turned out to be a big boy and is larger than she is, and eats all the food that she doesn't finish (because she's senior and doesn't have a big appetite anymore). She lost her "kitten weight", and he's just a big guy - so I have the opposite problem of what I did a year ago!
My older, fat cat died recently of liver cancer. I had no idea that he was at all sick! No symptoms until three days prior. The skinny cat ate exactly the same cat food (Hill Prescription Diet CD) because the older one needed it. Vet said that was OK. Fat cat stayed fat, thin cat is now on regular food and weighs the same as he always did.
@jimeezlady: My kitties are 3 years apart. The big one also has the big paws.
@ginawoot: I live in an apartment so I can't rig up a door... :-( My boyfriend is coming up with some complex tree tower thingamajig... I am just going to sit back and see how that's going to work haha
@klozitshoper: Sorry to hear of your loss. The fatty liver can be a result of the dry food ( check this out ) My big boy had crystals and the Vet put him on the Hill's Science until a coworker told me about how bad the ingredients are.
@klozitshoper: I'm not a big fan of prescription food (except Hill's A/D). I've read so much about it being ineffective. I've tried so many different brands of kidney food and the cats just turn their noses up at it. A cat who doesn't eat won't live. So we feed what they'll eat, no matter how crappy it is (for the well cats, diet is felidae wet and dry).
We lost a cat to hepatic lipidosis a few years ago (we lost eight cats in a year's time). We got back from a four day vacation, he was acting strangely and I noticed how yellow he was. We rushed him to the vet and he was there for five days, when he passed away. (We lost Lisa Violet, who's name I've been using on the internet since I got on back in 96) the next day to heart problems.
I'm so sorry for your loss. It's never easy.
Have any of you tried Meowspace? Go to Meowspace.biz and perhaps that can help.
@baqui63: it sounds as though you have my kittie's dopplegangers
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