Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, I need some more suggestions. Here's the thing: Daisy has discovered the food and now eats and eats and eats. Bob has always been the grazer type of kitty , since he knows there is always food around (you know, eats a couple of nuggets, goes running around the house, then comes back for a little bit more and so on). It has been almost a month since I took bob off the kitten food (he'll be one in a few days) and I think he is losing a little bit of weight.
Now, I tried scheduled feeding (problematic for me since I am gone most of the day lately), but Daisy felt 'threatened' and started binging on the food as soon as I put it down (and sometimes eating so fast that she would puke after).
Somebody suggested put low calorie food and supplement with treats but bob is not very fond of them. Forget about supplements, I have bought several and he won't go near them.
Neither Bob nor Daisy will eat anything other than cat food (dry or canned, I mostly use dry for convenience). They are not curious about my food
How else could I keep up the weight on Bob and maintain the weight on Daisy? They don't have a bowl preference either and exchange bowls without a problem.
Any suggestions would be welcome
-----
Bob, Daisy, Karla and the Goldfish

Well, I'm really a big fan of scheduled meals. It would be nice if food-mongering didn't occur in multiple cat households, but it does. There are always a few piggish chubs and then those that have better things to do than to eat. I wish I fell into the second category.

Measured meals seem to be the best way for cat owners to not only maintain a good weight on their cats, but also to always be aware of any unusual eating habits that might crop up among multiple kitties. For instance, I knew instantly that something was up with Marvin when he first ate way more slowly than his usual hoover-vacumn rate, then the next meal wandered off leaving a few nuggets in the bowl - because I stand right there washing dishes and watching while they eat.

All but two of my cats eat their food up very quickly. Now my roomate's cat eats in her bedroom alone with the door shut and he's a bit sluggish about eating -- which brings me to my suggestion for your girl: Maybe try the scheduled feeding and leave her in a room with the door shut while she eats. Her own dining room. Admittedly, if she's used to free-feeding, it will take several days for her to change her routine. (God help me if I change the feeding routine at my place -- one little change in the order I fill each person's bowl and it's mass confusion in the kitchen!) But she will have her privacy and won't have to feel the pressure of hoover-ing if she doesn't want to, or have to worry about what's in his bowl.

You could feed her first thing in the A.M., or whenever it is that you're preparing to leave, and she can linger over it (if she wants) while you're getting ready to leave. And then again when you get home and are winding down after your return.

Just one suggestion. I'm sure there will be many others!

I really liked your idea about separating the kitties as that might take away the pressure from eating together. Briefly we had two cats and eating was a huge problem as we had to give a different type of food. We had to separate them at dinner. Both were so competitive that they would always gulp down their food. Neither was a nibbler.
-----
Boris's Human

My former kitty, Goofus was an over-eater and over-weight. We kept him on a scheduled feeding too. Since both my husband and I worked, we set his schedule to eat in the morning while we were getting ready and hubby fed him again when he got home as I got off later. He settled into the routine very well-so well that on the weekends when we could sleep in later, he was ready to be fed at his normal 5:30 am. He was a gulper and no matter what food I gave him, he would eat it whole and not chew it. Boris is a different matter-he sets his own schedule but we have noticed as he is getting older that he now eats more in the mornings while I am getting ready for work and again at night while we are eating dinner. I guess he feels that he has to eat too. Goofus was not interested in human food either and only ate dry cat food. Boris on the other hand, loves human food and we have to watch him as he would easily eat too much.
-----
Boris's Human

Not sure if this will work for you or not. We used to have a cat that would bolt her food down and then of course throw it back up. Everyone else was content to graze or snack. What we did was to put a big rock in the feeder so she had to work for it. It gave her something to do and required a bit of concentration on her part so she started eating much slower and felt full earlier. The others thought it was a great game (how many pieces of food can I snag at one time?

We have 2 24/7 feeders here so there are no fights for food, although the second one is empty everyone is starving and then they get a bit testy with each other.

They also get a bit of canned food every afternoon but that is given out individually, the ones that need extra can have it at that time while I watch to make sure no one is stealing.
-----
Topaz an Da Idyho Clan
Vester, Mystry, Trey, Gidget, Tuff. Rusti, Michael, Carmen, KC, Badger, Panda, MamaCat, Tasha, Chip, Sierra and Tribble

LOL, ninga! sounds like an entertaining idea
Thanks all of you for your suggestions...I will let you know what happens. Right now Daisy is in good weight but she will definitively get fat if I don't do something to stop her behavior around foodbowls.
-----
Bob, Daisy, Karla and the Goldfish