Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First cat Luna is eating new cat Rame's food. Luna is on diet food now and I watch what she eats so she will not gain weight - I want her to lose weight! She is 12.5 pounds on a small frame. Rame eats the kind of food Luna used to eat before her diet, so she goes into his room (that is a whole other story!)and sneaks his food.

They are both free feeders because I do not have a regular schedule and can be away for 8-12 hours. Luna gets crazy and tries to eat odd things when there is not food around for her for a long time. She will munch on paper, wood, etc. But she does not swallow them.

Neither of them gulp their food, they just graze on what I measure out. I measure their food out in the morning when I leave for work and then give them their smaller evening portion when I come home.

Any suggestions for either getting her to back off his food or how to retrain them them with my odd schedule>

Thanks

Hi There,

The best way to keep a cat from eating another cat's food is to feed them separately and never leave food down. Cats used to grazing will not like this, though!

Perhaps you can compromise a bit. If the cats are in separate rooms while you are gone, leave the food down, but pick up any remaining food when you return home. If the cats spend the day together, pick up the remaining food before you leave.........or you can leave down the light food only for both of them.

The very best way to help a cat lose weight is to switch to canned food, which is better for cats anyway. I feed canned food twice a day and also give snacks of dry food. Treats are usually bits of real chicken or cheese, which is much healthier than most commercial cat treats. The downside of feeding canned food is that it may not be eaten readily by cats used to grazing.

If you come to chats tonight, we can talk more about this

Regards,
PHKitkat

I hope this means they are getting along tolerably, if she has access to his room.

I agree the best bet might be to leave the light food down during the day if she is a grazer and doesn't do well without food out at all times. It won't hurt him to eat it if he is an adult (year or so old). Kittens have different nutritional needs than cats if he is younger than a year (I can't recall). You can feed him separately when you are home if you want him to eat a different food and monitor so she doesn't eat it.
-----
Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Thanks for the advice. I am putting out the diet food during the day and then giving Rame is regular food at night or when he is alone in his room. Luna is losing weight finally because she is getting more exercise than she has had her whole life chasing Rame around.