With multiple cats how can I govern one cat's eating habits., i.e. one cat is overwieght.?

Question

We have five cats and feed them all together, filling thier food bowls once a day. One of the cats is overwieght while the others aren't. The food seems to run out well before feeding time. Any ideas would be great. We do plan to consult a vet soon. Thank you.

Answer 1

I had a similar problem - 2 normal cats, one heavy one. I tried lots of different diets & ideas, but what finally solved the problem actually turned out to be very simple. After reading these articles, written by vets:
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=016
I started adding high-quality grain-free canned food (Wellness) to their diet. My slim ones stayed healthy, while the chubby cat lost the weight, gradually and safely. He seemed satisfied and not desperate for more food, as he was on previous unsuccessful diets. My vet was astounded at his weight loss, and at how healthy my cat is now. It's been a few years now, and the weight he's lost ( he went from 16 1/2 pounds down to 12) has stayed off, and the bonus is that all of my cats are healthier and have gorgeous coats, and we no longer have any problems with hairballs.

I hope it works for you as well as it did for my cats!

Answer 2

Ah - this is hard when there are lots of cats and only one is overweight!

Do consult a vet, you'll get the best advice. But since I'm a vet nurse who does weight clinics I'm going to offer some tips:

+ try feeding set meals once or twice a day - just enough to give each cat one meal so that food is not always present. If they don't take to this straight away, just take the food up at first - they'll quickly get the message that food is no longer going to be constantly available!
+ It's advisable to put the overweight kitty on diet food, as reducing her intake of current food is going to make her hungry and be difficult for you to know how much she is getting.
+ I know it won't be easy, but try feeding overweight kitty separately - once the cats have got used to set meal times, you can feed them altogether and plonk overweight kitty in a room with his special food and not let him out until the others have finished theirs!

If the vet does any diet food, do accept it. Hills r/d is particularly fab, and apparently Royal Canin Obesity diet is good too.

Feel free to email for further advice! Glad you're asking the vet too, nice to see someone who knows vets aren't only there for emergencies!

Chalice

Answer 3

If you're feeding dry food, you can convert them all to a good canned food.

Canned food - the better ones - are closer to what cats are meant to eat, which in turn means that they're not high in carbs which can lead to weight gain.

With 5 cats, it might take you a while but it'll be well worth it.

The average cat can eat a can per day (6oz) and still lose weight, while cats who aren't fat will maintain or even slim down a little too.

The best thing is that no one is starving, which means they won't bug you for food.

Answer 4

you should feed each cat in a seperate area and only the amount they need at one feeding and feed them 3 times a day to help slim down the possible over eating. Do pleanty of exercise with that cat and it will lose it.

Answer 5

I have one tubby as well; just have to feed everyone individually (in carriers would be ideal; makes them like being in them). Pick up any leftovers so Chubby can't go on crumb patrol. Also, some brisk exercise with a feather wand or fishing-pole toy will help him lose the weight.

Answer 6

I have 3 cats one is overweight and the other 2 aren't. We use Iams weight control food for all three. It's good because it has other things it does besides weight control, it has hairball control too!!