Fat cats

November 11, 2004 12:29 AM

CatFilter: overeating. we have two cats, sisters, just over one year old. One eats all the food that is put in front of her (and is developing a little paunch), the other moderates her intake. We have been taking an "eat-at-will" approach, but the one keeps eating all the food. How do we keep one less than fat, while not starving the other one?

Biscotti?

posted by lackutrol to pets & animals (8 comments total)

Put the big one in the bathroom for 10 minutes while the thin one eats regular-cat-food, and then take the big one out and feed her 'weight control' stuff.
posted by Jairus at 1:56 AM on November 11, 2004

I don't think you'll have to worry about starving one of the cats. If you want to be cautious, you can watch the two of them while they eat. If they fight, one isn't getting enough food. If one's cool with the other getting the larger share, you may have to accept one cat just being a bit fatter than the other.

My GF has two cats: one absolutely loves hard food. I can't understand if for the life of me. He just licks the soft food without ever digging into it. The other almost never touches the hard stuff, but his soft food diet has made him the fatter of the two. We give them "low-fat" hard food to compensate, but all it really accomplishes is keeping the fat cat on a soft-food-only diet.

Cats will put up a fight before just accepting they're going to starve to death -- in other words, don't worry too much about your cats. They'll have to work it out between each other.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:00 AM on November 11, 2004

In a case like this, you have to go with measured feedings, you have to forget about free feeding for now. I'd feed each cat in a separate room if possible, shut them in with their food for 15-20 minutes (stay with them if you can), then take it up, if there's any left, try again later. Cats have different metabolisms just like people do, so an amount that keeps one cat svelte might make another fat (the guidelines on the bag are just that: guidelines). Avoid "diet" cat foods, they're a waste of money. C_D: cats will most definitely starve themselves to death.
posted by biscotti at 5:35 AM on November 11, 2004

In my household, when I got married, we had to integrate my cat eating hard food at will, with her cats eating canned food on a schedule (they're fatties).

We tried to maintain this arrangement for a while but quit because the other cats would always try to cadge food from my cat's bowl, and if I put my cat's bowl away, she'd complain. Now all the cats are on a feeding schedule and eating canned food. We feed them at the same time, in the same room, and referee if they start nosing into the wrong bowl. My cat adapted easily enough.

FWIW, we've found that canned food, although a lot more expensive, seems to make it easier to control the cats' weight--they seem to feel more full on less food.
posted by adamrice at 8:18 AM on November 11, 2004

In my house we've managed to solve this problem by putting the thin cat's food up high where the fat one can't jump, but if your overeating cat is still agile that won't help.
posted by mmoncur at 11:44 AM on November 11, 2004

cats need a certain amount of food to keep them healthy - restricted feedings aren't good for them, from what my vet tells me.

our cats have been on weight control food for about a year and a half. we feed ad-lib, and watch the cat treats. my chubby kitty lost weight (from over 16 lbs back down to 15), while his more svelte brother just stabilized at a healthy 15 pounds. (they're both big cats - mine is still chubby, but much more active than he was before switching to the light food).

incidentally, both adore grape nuts as a snack. healthy food, but they like the crunch and will whine for it in the morning. anything you can give them to make them feel full without adding a lot of calories or fat will be good for the chubby kitty.

in my experience cats that get food restrictions just become better at stealing food on their own. they also tend to wolf down what you do give them and then barf it up again because they ate too fast.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:12 PM on November 11, 2004

Thanks, folks! Just to clarify: our practice has been to feed them both a little wet food in the morning and evening, and to leave some dry food out during the day. The problem seems to be that the paunchy (not yet fat!) one eats all the dry and tries to eat as much as possible of the wet as well.

The greedy one is extremely agile and active, so I guess we'll just have to supervise feeding time and/or feed them separately.
posted by lackutrol at 12:13 PM on November 11, 2004

Biscotti - why is diet cat food a waste of money?
posted by jennyb at 9:24 PM on November 11, 2004