My cats are going through a transition right now. The short story is that Rajah is recovering from a bout of anorexia and Elvirah is a fatty. They are both 12 years old, small framed, moderately active, indoor cats. For more backstory please read my original post here:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=112835
Ok - so put i Elvirah on wet food during Rajah's ordeal, and i beleive that she was maintaining or very slowly losing weight although i didn't get a scale until later so i can't be sure. At the moment she is 13lbs5oz which is up several ounces from when i got the scale, and this is a lot of extra weight on her, she should be 10 lbs, maybe less. I was giving her one can of various brands of super premium food divided into several feedings each day. But when i finally found a food that Rajah would eat (Chicken Soup dry), Virah liked it too and she wanted to snack out of Raj's bowl, hence the weight gain. In the meantime, Raj is up to 6lbs 7.5oz from 6lbs 1oz. Before the anorexia she was around 8lbs, maybe 8.5lbs. I reduced Virah's wet food to half a can a day divided in two feedings plus 1/4 cup dry divided into 2 feedings (boy, 1/8 cup in a bowl looks like nothing!) and i put down 1/2 a cup a day for Raj divided into 2 feedings. Of course they both snack out of both bowls and i can't even get Vi's weight to stabilize, it's steadily creeping up. I will not be putting her on a diet to lose weight without first getting vet input, but i have to pay off the bills from Rajah's issues first. I just want her weight to stop gaining for now.
Obviously the solution to this problem is scheduled mealtimes for both of them. But i am scared to try to put Rajah on mealtimes because she's a nibbler and i'm worried that she won't get enough food to continue to regain her weight if i try to switch her now and the last thing i want to do is to induce anorexia again, but at the same time i don't want to endanger Vi's health by letting her get even fatter. We live in an apartment with an open plan, i can't separate them all day or anything like that. And Raj lost so much muscle mass that she doesn't have the power to jump up way higher than Vi can reach so i can't put her food up high. At the moment Raj feels less disturbingly bony when i pet her, but only in comparison to when she only weighed 6lbs 1oz. Compared to her normal weight she is much too thin. How much weight do you think i should let her gain before switching her to mealtimes?
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=112835
Ok - so put i Elvirah on wet food during Rajah's ordeal, and i beleive that she was maintaining or very slowly losing weight although i didn't get a scale until later so i can't be sure. At the moment she is 13lbs5oz which is up several ounces from when i got the scale, and this is a lot of extra weight on her, she should be 10 lbs, maybe less. I was giving her one can of various brands of super premium food divided into several feedings each day. But when i finally found a food that Rajah would eat (Chicken Soup dry), Virah liked it too and she wanted to snack out of Raj's bowl, hence the weight gain. In the meantime, Raj is up to 6lbs 7.5oz from 6lbs 1oz. Before the anorexia she was around 8lbs, maybe 8.5lbs. I reduced Virah's wet food to half a can a day divided in two feedings plus 1/4 cup dry divided into 2 feedings (boy, 1/8 cup in a bowl looks like nothing!) and i put down 1/2 a cup a day for Raj divided into 2 feedings. Of course they both snack out of both bowls and i can't even get Vi's weight to stabilize, it's steadily creeping up. I will not be putting her on a diet to lose weight without first getting vet input, but i have to pay off the bills from Rajah's issues first. I just want her weight to stop gaining for now.
Obviously the solution to this problem is scheduled mealtimes for both of them. But i am scared to try to put Rajah on mealtimes because she's a nibbler and i'm worried that she won't get enough food to continue to regain her weight if i try to switch her now and the last thing i want to do is to induce anorexia again, but at the same time i don't want to endanger Vi's health by letting her get even fatter. We live in an apartment with an open plan, i can't separate them all day or anything like that. And Raj lost so much muscle mass that she doesn't have the power to jump up way higher than Vi can reach so i can't put her food up high. At the moment Raj feels less disturbingly bony when i pet her, but only in comparison to when she only weighed 6lbs 1oz. Compared to her normal weight she is much too thin. How much weight do you think i should let her gain before switching her to mealtimes?