How Do I Control The Amount of Food That Each Cat Eats?

Hello Everyone,
I am a new cat owner and I am ineed if some advise. I hope is am posting correctly because this is the first time i've used this site. Now, I am a proud owner of 2 male cats (brothers) which were born on March 18, 2008. The question that I am having is "How do I conrol the amount of food that each cat eats?".
Im finding that one cat eats all the food and is getting plump, and the other one is healthy and lean.
What do I do?

Thanks,

Franny

Hi Franny,
Welcome to TheCatSite.

This is an excellent question and a challenging subject.
I have asked a Mod to move your thread to TCS's Health & Nutrition forum where more members will see your question.

Hola y bienvenido a TCS, ...Catulina

y Milky

te saludan!!!........

(Translate: Hi and Welcome to TCS, Catulina and Milky say hello to you!!!... )

See you on the forums!

In the strictest sense....you could separate the two fellows and feed them in separate rooms. That is not an ideal situation for most people.....what I do when I see that one cat sort of shoves the other out of the way.....I simply pick up the cat who is finished and take her out of the room and try to distract her (I say her, because it's usually my female who wolfs down her food and goes after her 'brother's' food)

I'm fortunate in that I have a little back room off the kitchen..with windows....and I can put her back there for 10 minutes while I get ready for work and Samson can finish his breakfast in peace... After work, there's no rush....so I can simply watch the goings-on and make sure that no one eats more that he/she should.

Hope that helps! BTW, my Samson was born March 5 2008...so he's just a bit older than your fellows..

Thanks you for your imput, Im sure this will help.

F

from experiance with dogs what we did was put the bowls at opposite ends of the room and stay with them while they eat. Like make our food while they're eating. Then when one goes for the others food you see it and with a firm no direct him back to his own bowl. Teach them that their bowl is good the others is bad.

Originally Posted by J_F_A

from experiance with dogs what we did was put the bowls at opposite ends of the room and stay with them while they eat. Like make our food while they're eating. Then when one goes for the others food you see it and with a firm no direct him back to his own bowl. Teach them that their bowl is good the others is bad.

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I don't think my Phoebe knows the meaning of NO......she would just look at me...then continue on her way...LOL..I have to change her route by physically blocking her path.....once she smells food...it takes alot to divert her....

I don't think animals know the meaning of no until you teach it them. You have to say no and move your pet away from the no place.

Everyone is so helpfull. Thank You Everyone!

The easiest way is to feed them a certain amount in different rooms and don't let the faster one in to the other's food till he finishes.

Originally Posted by ParentalUnits

Hello Everyone,
I am a new cat owner and I am ineed if some advise. I hope is am posting correctly because this is the first time i've used this site. Now, I am a proud owner of 2 male cats (brothers) which were born on March 18, 2008. The question that I am having is "How do I conrol the amount of food that each cat eats?".
Im finding that one cat eats all the food and is getting plump, and the other one is healthy and lean.
What do I do?

Thanks,

Franny

Click to expand...

Evidently I am one lucky person because I have two quite different cats that I feed Science Diet Indoor Cat food freely to 24/7. I have a set of baby scales and I religiously weigh each of them every week and they never vary by more than 4 ounces. In your case it would seem that I would have to feed each behind closed doors like I used to have to do when I had a dog that would gobble up all the cat's food.

My solution isn't for everyone either, because of the time it takes. Of the tribe, all but one of them will eat a tiny bit, then leave and come back later for more. Etcetera however, will finish her bowl, and then move on to the next, and the next, and so on.

So my solution is to feed them several times throughout the day, a small amount each time. They all finish their metered portions, so there isn't anything left for Etcetera to "pick at", and at the end of the day, they've all had their normal daily amounts of food.

What I am doing is putting one cat's bowl on the floor and the other's on the kitchen counter- so it's separate but still in the same room

I also have 2 cats, 3&2. The 2 yrs. old was 3 months when she came to me. The older cat always let Juno eat first even as a newbie in her house. They share a can of FF and always have dry available. Juno really prefers dry and sweetie, the oldest, prefers wet, but they will both eat either. No fighting, pushing or nonsense. They consume 2 cans of FF per day and about 3/4 cups of dry. It seems to be enough as the younger weights 15 1/2 lbs. and Sweetie the older only 9 lbs. Of course the round kitty (Juno) never moves, just lays around and sleeps. Did I mention that they share the same bowls?