Feeding two cats at one time

katgoddess

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I recently started fostering a cat for a local cat rescue and in less than a week, she will be coming out of "quarantine" from my spare room.

I have a cat of my own and am wondering how all of you in a multi-cat household feed your cats with timed/scheduled feedings? My concern is that the new foster is crazy about food and will probably eat up all hers and proceed to eat my cat's food before he finishes. My own cat grazes over the span of 2-3 hours, never finishing in one sitting, while the foster does.

Suggestions?
 

weldrwomn

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I have two cats and they are both food hogs. They get fed three times each day. Darcy was a slow eater at first, but she learned to pick up her pace a bit because Marcie would try to steal her food. For awhile I supervised them until they learned that it was not appropriate to steal from each other. They eat side by side with their waterbowl in between them.
 

fuzmugly

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I've always separated my cat and my girlfriend's cat while eating. I've heard of obesity problems in two cat households, where one cat bullies the other out of food. Or one cat is so tense with the other cat around it will not eat. Our cats do eat twice a day in separate rooms with the door closed. The cats are good about eating their meal in one sitting, leaving no food for the other to snatch up.
 

hwc

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I just feed 'em side by side in a double-sided bowl and let them work it out.

They push each other out of the way and sneak nibbles of each other's food, but seem to have worked things out between them.
 

wyatturpsmom

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I have 5 to feed. They all have separate bowls and there is more than one diet. They are fed 2-4 times a day, depending on my schedule. I have to supervise since the chubber one wants to eat everyone else's and the baby thinks everything is for him! We're working on his manners. One of them eats on the counter which simplifies it somewhat.
 
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katgoddess

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Well, tonight was their first feeding together and...I turned my back for about two minutes and came back to see that the foster had not only eaten up all her portion, but my cat's portion, too! She is a tiny one, but a food hog, while mine just lets his food sit around for hours. This could be an issue since if I separate them for feedings, it could mean hours at a time because of my slow eater of a cat.
 
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