Weight loss when there are other cats?

Hey,
One of my foster kittens is pretty chubby. He weighed 9 pounds at 5 months old, he's a big cat but he also has a tummy. The vet said he is healthy.
I am trying to figure out a way to get him to lose weight when I can't really feed him any differently than the other cats since they all have access to the same food. I have 5 foster kittens that are all from the same litter, two of them were bigger but the other large one was adopted.
I've been letting him run around more and playing with him more but he is still chunky...

Nix the free feeding for all of them and go to controlled portions at set times. That's the only way to get a kitty to lose weight, in my experience of having overweight kitties.

Also feed them separately.

I don't think I have enough different places in my house to be able to feed 8 cats separately.

IMO you should consult the vet before putting a kitten on a diet. I do a measured free feed for dry food, but I've had to up how much since we have a 9 month old kitten and 1 senior and 1 middle aged adult. The kitten is a chow hound.

You can also supervise them if you can't feed them separately. I have 2, an older (13 yo) kitty and a younger (3 yo) kitty. Here's what I do.

The older kitty has more food issues, so she gets 1/2 C of dry food a day. She also gets a bit of wet food twice a day, morning and evening. For her dry food, she gets fed before I leave for work, and since my husband is home on disability, when she goes to her food bowl, then comes to "ask" for her food, he'll feed her. When she's finished, we pick up the bowl and put it away. She eats approx. every 2 -3 hours. At one point in time, she weighed 15 lbs. Monitoring her food intake and going to 'scheduled' feeding helped her tremendously.

My younger kitty gets fed mostly wet food and less than 1/4 C dry food a day. She eats wet morning and evening. Around noon, she gets a few dry morsels. Mid-evening, she gets about 1/2 of whatever dry is in her cup. At bedtime, she gets whatever is left. I cut the canned food into serving portions when I open a new can. When she went to the vet last week, she'd lost 3 oz!! She was getting a bit on the plump side.

When they eat, they're now able to eat near each other. I still have to stand guard occasionally, but most of the time, I'm able to just keep an eye on them and pick up whoever's bowl that finishes first. I can count on the younger one eating the older one's food if I leave the bowl unattended!!

One of the things I've noticed about cutting back on food is that the kitties become more playful. If I divert their attention to an interactive toy when they're begging for food, they're often satisfied. I also noticed that often, they use food for "comfort". Lastly, it's harder for me to say "No" because they're just so darn cute!! Now, I tell them, "It's not time yet. Let's play!"

It's difficult, but it can be done. You just have to be creative and work on it until you find a routine that works for you and your kitties.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

I don't think I have enough different places in my house to be able to feed 8 cats separately.

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If only one is overweight then you only need 2 rooms---one room for the overweight one, and one room for all the others.