Sibling cats with different dietary needs: How to manage?

We have two 3 year-old Ocicats. Our female is a little overweight and the vet attributed this, and a skin condition she developed, to yeast in her high-calorie (Science Diet) dry food. We have now phased out the dry food, increased quantities of wet food and she seems a lot better. The problem is that both cats now seem constantly hungry as they immediately eat the 2/3 of a 5.5oz can the vet advised us to put out for them twice a day and there is no dry food for them to snack on. One cat is overweight but seems to be benefiting from the new regime but her brother is constantly hungry and may be losing weight.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to manage this?

Are they each only getting one 5.5oz can by itself? You'd have to list the food(s) if you wanted anyone to look at the specific calorie count in it - but IMO I don't think 5.5oz is enough for a cat. Certainly not the thinner one which could be why he is losing weight.

I suggest you talk to your vet again about how much wet only must be provided for the overweight cat and how much needs to be for the thin one to keep him from getting thinner.

One thing you can try doing, that will not hurt anything, is to simply offer more smaller meals. Most cats do really well on three meals a day.

As for making sure they each eat only what's in front of them. You either have to put them in separate rooms or sit in on their meals.

Feed the smaller one a separate extra meal behind a closed door.

Thank you.

It seems they have different metabolisms and dietary requirements so we are going to have to feed them separately and monitor. Unfortunate, but possibly neccessary.

I stand in the middle and feed in a round fashion( ie cats in a circle) ... 15 minutes seems to be about right ...

I don't know about other people's cats, but I have two that if they get excluded from treats or meals they will get mean. Usually taking it out on my female cat (they like to bully her anyways) - but sometimes on other cats. An odd sort of food anxiety. In the past one of them would scratch at my DH when he was hungry (or thought he was).

Instead of excluding the overweight cat from any meals, just cut her portions a little - feed her in 3 meals the same total amount you'd feed in 2. This way she doesn't think the other cat has something she's not getting.

What are their weights now? Oci males go 9-12 lbs, females a bit less.

Jack gets about 1/3 can (small 5.5 oz) per meal. They also are eating dry too for the morning. On the days I'm feeding raw beef, they only get a spoonful of the canned and the rest is raw beef.

Jack is currently a solid 10 1/2 - 11 lb cat.

BTW a lot of Oci's are foodaholics and try to make you think they are "starving".

This is very useful info, everyone, thank you.

GoldenKitty45, it's very good to hear from you, as ever. I think we'll need to reconsider dry food, possibly finding another brand that does not pack the pounds on Pherber, who is 10lb and overweight. Chas, her brother, has a perfect cat physique at only 9.8lbs but is begging for food constantly now. Our feeding routine has all gone a bit wobbly.

Your observation about Ocis being scroungers capable of pretending they're starving when they are not is very interesting. I wonder if some of that is going on here.