Problems catering to three different feeding needs.

Hey y'all,

I'm new to this forum, as you can probably see, but found you on Google and was amazed by how busy this place is. I thought that hopefully someone here would be able to offer me advice, as the vets have failed to have any ideas.

Let me apologize ahead of time for any typos. I'm trying to double-check, but I have a kitten trying to chew my fingers as I type.


So my predicament involves...

Lexi: a 4-year-old, 15-pound-and-still-expanding, sweet gray girl. I got her as a rescue at 10 months old, after all her kittens had been adopted out, poor thing. She started putting back on the weight she'd lost, and apparently had been deprived of food at some point in the past, so she'd gorge herself constantly, regurgitate... then eat more. I finally put a stop to this by buying (dog) bowls with obstacles built into the dish to force slower feeding. I still need to get weight off her, though - wherein lies the problem

Lanie: a 5-year-old very active tortoiseshell. I adopted her as a kitten and she's been skinny her whole life no matter what I've tried. I've free fed her all her life (excepting a few months worth of trying to feed the cats separately) and she remains a little under 9 pounds, looking almost anorexic - though I definitely see her eat.

Lily: an adorably sweet, hyperactive kitten, a little over 10 weeks old (born on April 7th). She's looking good weight-wise - I'm just having to watch her so she doesn't eat the adult food. When she decides to help herself I put her in front of her kitten food, and she immediately digs in.


The food I'm using:
Blue Wilderness - Duck or Chicken (whichever PetSmart is stocking at the time) for the cats.
Blue Wilderness - Kitten for Lily.

It's as close to raw diet as I'm able to manage. I've been unable to feed a wet diet for the past couple years, unfortunately, as previously my work schedule was restrictive, and now I'm having to go out of town often due to health problems. If I'll be away for a night I drop Lily off at the friend I adopted her from, so she has the company of her mother and sisters, and I know she's safe and can't be getting into much trouble.


Past feeding attempts (involving Lanie and Lexi)

When I had more time at home and attempted to separate the cats several times a day for feeding, giving them the correct ratio of food and even some wet food - forgot what brand, but it was supposedly healthy, targeting what cats need without fillers....
Lexi practically inhaled hers, resulting in another round of regurgitation after every feeding. Lanie, on the other hand, refused to eat at all, whether she was closed away in a room, or Lexi was locked in the bedroom and Lanie was free in the rest of the house. She would obsess about being closed in the bedroom, or Lexi being closed in, and even when I guided her back to the food, she just ignored it. I'd give her an hour or more before picking up the food.

Surely after not eating a few meals she'd figure it out and start eating when it was put down, right? Nope. She starved for a couple weeks and I gave up after her ribs started to stick out pitifully.

Another attempt was putting out dry and canned food in two bowls each on either side of the bathroom or kitchen, just the amount that both cats needed to be healthy. Same situation as above - Lanie just watched Lexi eat all the food, leaving her very little. What boggles me is that, in all cases that don't involve food, Lanie is the dominant cat of the household. It almost seems like Lanie thinks Lexi is still that starving, young, neglected mother, and generously lets her have it. This went on for about the same amount of time - Lanie simply letting Lexi eat almost all of the food, and later maybe nibbling a few bites that Lexi left when she got full. So Lexi gained more weight, and Lanie looked like I starved her again. I went back to free feeding.


Exercise

I've tried playing with Lexi to get her some exercise, but if the toy doesn't come to her, she doesn't care to play, and won't bother to chase it. Sometimes Lanie can entice her into a chase and wrestle, but it seems pretty random.

As far as motivating for treats goes... my cats actually don't eat treats. I've tried every type, and they either turn up their noses, or lick the treat halfheartedly and *then* turn up their noses.


The current situation:
So far Lily (the kitten) can fit under doors, so I'm free feeding her in the closet where the other cats can't get access and chow down. Once she gets too big to fit under the door I'll have to come up with another solution.

Lexi is stressing me out in multiple ways. First, I'm worried about her health - she's becoming less and less active, and climbing about is obviously more of an effort.
Secondly, and something I'd actually noticed before she got so heavy (she was around 12 pounds at the time), is that she's not cleaning her, um, self after using the litterbox. I got freaked out when I found traces of poop on my sheets and pillow...
I noticed this right around the time Lexi had to have an enema, as she seemed, and X-rays showed that she was, pretty blocked up and in pain when the vet pressed on her abdomen. The vet I saw at the time told me, when I brought it up, that the anus is a very sensitive area, and cats have rough tongues. She cleaned everywhere around it, but just refused to clean herself, probably because it hurt her. He recommended that I clean her myself, and I have, for almost a year now. However, it's like pulling teeth - she gets very angry, makes quite a racket, and bites and claws (as much as possible with her SoftPaws on). It's not so bad when I just wipe a little, but when I have to cut matted poop from the area (using small scissors and not ever having actually cut her...) she throws an absolute fit. It's been rough.
I had actually planned to give her to a family member, who isn't OCD like me and wouldn't care, but when he couldn't take her I found hope in the most recent vet visit.
The vet I saw this time said that she thought Lexi couldn't reach her privates to clean them. I notice now that this seems to be the case. Maybe I'm clinging to false hope, but perhaps that was the situation previously and I just hadn't realized it... I'm really hoping.


So...\t
I need help figuring out a way to let Lanie free feed while giving Lexi a set amount each day to help her lose weight (preferably where the others can't get it, cause none of my cats feel the need to defend their food).

I'm pretty sure Lanie can fit under my dresser, and Lexi's bulk makes me doubt it, but I've seen cats fit in some crazy places with motivation. Like, I discovered that Lanie could fit under the bathroom door when we were in the midst of a bath one day....
Also, even if Lanie could fit under the dresser, I'm not sure she would - even for food. She's generally way to smart for my own good, but then other times I have to wonder.

Another option would be to get a plastic (Rubbermaid-type) container (with a clear top so Lanie wouldn't feel too claustrophobic) and cut a door in it (and line it with something so it wouldn't scratch her) that Lexi couldn't fit into.

Still, that leaves Lily free access to Lanie's food. I'm not sure how much of a problem that would be yet.

I've thought of creating a feeding area (kennel-type thing) for each cat that has an electric-type door that only the correct kitty could access, but I'm really not a fan of such things as those magnetic collars for indoor cats - especially a collar on a uncoordinated baby.
There's an option for a door that opens only for a specifically coded microchip - both Lanie and Lexi were microchipped at the time of their spay, and Lily will be as well when she gets old enough to be spayed. While I love that option, 1) I'm not sure I can rig one of those doors - made for thick-walled access to the outdoors - with whatever I can make the kennel out of, and 2) ...they're incredibly expensive. While I could come up with the money (painfully), I want to make sure that they would absolutely work for my situation, and that there's not a simpler, more affordable, solution.


Sorry for writing a book-long post here, but I wanted to present all information that could possibly be helpful. Thanks so much for making it all the way through! I look forward to hearing any ideas y'all may come up with!

Thanks y'all!
Lauren, Lanie, Lexi, and Lily

We had 3 cats with different feeding needs last summer as well. Callie was older, had chronic renal failure, would scarf & barf, and loved dry food. Several years ago, she had been 15lbs, but we'd gotten her down to about 10 lbs with controlled portions and scheduled feedings. (Callie has since passed away.) Hannah is feline herpes positive and has to have grain-free food. Tumbles was a kitten and needed frequent feedings and kitten food. We put everyone on pretty much the same feeding schedule. Everyone had their own food cup and it's filled daily with their total daily dry food. We feed mainly wet food, but kitties do get a small serving of dry daily.

Since Callie was a scarf & barfer, we'd feed her several smaller feedings a day. Since Tumbles was a kitten, he got fed on Callie's schedule. We would supervise feedings (stand by cat and guard them while eating) and gave everyone a designated feeding spot. Now that Tumbles is a young adult, he doesn't get as many feedings a day.

To help your overweight girl, switch to mainly canned and supplement with a little bit of dry. This will also help with the regurgitation issue.

Our Schedule:
6:30 AM breakfast (canned food concoction & meds)
12:30PM Lunch crunchies (Hannah only gets 1/4 C dry a day and Tumbles 1/2 C dry a day, so they get about 1/3 of their serving at this time.)
6:30PM Dinner (canned food)
8:30PM Crunchie snack
10:30PM Night night crunchies (after playtime)

When Tumbles was younger, he'd get 4 wet food servings a day and unlimited dry. We'd give him an additional wet food serving at lunch. Then he & Callie would get dry food snacks at about 9:30AM and 3PM.

Stephanie,

Thanks for your quick reply! And my sincerest condolences about your kitty Callie. I wish our beloved kitties could live forever.

I'm impressed by your devotion! I wish that I was able to do that for my babies. Unfortunately I don't have the availability to feed that often, and also there's the problem that Lanie refuses to eat on a time table like that, separately or in the same room as Lexi and being watched. I still don't understand her. Though I guess if I wanted to have a pet that I could always understand I could get a dog....

Lily (the kitten) has also made it clear over the past few days that she will eat whatever food is convenient at the time. She currently walks past the cat's food to get to the water fountain and the (nice) litter boxes, so she stops for a snack fairly often. I have a small litter box in the closet for the time being that she can use, and her food and water is in there as well (on the opposite side), but she doesn't go in there as often as she's usually following me around. When I see her munching the cat food I scold her and move her to the closet, and she goes to work on her kitten food without hesitation.

By the way, grain-free food is the way to go - I did a lot of research and ended up with Blue Wilderness, which has no grains, no by-products, and the first ingredient is the deboned meat of choice. When I figure out a way to feed them all separately, I'll be putting Lexi on their new Weight Control formula.

I will also check out the canned food, but may not be able to do a wet feeding every day (and hate for them to be disappointed some days ) since I've been having to go out of town lately for health issues. I was planning on getting a timed automatic feeder for Lexi in case I'm unable to be there at her scheduled feeding time, but I don't think that works for can food.

Do you have any suggestions for a way to have them all eat separately, with Lanie and Lily being able to free feed (from only their food)? I can currently manage Lily's free feeding from the closet, as only she can fit under the door, but she still has access to the adults' food at the moment. I'm considering more and more the idea of the microchip-sensing cat doors mounted on some sort of kennel that Lanie will be willing to enter and stay in long enough to eat - she is paranoid about being closed in anything. Unfortunately, the doors alone are like $150 each
and I'd still have to find a way to rig them to a kennel. I think Lily will probably be able to fit under the closet door at least until she's old enough to be spayed and microchipped.

Still, I'm really hoping that someone else can come up with a solution that's simpler and less expensive, because I've racked my brain on this for a long time, and I'm getting more and more concerned about Lexi's health. I need to get this figured out soon.

Thanks again for your consideration!

Sincerely,
Lauren, Lanie, Lexi, and Lily

I don't think there will be any win to your situation. Cats can make our lives complicated to cater to them!

I ultimately ended up mixing two foods together to fit the needs of different kitties. While I do 'free feed' it is always measure portions. If nothing else, perhaps you could free feed a measured portion, adding in extra meals for Lily.

Have you considered auto-feeders you can set to timers? I'm not familiar with them, as I've never used one, so don't know how often you can set them to dispense food.

Originally Posted by Laniecat

Hey y'all,

I'm new to this forum, as you can probably see, but found you on Google and was amazed by how busy this place is. I thought that hopefully someone here would be able to offer me advice, as the vets have failed to have any ideas.

Let me apologize ahead of time for any typos. I'm trying to double-check, but I have a kitten trying to chew my fingers as I type.

Click to expand...

Welcome to TCS Laniecat As complicated as your situation is; I don't think it's all that uncommon. I see nothing wrong with your choice of food. I had a somewhat similar situation but I do feed the Nutro line of kibble and wet. I free feed kibble and so far, no weight issues with any of my cats. At one time I was feeding kitten kibble and kitten wet, adult kibble and adult wet and senior kibble and senior wet. My meezers get wet 2x daily and I mentioned that I free feed kibble.

Keeping them out of each others food was impossible. Seriously impossible. I read a zillion articles and posts about other people with this problem and managed to really confuse myself. So I called the vet. The vet's suggestion, and it was just a suggestion, was to put them all on adult kibble and wet. I was mostly worried about Swiffer who was also about 6 months old at the time but the vet said to keep an eye on her but there should be no problems.

To keep it short, this worked out quite well for me. All 4 cats are very healthy and the kitten now weighs in at over 20 pounds but she's not overweight. She is a Maine Coon/Siamese mix.

The only other suggestion I might have would be to try the autofeeders and keep to a rigid feeding schedule, which it sounds like you already do.

Woah, very long, but I'll try to help.
Scuse me if I miss something, I'm going to start at the top and work my way down and edit as I go.

How much dry is Lexi getting? Have you thought about getting a wet food feeder for her? It releases at certain times of the day and keeps ice in the bottom. Wet or raw would be her best bet for losing weight. If you can't separate her while you are at work, at least do so when you feed her in the morning and at night.

Has a vet confirmed that Lanie is borderline anorexic? Some people are so used to fat cats that normal sized cats seem too skinny to them. Are her bones sticking out or does she just look like she doesn't have any fat? The latter is fine.

It's alright if she eats the adult food, it won't hurt her. As long as the other two still get enough for themselves, Lily is alright to eat as much as she wants at this age. I know on catinfo.org, there is a set-up the lady uses that allows kittens/small cats in to eat, and larger cats out.

When you were separating Lanie & Lexi, I think the problem was that you let Lanie SEE she was being separated. You'd need to move Lexi when Lanie wasn't looking and/or leave her separated for more than a couple hours. Cats are stubborn, but they usually come around.

I understand the struggle of trying to get a fat cat to play. They don't have much energy and romping around is tiring for them. But you have to persist. Even if you only get a little movement out of her, come back 10-15 minutes later and try again. The toys that have worked well for my obisi-kitty are bird on a stick, fat fluffy mice, and Da Bird. Sometimes I have to poke him with the stick till he gets annoyed and attacks it, but hey, its for his own good. XP
Oh, and making the bird 'hide' under a door works well too. Use a closet or bedroom door and put the lure on one side and you on the other and slowly pull the bird underneath the door. As it starts to disappear, my cat rushes over and attacks. xD

What treats have you tried? Dry? Wet? Freeze-dried? What about raw pieces of meat? Or cooked chicken?

I would recommend a potty patch and monthly grooming for Lexi to calm her and keep her clean.
If you don't ever notice her trying, then it is most likely she can't reach. Poor girl. :[

Just dawned on me.. Why don't you feed Lanie up on a table, counter or other high surface? I have seen much success with this from other members of this and other forums. This way you don't have to separate them, and Lexi can let Lanie 'eat all she wants' first, but won't leave herself without food.
Also, even though you are aiming for a better diet for them, you might want to get Friskies or the like for Lanie since it tends to cause weight gain in cats and thats what you want.

The plastic container idea sounds great! I wouldn't worry about Lily eating too much at this age. (I just realized all your cats are 'L's! Lol) I also like the magnetic collar idea.