Adventures in separate feedings

I have four cats - 2 of which are slightly overweight. The female, Typo is 4 years old and 17 lbs. Puck is just over one and 18 lbs. He is a big, muscular cat, but the vet thinks his ideal weight is 15/16 lbs. Typo's ideal weight is 15. I could tell at nine months that Puck was going to be big, so I started picking up his food. Of course, in a house with multiple cats, it's impossible to keep one from eating the other cats food. Plus, they always steamroll me into giving them 'just a little more food'. But - no more of that.

For the last month or so, I've been measuring out exactly what they should get per day - 1/4 cup of dry (Taste of the Wild grain free) and splitting it up into 3 or four meals:
-Twice before work
-Once when I get home
-Wet around dinnertime (1/4 of a 5.5 oz can, most of which are grain frees)
-Once before bed

They also get, on most nights, about 20 minutes of laser pointer chasing. Of course, the two skinny minnies would rather we played all night!

I haven't placed them in separate rooms until now. Typo doesn't seem to have an issue, but as the alpha cat, she doesn't get her own room. I leave her in the kitchen/living room area. The other three get their own rooms with water and a litter box. I planned on leaving them in there for 30 minutes, but it seems Puck is done eating after 6-8 minutes; the others after about 15 minutes. So when they're done, I open the door and let them out.

Also, I don't want them to feel like they are being punished for anything, but it seems like this might be stressing them out more, especially Puck. He acts like the others are getting special treatment or more food. Or maybe I am anthropomorphizing.

Puck eats pretty fast and if you've ever split up 1/4 cup of kibble into several meals, each meal barely covers the bottom of his very small dish, which I think drives him crazy. I started placing a ball in the middle of his food to slow him down, but I'm not sure it's helping. He still acts like a vacuum cleaner. Sometimes I wonder if feeding small amounts at a time make the cat want more food?

Am I on the right track, and will these things just work themselves out? Just curious if anyone has similar experiences.

It sounds like you are right on track! Did your vet give you those measurements? I am just wondering because my vet put Esme on a diet .. which is 1/4c of dry in the AM and PM .or. 3/4c of wet (which I figured out was 5.5oz) in the AM and the PM. She gets 30mins to eat and anything she doesn't eat is just picked up.

At first, she would only eat a little bit, because she was so used to free-feeding but after a month, she is now eating the full amount because she knows now it will be gone after 30min. She will graze in those 30min, but eat the whole thing.

Esme and Naku (who also eats like a vacuum) cried and cried for weeks but they are good now and know when its time to eat, will sit at their placemats and meow around feeding time. Naku eats in a seperate room and used to cry like he was being locked away, but now he just lounges around until we let him back out since its dinner time.

What also might help your cat who eats fast is to try a food ball, that way their food is paced and they have to work for it. I use the PetSafe SlimCat (which you can get on Amaon for only $5.39) and I love it, and the cats do too.

Good luck! It'll be rough listening to their meows, but they should calm down.

As for the vet, she basically said to cut back from what I was feeding, but to aim for no more than 250 calories for Puck and Typo The 1/4 cup of dry was for the two who are at their ideal weights already. Puck and Typo actually get 1/3 cup dry per day (130 cal) and 1/2 can of wet (94 to 110 cal depending on the kind).

Good luck in your feedings. Sounds like your two have gotten used to the schedule. Which is promising news since mine apparently think I'm the devil. I almost wonder if I should cut back to 3 meals per day (2 dries and 1 wet), rather than such a skimpy amount of food each time. I think they look at the 30 or so kibbles in their bowls and go... "are you serious?" LOL  But it could just be that they need to get used this schedule.

I'm definitely going to look into that feeding ball. I did buy one a few months ago, but the ball was too small and the openings were too big so that the kibble fell out all the time.

Thanks again!