Feeding two cats

Hi there. I have two cats. Bella is six, Tally is three. Tally was feral for the first four weeks of her life; her mother abandoned her in a barn across the road from my house and after three days of listening to her cry, my dad managed to catch her and we took her in.

With our first cat Loren and with Bella, we just left food out and let them choose when to eat and how much. We've done that with Tally but it needs to stop. I took her to the vet for a check up and to discuss diet with the vet and she weighed 17 pounds. I think she has gotten heavier in the last two months. But I don't know what to do. The vet said both cats should get a half cup of dry food in the morning and at night. We've been doing that, but recently I have caught Tally eating what food Bella doesn't eat (they don't really get along and eat at opposite ends of the house). I want Tally to lose weight and be healthy, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that without jeopardizing Bella's health. She is quite skinny and I worry that taking her dish away to ensure Tally doesn't eat it will cause her to become even skinnier.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

kelsyhb said:

Hi there. I have two cats. Bella is six, Tally is three. Tally was feral for the first four weeks of her life; her mother abandoned her in a barn across the road from my house and after three days of listening to her cry, my dad managed to catch her and we took her in.
With our first cat Loren and with Bella, we just left food out and let them choose when to eat and how much. We've done that with Tally but it needs to stop. I took her to the vet for a check up and to discuss diet with the vet and she weighed 17 pounds. I think she has gotten heavier in the last two months. But I don't know what to do. The vet said both cats should get a half cup of dry food in the morning and at night. We've been doing that, but recently I have caught Tally eating what food Bella doesn't eat (they don't really get along and eat at opposite ends of the house). I want Tally to lose weight and be healthy, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that without jeopardizing Bella's health. She is quite skinny and I worry that taking her dish away to ensure Tally doesn't eat it will cause her to become even skinnier.
Thank you in advance for any advice.

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Hmmm... Is it possible the close one or the other off completely while eating?  You didn't say if you are feeding kibble or wet but I'm assuming it's kibble by the portions your vet advised you to feed.  You didn't mention the brand of food you are feeding.  If you could find a nutrient dense food and close them off from each other during meal time, this might help the situation.  Bella may gain some weight and Tally may lose some weight.  I know it's hard to separate animals during meal time.  I have 4 cats and 2 dogs.  I've been lucky in that when food problems such as yours have arisen; I have the room for separating them.  I use timed feeders for the cat's dry feedings and feed wet 2x daily.  Their wet meals are the main meals for them so I space the kibble feedings into smaller portions which is dispensed out 3 times a day between the wet feedings.

I don't know if this has been any help but maybe someone else will have a better idea than I can come up with.

We feed them kibble (dry food?). It's a Purina One product. We keep it in a large tupperware container and I don't have the bag around anymore, but it comes in a teal-colored package. I've actually offered them wet food before and they've snubbed it.

We do have the space to close them off. However, the issue seems to be time. They both like to go outside in the morning and stay out most of the day while everyone is at work. Tally might get fed at 7 AM where Bella might not get fed until 10 AM. And I can't say my parents care enough to sit around and wait till the cats are done eating to take away the excess.

Another issue is that Tally lurks around the tupperware container and meows piteously. How do I know when she is really hungry and when she is just meowing because she wants to be fed (but doesn't need to be)? And if Bella doesn't finish the half cup she is entitled to and comes back later for more but we've taken it away so Tally can't get at it, how is that fair to her? These are the things that make this seem impossible to me...