My cats have always just been free fed with a bowl of dry food down. I now do feed wet as well.
But one of my cats is obese He is a huge fatty lol When I last took him to the vet she explained that I really needed to put him on a diet and stop free feeding. But I kindof shrugged it off as impossible for my cats. Well since then he has gained alittle over 7 more lbs.... (he did get fixed though but still wow) And it is obvious that I really need to do something before he gets any worse.
I have 4 cats. All indoor. Along with my fatty, one is just ever slightly underweight (the vet says healthy though), one alittle on the bigger side and one normal weight.
So I decided I would switch from the free feeding to actually measuring out the food and giving it to them @ specific times of the day.
I have alot of issues though where I am not sure how to go about it. Having 4 cats surely doesn't make anything easy lol
I decided for right now I would split it up into 4 times a day. I have the amounts already for each of them. Though the vet told me to to straight cut the fatties to the normal amount and I am thinking maybe slowly lower his instead? I know not everyone is ok with dry food but I still like giving it to them. So twice a day wet/twice a day dry.
I guess I will have to lock them up in different rooms to prevent stealing of each others food, which 2 will do.
Today when I did it one straight snubbed the food, the same food he always eats lol He just apparently is like screw your schedule! lol Should I offer it again in a few mins or just make him wait until the next scheduled time? The other cats didn't finish all of theirs either. I am sure that will change as times goes on and they realize that is all they are getting. But should I save the food and add to their amount at the next feeding or just only give them the scheduled amount?
This is day one and all of the cats besides driving me insane are also in cranky moods & having been at each others throats hissing & growling at each other even!!! Which honestly they don't get along that well anyways lol but this is surely not helping.
Also I feel bad about them going all night without food. I can give it to them right when I wake up and right before I go to sleep but that still feels like so much time without food.
my last question is what do you do if you have to travel? Like every holiday and a few family events we travel to my inlaws. It is only two hours away from us but we often leave in the afternoon, stay the night and come back the next evening. Sometimes (very rarely) do we stay 2 days. I have no one here to feed them while I am gone. We would just make sure to leave extra food and water out. With Easter in just a few days this perhaps wasn't the best time to start lol But it is something we will have to deal with again so... Will leaving out the food mess them up too much or will it be ok? I am afraid to leave out just the amount they should get because fatty will eat it all and others will go without.
Advice on making my husband understand that he has to stop "sharing" his food with them, even if it is cute..... lol
Any other advice to make this process go easier I would love. I like my vet alot but they were not very helpful in ideas lol.
btw I do play with my cats alot. The fatty is actually very playful & i have active toys and tons of other solo toys for him. I make him run all over its not helping.
But one of my cats is obese He is a huge fatty lol When I last took him to the vet she explained that I really needed to put him on a diet and stop free feeding. But I kindof shrugged it off as impossible for my cats. Well since then he has gained alittle over 7 more lbs.... (he did get fixed though but still wow) And it is obvious that I really need to do something before he gets any worse.
I have 4 cats. All indoor. Along with my fatty, one is just ever slightly underweight (the vet says healthy though), one alittle on the bigger side and one normal weight.
So I decided I would switch from the free feeding to actually measuring out the food and giving it to them @ specific times of the day.
I have alot of issues though where I am not sure how to go about it. Having 4 cats surely doesn't make anything easy lol
I decided for right now I would split it up into 4 times a day. I have the amounts already for each of them. Though the vet told me to to straight cut the fatties to the normal amount and I am thinking maybe slowly lower his instead? I know not everyone is ok with dry food but I still like giving it to them. So twice a day wet/twice a day dry.
I guess I will have to lock them up in different rooms to prevent stealing of each others food, which 2 will do.
Today when I did it one straight snubbed the food, the same food he always eats lol He just apparently is like screw your schedule! lol Should I offer it again in a few mins or just make him wait until the next scheduled time? The other cats didn't finish all of theirs either. I am sure that will change as times goes on and they realize that is all they are getting. But should I save the food and add to their amount at the next feeding or just only give them the scheduled amount?
This is day one and all of the cats besides driving me insane are also in cranky moods & having been at each others throats hissing & growling at each other even!!! Which honestly they don't get along that well anyways lol but this is surely not helping.
Also I feel bad about them going all night without food. I can give it to them right when I wake up and right before I go to sleep but that still feels like so much time without food.
my last question is what do you do if you have to travel? Like every holiday and a few family events we travel to my inlaws. It is only two hours away from us but we often leave in the afternoon, stay the night and come back the next evening. Sometimes (very rarely) do we stay 2 days. I have no one here to feed them while I am gone. We would just make sure to leave extra food and water out. With Easter in just a few days this perhaps wasn't the best time to start lol But it is something we will have to deal with again so... Will leaving out the food mess them up too much or will it be ok? I am afraid to leave out just the amount they should get because fatty will eat it all and others will go without.
Advice on making my husband understand that he has to stop "sharing" his food with them, even if it is cute..... lol
Any other advice to make this process go easier I would love. I like my vet alot but they were not very helpful in ideas lol.
btw I do play with my cats alot. The fatty is actually very playful & i have active toys and tons of other solo toys for him. I make him run all over its not helping.
Last edited: