I'm at the end of my rope with feeding two cats

I have two female cats. One is 4 years old and weighs 16 pounds. The other one is 3 years old and weighs 11 1/2 pounds.  My 3 year old cat is very active and a grazer when it comes to her food. She likes a few kibbles throughout the day. She'll also play with them when she is in the mood.  My 4 year old cat is overweight and found to be healthy by the vet.  I put her on a grain-free low cal wet food diet. It's been a year and she has not lost any weight. No, she does not like to play either although I try.  The problem is that my 3 year old cat prefers only dry food that I cannot keep out all day because the overweight cat will eat it. So the healthy and active cat always begs and cries for food.  I cannot put her in a separate room to eat her food because she will not eat all of her food (even if I stay with her) and I cannot put my overweight cat in another room during feed time because then the healthy cat wonders why the other one is locked up at meowing.  My healthy cat is suffering because of my fat cat.  I do not know what else to do. I think I have tried everything. I don't want to leave a cat locked up all day because of food and because it does not work. Is the answer there is no solution and I am doomed for the rest of their lives? 

Thank you. Adira

Both your cats will adjust to regular feeding times.  There is no reason to have food down all day for the cat who prefers to nibble.  In nature, they hunt, catch, eat, and then sleep.  You can feed them both wet food at regular mealtimes and you can get one of those food-dispensing toys for your other cat and put some kibbles in that.  She can retrieve them by playing with the toy.  You can easily feed them three times a day -- once when you get up, once when you get home from work, and again before bed.

If the other cat has not lost weight on the grain-free wet food you have been feeding her for a year, then she is still getting too many calories.  First, make sure that your "grain free" food has not replaced the grains with other starchy things like potatoes, carrots, peas, pea starch etc. because many manufacturers have done this in order to advertise the food as "grain free," but the real point of going "grain free" is to get the carbohydrates out of the food because cats do not use carbs for energy well, they lack the enzymes to do this, so they will use the protein and fat for energy and store the carbohydrates as fat.   What we want is more ANIMAL protein, i.e. MEAT, moderate fat, and LOW carbohydrates, less than 10%.  Fillers (starches, fibers, veggies) are cheaper than meat so manufacturers ll use them rather than putting in more meat to make up for the missing grains.

If there are no potatoes, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, peas and the like in your "grain free" food, then perhaps the fat content is too high.  Fat is also cheaper than muscle meat, so often a food with less carbohydrates will have more fat.  Although your pet food can may tell you an analysis of the food, giving Protein, Fat, Fiber and Moisture, they do NOT give them as absolutes, they give them as maximums and minimums.  Fat is one of those things given as a minimum, so if your canned food is 6.5% fat MINIMUM, it could be a whole lot more.  Some cans will give you the actual calories. 

Yes, my fat cat DID get fat on grain free wet low carb food!  None of the other cats are fat.  She was the newest arrival.   The truly grain free canned food I use for my cats other than the obese one has 193 calories per can.  The same company also produces two flavors that are much lower in calories, both of which contain some fish.  I try to avoid fish for most of the cats, but it helps to use the chicken & salmon mix for the fat cat because the calories per can are 141 versus the 193 in the purely chicken and turkey cans.  She can eat the same volume of the other food and have 50 less calories per can.   I feed her separately from the others, but she eats it because she is hungry and she likes it.  I have to pick up any left overs from the other cats before letting her out of the bedroom, where I feed her now.  She did get fat eating grain free wet food, but she ate her portion and all the their leftovers.  So now we have strict mealtimes. 

There are guidelines about how much to feed and how much a cat can safely lose and you will need a scale that shows ounces, but you can do this.  Detailed information is available on http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity, and there are other people on here who will gladly share their success stories and help guide you along the way. 

I had similar problems when Carrot gained 4 pounds after we adopted Angua. The kitten was being free fed kitten food and he was sneaking this high calorie food. We eventually switched both to meal times. They have four meals in a day. Two wet food meals and two dry. Both cats quickly adjusted to having meals and didn't worry about grazing all of the time all day long. We also have set calories we try to stick to each day to make it so we are able to keep Carrot at his vet preferred 12 pounds.

It can be done! I am living proof. I have now completed 2 months of wet meal time with (7) rescue cats verying in ages and weights. First I figured out how many calories each cat should eat (typically between 200-250) and found out how many calories were in each can. Divided the total calories into 2 meals. My cats were ALL free range dried food freaks! After researching how much better wet food was for them, I weaned them off the dry to just wet food. The first month was Hell but I stuck with it including giving my finickiest eater a little dry with her wet. She still likes to graze at her food so I put hers up on a bookcase where my fatty won't jump so she can go back to it later. They are all finally adjusting and don't beg unless it's close to meal time. As the grazing option goes away, they will eat more at one sitting. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need sujestions. If I can do it with 7, I have all the faith you will succeed with 2! [emoji]128525[/emoji]

Hi everyone!

Thank you for replying to my initial post.  It's been a little over a week and we are doing much better than before.  

Instead of doing two meal times - there are three meal times - morning, afternoon, and evening. That way they eat throughout the day still (which the little one seems to like best).  Now I just make sure to NOT give into crying and it is hard because the little one cries really loudly for her food. They have 30 minutes to eat their food. It's enough and the only amount of time I can watch them at a time. I make sure to ignore her while she is crying.  I was also able to find another weight management food with lower calories so I am transitioning them to that new food.  Once meal times become the usual and there is no more crying (hopefully), I hope to make the switch to wet food full time.  Thank you everyone for your help!!!  I hope the bigger cat will start to lose some weight. I'll post an update a few months from now.  

I hope you dont mean that you are switching the little cat to a weight management food.  I thought her weight was normal.  Anyhow, I am glad its working for you with the three meals a day.