2 fat cats! how much should i be feeding them?

Hi there! New to the site... I'm sure there are a lot of similar threads on the subject, but i felt like i should get some personalized advice. So I have 3 kitties and 2 of them are definitely on the heavier side! Coco (4 yrs), who is a tiny girl in terms of frame, weighs a little over 9 pounds... I'm not exactly sure how much she should weigh, but probably closer to 7 or 8? She's got a little wobbly belly that is super adorable, but I know it shouldn't be there. Coco ran away about a year ago and was gone for almost 6 months . When she came back, she was a skinny minny, but over the past year or so, she's put on a lot of weight. Part of this is my fault because I was overfeeding her when she first came back because she was so tiny and I'm a sucker, but also because she's still in scavenger mode or something and is always trying to eat the other cats' food. I try to keep them all separate when they eat, but it's hard and I can't always be there to monitor them.

The other overweight kitty (Blue, also 4 yrs) is my boyfriend's and now also kind of mine too because we just moved in together. He is a very big boy- my bf told me last time he was weighed at the vet, he clocked in at 18 pounds! His frame is much bigger though, so his "goal weight" (lol) is still probably pretty high (maybe 15-16 lbs? idk, i haven't been to the vet with him before). He is also a little piggy and tries to eat the other cats' food constantly. My poor cat Ollie, who is the only one at a normal weight (also a little over 9 lbs but this is normal for his size), now has 2 greedy kitties trying to eat his food!

As to what I've been feeding them-- Before Blue moved in, I experimented A TON with different expensive, super healthy wet food brands but Coco and Ollie were having none of it. Literally the only thing they will eat is Fancy Feast (I know, but seriously, it's the only thing I could get them to eat). Blue was eating pretty much only dry food before he moved in (I have no idea what, or how much), but now he's eating Fancy Feast too. All three of them are getting 2 3oz. cans a day, but honestly i have no idea how much they are really getting because I can't seem to keep them from eating each other's food. They are all grazers, so I usually can't stick around to make sure they finish the whole thing and that they aren't mooching. I think Ollie probably ends up getting less than the other 2, even though he needs it more than they do (he seems to be doing fine though, definitely not underweight). The other 2 cats (Blue and Coco), however, always act like they are starving and would probably eat 4 cans a day if I gave it to them (i would not!).

So I guess my question is, am I feeding them enough or too much? Since Blue is so much bigger, I feel like he should be eating more, but apparently the vet told my bf, when he asked about a diet, to feed him 2 3 oz cans of wet food a day so that's what I've been doing! As for Coco, I feel like if I cut back her food any less she's going to go nuts!  She seriously always wants food... like, she never doesn't want to eat. But of course, I will cut back more If I need to, it'll just be hard to keep her from eating out of the other cats' bowls .

Sorry for the novel, I just wanted to be sure I didn't leave anything out! Thanks in advance for any advice!! I really appreciate it!  

It sounds like you are feeding them a good diet as long as you stick to the PATE varieties (no chunks, bits, gravy sauces etc.) since the pate varieties are all meat and no carbs to speak of.  One of the foods I feed is the Sheba pate, which is comparable I think.

I would suggest feeding the three of them separately and PICKING UP any uneaten food, put it in a baggie and marks whose it is, and put it in the fridge.  There is no reason to leave food down for them.  Give the leftovers back to whoever they belonged to, along with tier regular dinner.  You will then start seeing who is eating what. 

If they are overweight, try giving them a 15-minute workout with DaBird before feeding them.  That's how they would eat in the wild -- you gotta CATCH it before you can eat it, and catching it burns calories.  Then they eat and sleep. 

The Sheba Beef Entree (pate) contains 90 calories per 3 oz. can, so two cans a day would be 180 calories.

Suggested feeding is 1 can per 4 lbs of weight, so 180 calories is recommended for an 8 lb. cat. 

Most cats will not lose weight on 180 calories a day, and in my own experience with trying to take a little weight of a cat who had gotten too pudgy eating dry food. I had to get her down to 140 calories a day and it took  couple of months for her to lose her pudgy pad over her shoulders and belly, but she got there.  She is not obese any more but by no means slim.  Her coat is shiny and she is healthy, and I try to eep her away from dry food because it is too high calorie -- sort of like me eating a bowl of peanuts while watching TV and then counting how many calories that was.  OMG, really? Most dry food has lots of calories in a very small amount.  You said you are not feeding dry food, however, so that should not be a problem. 

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I will definitely be trying that baggie idea! And yes, I generally try to stick to the pate variety of most brands, but unfortunately pate is their least favorite... I'm going to keep experimenting with mixing some chunkier varieties of better quality food with the fancy feast.

I do probably need to work on getting them to exercise more, but for the most part they get bored with anything I try after a couple minutes. I've tried DaBird, catnip toys, laser pointers... They get excited for a little bit but it doesn't last long. Again, I guess I just need to keep experimenting.

As for the calories, if I'm feeding them cans with approximately 180 calories, then only 2 cans a day for Blue (the 18 lb kitty) seems way too little, and yet that's what my partner says the vet told him to do! Obviously I'm not a vet, but that just doesn't sound right at all. Also, if I'm only giving him 2 cans, he acts like he's starving!

He's likely acting as if he's starving because of the bottomless food supply he's used to? 

I've been told - think of the average weight for an indoor cat, e.g. 10 lbs. and figure about 20 cal. per lb.

So, an average indoor cat should thrive on 20 cal/lb., x 10 lb.cat = 200 kcal / day.

Or, if you think 12 lbs. is an ideal weight for you chubby cat, then 240 kcal a day might be fine.    

Depends on whether he/she is active, or a real lazy bugger.  Have to experiment and use the weigh scale. 

For my cat,  I measure 1/4 cup of dry food at night (~ 125 calories) & 1 can of Fancy Feast pate in the mornings (~88 calories).  

She doesn't eat it all: sometimes left over wet, sometimes left over kibble.   So that tells me, even 213 calories is too much for my ~ 11 lb. cat.