Need advice on how to feed 3 cats on diets

I have 3 cats. Tater Tot has to be on a novel protein because of his IBD. Pepper has to be on W/D and canned food because she gets constipated easily. The vets recommended Pie be on Tater's diet to make it easier on me. All of them are fat to obese. Tater is on a steroid which makes him want to eat anything not nailed down. I have got to get them to eat specific portions of food, to get their weight down. I live in a tiny 1 bdrm apt and it's hard to separate them. Can you think of anything I can do to get my cats to lose weight?

Stop feeding kibble completely. I would just put them all on low carb, novel protein canned food or raw since one cat has to be on it. Get them eating timed meals. Put food down, give them a certain amount of time to eat it, pick food up. They'll catch on quickly. 

If you need help managing the IBD cat, check out the Facebook group Raw Feeding for IBD Cats. Even if you decide not to feed raw, they're super helpful in managing IBD, medication questions, constipation/diarrhea, etc. 

That's good advice. I would do the same thing.

My vets have told me too many horror stories to feed them raw, but do you think the novel protein will help Pepper's constipation?

Many vets discourage feeding raw for various reasons (clients who didn't feed a raw diet properly and the pet ended up very ill, concerns about bacteria, etc) but you don't need the vet's permission to feed whatever you want. Commerical raw pet foods bought at pet store are perfectly fine to feed and most are complete balanced diets like regular kibble and canned foods. Homemade raw is cheaper but must be done correctly so the cat is getting a balanced diet. Throwing raw meat and nothing else into a bowl is not a complete balanced diet as many people mistakenly believe.

Home cooked is another option but, again, must be done properly to ensure a complete balanced diet.

Keeping the cat well hydrated and getting enough fiber can help with the constipation. Miralax can be used on a somewhat regular basis to help cats who are prone to constipation. Canned pumpkin puree can also be used. Ask the vet about this first and for a recommended starting amount.

A canned food only diet for all the cats will help with their weight issue as well as the other issues. A novel protein canned food would be helpful. There's a thread with suggestions on brands of novel proteins: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/306947/your-favorite-brands-of-novel-protein-canned-cat-food It's not a complete list of every single novel protein food out there.

Agreeing with everyone else. No kibble. Transition to timed canned meals. Raw or homecooked is ideal, but you could start with canned. Figure out how many calories they should be eating and work out a schedule so you can feed several small meals per day. You don't want to reduce calories so much that they act starving so the goal with weight loss is slow and steady. 

Here's some good info

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity

Problem with timed feedings is that I'm not home from 7:30 to 6. Even if I tried timed feeders, I have 2 cats who are food hogs and would eat the other cat's food. I really don't know what to do.

BelleL said:

Problem with timed feedings is that I'm not home from 7:30 to 6. Even if I tried timed feeders, I have 2 cats who are food hogs and would eat the other cat's food. I really don't know what to do.

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You can still transition them to AM and PM meals, and leave a small amount of food out for snacking. Even if they share the snacking food it shouldn't be enough that it throws off their feeding schedule too much. The goal is that once they know their feeding schedule they wont be hungry at random times and they'll eat all or most of their food during their feeding times. 

So, do I put the food down and take it back up after so many minutes? If they don't eat much when I put it down and then pick it back up, won't they be starving by the time I get home until they learn to eat at specific times?

Yes. That's the point. Eat when it's offered or you don't get anymore until the next time.

BelleL said:

Problem with timed feedings is that I'm not home from 7:30 to 6. Even if I tried timed feeders, I have 2 cats who are food hogs and would eat the other cat's food. I really don't know what to do.

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This amount of time isn't a problem. Our cats eat an early breakfast at 4am when my husband leaves for work, breakfast at 6am when I leave for work, supper at 5pm when we come home, and a late dinner at 8pm. Even spacing isn't important. 

There are feeders that only open when a cat wearing a special RFID tag on its collar approaches the feeder. There are various kinds out there. Heres one: https://sureflap.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder There's also thngs like this one where the entire bow is enclsoed in a big box and with a flap door and only the cat wearing the RFID tag will be able to enter the box. I'm not sure how you would train the one cat who needs special food to use such a feeder though.

I've already looked into Sure Flap and read the reviews. Supposedly the flap is flimsy. Tater is extremely smart and would have that open in no time. The other one looks really interesting, but I don't think I could get any of my cats to use it as a feeding space. They might use it to hide in, though.