Feeding A Grazer And A Piggy

[lovepink42]

My two cats eat completely differently. I have one that prefers to graze her food bowl all day, the other eats like a dog and will sit and finish whatever is in the bowl. I had never had a problem with my one cat over eating, But i put my second cat on a diet and can no longer leave the food bowls out.

My concern is that she is not getting enough food, If i give her too much at a time she will get sick so i can only give her small portions. I try to feed her small "snacks" during the day but i am not usually home all day to feed her. i feel like she is becoming increasingly agitated and i don't want her to go hungry, but my vet had no words of wisdom and im not sure how to solve this.

I looked into possibly getting one of those microchip pet feeders, it would allow her to access her food bowl without my other cat getting to eat her food...i am just hesitant to spend that amount of money if it doesnt work. has anyone used them? i am worried my other cat would find a loophole and get to the food anyway...is it actually successful in keeping other animals out?

any insights would be appreciated!

 

[himawari]

I only have one cat so I've never had that problem. Though when I feed my dog, I need to be there since my cat is a fat ass and will try to steal my dog's food & my dog will let him since he's a scaredy cat lol

Do you feed wet or dry or raw? When I was looking into pet feeders, just in case I am out of my house for more than five hours, I found this. There's also this one too. I haven't bought either one since for now I am not away from long periods of time. What I like is that I can purchase both from Amazon and return it hassle-free if needed.

 

[lovepink42]

I only have one cat so I've never had that problem. Though when I feed my dog, I need to be there since my cat is a fat ass and will try to steal my dog's food & my dog will let him since he's a scaredy cat lol

Do you feed wet or dry or raw? When I was looking into pet feeders, just in case I am out of my house for more than five hours, I found this. There's also this one too. I haven't bought either one since for now I am not away from long periods of time. What I like is that I can purchase both from Amazon and return it hassle-free if needed.

the first one, the suresafe, is the one i've been looking into getting for her. the other, unfortunately, while solves the problem of me not being there to feed her, only automatically dispenses, but wouldn't keep the other cat out of the food. im hoping at some point to get her the first one...i was kinda hoping someone had personally tried it since it's a bit pricey

 

[lisahe]

We have two cats like this, too, and the solution has been to feed them five meals a day, in separate rooms. It sounds more complicated than it is -- you could do the same with fewer meals per day -- and it definitely beats policing and worrying about overeating and undereating. (Or cleaning up the results of a "scarf and barf" episode!)

 

[lovepink42]

We have two cats like this, too, and the solution has been to feed them five meals a day, in separate rooms. It sounds more complicated than it is -- you could do the same with fewer meals per day -- and it definitely beats policing and worrying about overeating and undereating. (Or cleaning up the results of a "scarf and barf" episode!)

this is what i do for their meals already, the problem is on a daily basis there is no one home to feed them the extra meals while i am gone

 

[orange&white]

My two cats are also on separate diets and eat 3 meals a day in different rooms. My youngest was a grazer until just a month or two ago, when she started finishing her meals within a few minutes...so that helps. Before that, she would leave food sometimes and I picked it up at around 45 minutes and gave her extra food the next two meals. She always "averaged" the right amount of calories per day, even when she was being picky and fussy.

 

[lisahe]

My two cats are also on separate diets and eat 3 meals a day in different rooms. My youngest was a grazer until just a month or two ago, when she started finishing her meals within a few minutes...so that helps. Before that, she would leave food sometimes and I picked it up at around 45 minutes and gave her extra food the next two meals. She always "averaged" the right amount of calories per day, even when she was being picky and fussy.

It's funny: our grazer has also picked up the pace. I think it helps that I put Pure Bite crumbles/dust on many of her meals but even so, the timed meals -- and not eating next to her barbarian, piglet sister -- have made a big difference in her speed. She still eats deliberately (oddly, almost meditatively, since she stares into space!) but she finishes her meals much faster now. And I do the same as you do: give her a bit more food at certain meals.

 

[MeganLLB]

My two cats are the same. I haven't used it, but if you buy it on Amazon returns are pretty easy.

I have to feed them in separate rooms.

 

[lovepink42]

My two cats are the same. I haven't used it, but if you buy it on Amazon returns are pretty easy.

I have to feed them in separate rooms.

I already feed them in separate rooms, it definitely helps her finish her meals which is a start. Im still worried that she isn't getting enough food because i already can't give her too much at a time to begin with.

 

[voyager]

I've got a similar situation with Hunter and Dexter otherwise known as Tubby and Slim.
Tubby gets most of the food.
But, Slim seems to get as much as he wants by the end of the day.
They both are ready for breakfast with enthusiasm in he morning, but eat only a small amount before moving on to other things.
Tubby is a competitive eater.
Every time he sees Slim eating later in the day, he has to go eat something too.
he seems to be afraid that he'll miss out on something.

M'Lady sneaks them some wet food on occasion.
If Skinny Cat isn't around, Tubby will eat it all by simply inhaling it.
He don't mess around with wet food.

He lives by the words I grew up with:
He who eats the fastest, gets the mostest, devil take the hindmost.

 

[misty8723]

Can you put the dish for the grazer up on something the other cat can't get to?
I have a similar problem and haven't found a good answer for it yet.

 

[jennifer26]

I have a grazer and a piggy as well. My piggy is a voracious eater and will shove her brother out of the way to get his food. Because my vet ruled out anything medical-related to her appetite, she asked me to get her on a diet. I bought the SureFeed microchip pet feeder for the grazer so he could eat more at his own pace and not have his food stolen. It is super expensive for a feeder (~$140).

While it works okay, if you have a very persistent piggy like I do, she will butt her head in while her brother eats and scarf his food. Or, she'll try to fit her head in on the side and eat from there - there's a plastic flap on both sides to stop that but it's not large enough. While it helps a little, it's not totally enabling my grazer to feed without interruption or blocking sister from getting in there.

 

[nancyann402]

I am in the same boat! I have an almost 15 year old baby who has always been a grazer. This was fine when my other cat was still alive. She was fat, but wasn't able to jump very high so I could just put the grazer's food up where she couldn't reach it. Problem solved.
But a little over a month ago, I adopted a new furry fella and he eats every meal like he just got out of prison. I had to start keeping the grazer's food in a drawer & taking it out for him several times throughout the day to let him eat while I kept the remorseless eating machine at bay. This got old fast, and also I knew eventually I would want to be gone for a night or two & that plan would not work. So I bit the bullet & got the $140 SureFeed microchip feeder. I thought this was going to be my answer. It really works great. My old man took to it right away, wasn't scared of it at all (and he can be kind of skittish). It would close as soon as he lifted up his head.
HOWEVER, I then let the fatty loose while the grazer was eating. He just pushed his way into the feeder and chowed down. I thought that it would close on him, because there is no way that it could hurt him, but nope. It stayed open as long as he had his head in there. And if there's food, he's gonna keep his head in it till it's gone. I thought maybe it was a one-time fluke, but it happened that way 2 or 3 times.
So unfortunately I had to return the feeder & go back to the drawer method. When I have to be gone for a day or two, I will just have to separate the cats into different rooms. This is what really sucks because they are friends now & play together. And one of the main reasons I got the second cat was so the original cat would have a friend around when I was gone. The one & only issue is the food thing.
So the moral of the story is, if your heavy eater isn't super aggressive, I would think the SureFeed would be a godsend & totally worth the 140 bucks. I would highly recommend buying it from Chewy.com if you want to try it out. Same price as Amazon & they offer a 365-day return policy, for any reason. Best customer service out there.
Good luck! I hope someone posts a miracle solution for those of us with super aggressive eaters someday, but I am not holding my breath!

 

[kobata1928]

I had this same problem with my three cats. At first I tried putting another bowl up on a shelf the biggest had never jumped on, but once there was food up there he decided he could in fact jump that high. My solution is not elegant, and it only works because there was a big difference in overall sizes of cats at 14, 12, and 9 pounds.

Through trial and error I modified the entrance in the feeder box until my biggest cat can't squeeze through. I doubled up the area around the hole to make it more sturdy and folded the edges over so there's no sharp edges. On the side I made an access hole the size of the bowl so I can get it in and out easily, and it's far to short for a cat to get in. I'm sure some cats would rip the box apart to get in, but once Oscar found he couldn't fit he has left it alone.

 

[nancyann402]

kobata1928, this is BRILLIANT! And I think it may work for me! My new cat definitely has a bigger belly & also a wider head than my older cat (I think he has some Siberian in him) and the vet thinks he is only about a year old, so he is probably still going to grow some. I am going to try this, but I think I might try cutting a hole in one of those big plastic totes, small at first & then bigger if need be. I also might try somehow attaching it to the wall or the shelves where I feed my cats. Because even though the new guy is fat, he is VERY determined. And if he smells food, I know he would eventually destroy a cardboard box to get to it.
Thank you SO MUCH for this idea! I don't know if it will work, but it is definitely worth a try. You are one smart cookie. I thought I was a good problem solver, but I don't think I ever would have thought of this!

 

[kobata1928]

kobata1928, this is BRILLIANT! And I think it may work for me! My new cat definitely has a bigger belly & also a wider head than my older cat (I think he has some Siberian in him) and the vet thinks he is only about a year old, so he is probably still going to grow some. I am going to try this, but I think I might try cutting a hole in one of those big plastic totes, small at first & then bigger if need be. I also might try somehow attaching it to the wall or the shelves where I feed my cats. Because even though the new guy is fat, he is VERY determined. And if he smells food, I know he would eventually destroy a cardboard box to get to it.
Thank you SO MUCH for this idea! I don't know if it will work, but it is definitely worth a try. You are one smart cookie. I thought I was a good problem solver, but I don't think I ever would have thought of this!

I had originally planned on making a final version out of wood if this cardboard proof of concept worked. Even though I knew how cats could squeeze into small spaces, I still underestimated it and my first attempt all three cats could fit through, so definitely start small. I'd say fastening the tote to the wall would be a good idea, I had figured my final version out of wood would be heavy enough not to move or flip. In the end, cardboard has worked for my cats and I've been too lazy to make a better looking enclosure.

 

[lisnya]

I have a grazer and a piggy, too. I give them three meals a day: one before I leave, one after I come home and one before I go to bed. Cardo used to want to sit there and examine her food first, look at it from all sides, smell it, smell it some more, take another look, experimentally barely lick it, etc. By the time she'd get to the point where she was touching the food with the tip of her tongue, Morgana would have vacuumed her food right up and she would be waiting to steal Cardo's too. A few months of having to constantly growl as she was eating and she started eating faster. Now she even finishes first sometimes! You can definitely train them.

Morgana would also get sick after eating until I found a bowl that is shaped like a cat's head. She shoves the wet food into the ears and can't eat as fast as she normally does, so she doesn't get sick anymore. It wasn't designed for it, but it works like those pet food bowls that make it harder for dogs to eat kibble fast except with wet food.

 

[lovepink42]

I have a grazer and a piggy as well. My piggy is a voracious eater and will shove her brother out of the way to get his food. Because my vet ruled out anything medical-related to her appetite, she asked me to get her on a diet. I bought the SureFeed microchip pet feeder for the grazer so he could eat more at his own pace and not have his food stolen. It is super expensive for a feeder (~$140).

While it works okay, if you have a very persistent piggy like I do, she will butt her head in while her brother eats and scarf his food. Or, she'll try to fit her head in on the side and eat from there - there's a plastic flap on both sides to stop that but it's not large enough. While it helps a little, it's not totally enabling my grazer to feed without interruption or blocking sister from getting in there.

this is the one i was looking into getting for her. im hoping it would work okay, my piggy is not a bully when it comes to food. he will sit there and watch her, which is was makes her anxious and eat so fast she gets sick, but he knows not to get up until she has walked away. he's scared of her so i dont think he'd try to push her out of the way to try and get it. and would honestly probably be confused by it.

 

[lovepink42]

I am in the same boat! I have an almost 15 year old baby who has always been a grazer. This was fine when my other cat was still alive. She was fat, but wasn't able to jump very high so I could just put the grazer's food up where she couldn't reach it. Problem solved.
But a little over a month ago, I adopted a new furry fella and he eats every meal like he just got out of prison. I had to start keeping the grazer's food in a drawer & taking it out for him several times throughout the day to let him eat while I kept the remorseless eating machine at bay. This got old fast, and also I knew eventually I would want to be gone for a night or two & that plan would not work. So I bit the bullet & got the $140 SureFeed microchip feeder. I thought this was going to be my answer. It really works great. My old man took to it right away, wasn't scared of it at all (and he can be kind of skittish). It would close as soon as he lifted up his head.
HOWEVER, I then let the fatty loose while the grazer was eating. He just pushed his way into the feeder and chowed down. I thought that it would close on him, because there is no way that it could hurt him, but nope. It stayed open as long as he had his head in there. And if there's food, he's gonna keep his head in it till it's gone. I thought maybe it was a one-time fluke, but it happened that way 2 or 3 times.
So unfortunately I had to return the feeder & go back to the drawer method. When I have to be gone for a day or two, I will just have to separate the cats into different rooms. This is what really sucks because they are friends now & play together. And one of the main reasons I got the second cat was so the original cat would have a friend around when I was gone. The one & only issue is the food thing.
So the moral of the story is, if your heavy eater isn't super aggressive, I would think the SureFeed would be a godsend & totally worth the 140 bucks. I would highly recommend buying it from Chewy.com if you want to try it out. Same price as Amazon & they offer a 365-day return policy, for any reason. Best customer service out there.
Good luck! I hope someone posts a miracle solution for those of us with super aggressive eaters someday, but I am not holding my breath!

hmmm okay, thank you for the input. im really hoping it will work, my piggy is not super agressive about food. he will absolutely vacuum up anything that he is given, but when it comes to her food he knows not to touch it until she is done eating. part of the problem is that him watching her makes her nervous. but he wont try to push her out of the way or anything because he's scared of her. so im thinking it will probably be a good solution

 

[lovepink42]

I had this same problem with my three cats. At first I tried putting another bowl up on a shelf the biggest had never jumped on, but once there was food up there he decided he could in fact jump that high. My solution is not elegant, and it only works because there was a big difference in overall sizes of cats at 14, 12, and 9 pounds.

Through trial and error I modified the entrance in the feeder box until my biggest cat can't squeeze through. I doubled up the area around the hole to make it more sturdy and folded the edges over so there's no sharp edges. On the side I made an access hole the size of the bowl so I can get it in and out easily, and it's far to short for a cat to get in. I'm sure some cats would rip the box apart to get in, but once Oscar found he couldn't fit he has left it alone.

This is genius tbh. my only concern is my baby is a super messy eater. i have to put a place mat down on the floor because she wont eat over the bowl. that could make a box messy pretty fast...but i suppose i might be able to make a slit at the bottom to slide her placemat in and out. this actually might make her less anxious while eating too! to have a place where she's alone and can't see the other cat watching her. might have to try this before buying the super expensive feeder.