Catfood management

[yagathai]

So I have four cats in the household. Catt Murdock is a kitten, who should be fed as often and as much as she desires. She will eat anything, but greatly prefers soft wet food with a lower calorie density to kitten crunchies, which have the levels of protein and other nutrients that she needs. She has good food manners, in that the other cats will smack the shit out of her if she tries to eat from their dish when they are around and she knows it.

Minerva is an older lady, around 10 yo, within a reasonable weight range for her age. Think of her as a slightly plumper feline version of the Dowager Countess, for you Downton fans. She does not have a marked preference between crunchies and wet food, and if both are available she will graze as the mood takes her. She usually cleans her plate, or leaves a small amount behind. She'll leave Oona's food alone, but not Catt Murdock's delectable kitten crunchies.

Oona is a dainty young lady about 3, who's got a couple of extra pounds on her, but is a very nervous eater -- she requires her food dish to be away from the other cats, because she will abandon it if they make her nervous. She doesn't think that wet food is actually food, and will try to bury it as if it was poop -- she eats more or less exclusively crunchies. She will never eat from another cat's bowl, either. She's a grazer, in she'll take a few bites of food, get bored, wander off, come back, take a few more bites. I get the feeling that she thinks of Minerva and Solomon's plate-clearing, kibble-inhaling antics as undignified.

Solomon, just a few months younger than his mother, is the real problem. Solomon is a monstrous cat, 18 lbs when he's "slender" (in the same way that Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk was slender). Right now he's dangerously obese at around 25 lbs. He is a sumo of cats -- incredibly strong, incredibly fat. He prefers crunchies to wet food, but will not turn his nose up to wet food if that's what there is. He is a sneaky little jerk who will eat any food from any bowl all the time, as long as I'm not looking.

To help control his weight and prolong his lifespan I want to put Solomon on wet food with a pumpkin filler, which is less calorie dense than crunchies and which he is inclined to eat less of anyway.

Right now I'm feeding Catt Murdock separately from the other cats -- I dare not let them at the calorie-intensive kitten crunchies. This is problematic since I'm not home during the day, so either I lock Catt in the bathroom with an open bowl of food, or she goes hungry during the day since I can't feed her the three or four times her raging kitten metabolism requires.

The other cats are fed together, twice a day. If you've been following along, you know what the problem is: Oona won't eat wet food, she'd rather graze than clean her plate, and she will leave her bowl unguarded. If I put pumpkin-wet food in front of all three cats, Solomon will eat most of his portion, some of his mother's portion, and all of Oona's portion, since Oona won't eat wet at all. Result: Solomon gains weight, Oona is sad and hungry, Minerva laughs, Catt Murdock polishes off any leftovers.

So the alternative is that Minerva and Solomon get wet, Oona gets dry. But then Solomon will ignore his wet food, run off Oona and eat her dry food, then eventually return to his wet food. In the meantime Minerva will have cheerfully devoured half of Solomon's portion, and then return to her own bowl when he returns. Result: Solomon gains weight, Minerva gains weight, Oona is sad and hungry, Catt Murdock polishes off any leftovers.

So then what to do? The only option I see is feeding all the cats separately, but... man, that is a gigantic pain in the ass, and one I'm trying to avoid.

Comments

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

Can you feed Oona and Catt together in the evenings in the bathroom (or one of the spare rooms), letting Minerva and Solomon to duke out the food battle amongst themselves in the kitchen? It's a pain, yes, but it'll be worth it when Solomon drops 9 pounds and looks more like a linebacker than a sumo wrestler.

[balefont.livejournal.com]

I got nuthin'. Sry. I'd go wih what Zray says.

My guys wolf down there food like they haven't eaten... Ever.

[spyderqueen.livejournal.com]

At the very least it sounds like Oona and Minerva can be fed together since you say Minerva leaves Oona's food alone. It sounds like Catt SHOULD be locked in the bathroom while you're at work ANYWAY given her Shiva avatar status. But once she's off kitten food you may be able to better integrate the feeding.


It's not too hard to feed cats in separate rooms once you're used to it and get a good rhythm. My parents have had to do it for ages (their cat Sherlock eats a lot like Solomon does)

[thelastmehina.livejournal.com]

It seems like Solomon is the real problem as the kitty Hoover - why not feed him separately, since it seems like the other cats can do just fine feeding amongst themselves?

[serista.livejournal.com]

Place Catt's food someplace high where the larger, slower cats can't reach. and muzzle tubby.

[pocketseizure.livejournal.com]

This sounds like one of the questions they ask people interviewing for Google. Why are manhole covers round? How do you measure four liters of water with a three-liter and a five-liter container? How do you feed all the kitties so that everyone is happy?

[lawbabeak.livejournal.com]

Put Solomon in the bathroom?

[aghrivaine.livejournal.com]

Have fewer cats?

[terraprime.livejournal.com]

This sounds like one of those old GRE logic questions. You know, you have 6 guests for dinner party, and Sam and Sue must sit next to each other, but Sue cannot sit next to John. John must sit across from Eric, but Eric cannot sit next to Sam, etc.

Anyway...


To restrict Solomon's weight, there shouldn't be food left out for him to hoover down. That makes feeding Oona difficult, since she's a grazer.

You also can't feed Solomon and Catt Murdoch together, not until Catt is out of high-calorie kitty chow.

So right now, the best plan forward is to lock the kitten in the bathroom (remove all toiler paper first, and maybe even un-hang your shower curtain) during the day. At night you can feed all 3 together, but put out only a little for Oona so that Solomon doesn't get a lot of leftovers to eat. Then put out small amounts for Oona throughout the night.

That's the best I got. >_>

[hyperiate.livejournal.com]

Step 1: Get a box. Or a couple boxes. Preferably wood or something sturdy. Plexiglass would be good as eating in the dark sucks.
Step 2: Cut a hole in each box suitable for the head of the appropriate cat.
Step 3: Deposit the appropriate food in the box for each cat.

Result: Solomon can't eat anything but his own food. Minerva can't reach Murdock's and doesn't want Oona's. Oona will be scared of the box and starve. Murdock eats whatever she wants, starting with her own food. Decisive victory, win, uh, close defeat, and win. Excellent!

[hyperiate.livejournal.com]

Also, you can do wonderful things with RFID chips, proximity sensors, and bowl electrification...just sayin'.

[skylarkthered.livejournal.com]

Our vet suggested something similar to hyperiate's suggestion for our cats. We have 3 normal weight cats and one morbidly obese cat (he's also allegic to many foods and a litter princess - he's special.) After trying several methods that resulted in one even fatter cat and several sad and thinner other cats she said to get a large box (maybe a plywood box in Solomon's case,) and cut a hole big enough for the smaller cats, but too small for the cat that needs to diet. The vet tech swore it worked wonders for her cats. Unfortunately, I can't personally attest to it's efficacy, since one of the normal weight cats is huge and would also not fit through any opening small enough to keep out the dieter. We just gave up and let them all self feed, even though it means not dieting the one that needs it.