How do you put one kitty on a diet?

[Old Dog]

I have 4 cats.

The oldest boy is athletically skinny.

The other boy is definitely pudgy.

The little girl is a little pudgy too.

But the one that really needs a diet is Midnight.

She's always been at the bottom of the pecking order. When we went on a week's vacation, she had unlimited access to mass quantities of food. (We just put down tons of food and water and cat boxes.)

And her weight zoomed. She's as big as throw pillow.

However, it's very hard to put one of 4 kitties on a diet.

I tried to put all but the skinny guy on a diet by limiting the food and feeding him extra. But he's a picky eater, as in picks at his food. So in order to get enough calories into him while restricting them, I'd have had to feed him separately dozens of times in a day. Not gonna happen.

I currently feed everyone twice a day. I don't really want to put a huge time restriction on the fat cat because feeling like she had to wolf the food down when it was available is how she ended up so huge.

But I gotta do something. Even if I don't like some aspects of it.

I wish there were gizmos I could put on their collars which would be keyed to each cat and also to a feeding station. But alas, I've seen nothing like that.

So, any ideas?

[StrwberryKisses]

Put them all on a light cat food. It will not hurt any of them.

[FastCarsSpeed]

use a closet and get a super small cat door that only skinny can fit into. The other 3 will be able to eat more once they can fit into the door LOL.

[mainman (Premo)]

Originally Posted by FastCarsSpeed

use a closet and get a super small cat door that only skinny can fit into. The other 3 will be able to eat more once they can fit into the door LOL.

I was gonna say, throw your can opener away, but I like your idea better...

[Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

I wish there were gizmos I could put on their collars which would be keyed to each cat and also to a feeding station. But alas, I've seen nothing like that.

There are automatic feeders like that available for livestock...I know a farm that uses them for their pigs. It is awesome...the pigs wear a collar with a transmitter, and when they walk in the feeder, the feeder dishes out a certain amount. If they don't eat it all, the food gets saved for the next time they want a snack.

Too bad they don't have that for dogs and cats...I bet it would be wildly popular!

[Elliottentinc]

I think that if you feed them canned food instead of dry food it may help. There are alot of carbs in dry food.

[Mousebaby (Premo)]

This may help, as I have 5 cats and pretty much had the same problem for a while. I now feed them all the dry they want all day. I use hairball formula. I feed them 1 can of Friskies between 4 of the cats in the morning. The kitten gets 1 small can of kitten food and kitten dry mixed in my walk-in closet in the morning. A bathroom would work too. So feed your skinny guy kitten food for a while to get the weight on him, and do it in the bathroom or somewhere you can confine him long enough for him to eat. Then take up what he doesn't eat so the other cats don't eat the kitten food as it is full of fat! I have been doing this for a while and everyone is a fairly healthy weight. Hope this helps, good luck!

[slomo]

I've had cats all my life and have learned that putting out the free-feeder only leads to obesity. It stinks but you gotta just suck it up and feed them 2x/day forever. I have 3 cats, 2 are on a diet and losing weight. I feed them Purina Blue Bag Salmon or Science Diet for Indoor cats. I use a 1/4 dry food measuring cup and give the dieter's enough so that it comes 1/8in. from the lip of the measuring cup 2x/day. The non-dieter gets a full 1/4 cup 2x/day.

To make sure she gets all her food, I would suggest feeding the dieter in a separate room and taking away what she doesn't eat after ~15 minutes. Its tough love, but I tell you it works!

[slomo]

My cats hated the diet food, they'd starve themselves and not eat it. Even the Eukaneuba stuff! One ate it and puked it up... I think it has fillers in it because I once dropped a piece in their water bowl and it puffed up to the size of a nickel! Don't bother with the light stuff, use good quality indoor cat food so that they get nutitrition in the little amount they eat.