[Jen]

Hi, I posted about 6 months ago about my cat Miss Kitty who had a vaccine sarcoma removed - she's doing fine in that respect - I posted an update on that original thread. My concern about her now is that she is on the thin side and I don't think she's eating enough. I don't believe it's related to the sarcoma. A little background info: We went away on vacation for 2 weeks in mid July. One of our relatives checks in on her and our 2 year old -W. daily and takes care of their food/water/litter needs. Her weight was normal when we left, but when we got back she seemed thinner - by about 2 pounds - she was right at her normal weight before, and she's not a large cat, so for her 2 pounds is alot. We think a large part of the problem is our 2 year old, W. Miss Kitty was not at all happy when we brought her home as a 3 month old, and it took her about a year before she would accept the fact that W was here to stay. Anyway, everything had been fine, and then we went on vacation. We think W may have taken advantage of our being gone and started behaving badly. Or just behaved badly because she was stressed about our being gone. W by this time had actually outgrown M.K by about 2 or 3 pounds and we're not sure if she's trying to be dominating or what - she'll try and bat at M.K., which M.K. will either ignore, or if it gets to be too much will put her paw down and hiss at W, which causes W to become immediately submissive. Lately, and what worries me most, is W trying to block M.K. from eating. We have 2 separate bowls for them, but they're in the same place, and I think W just eats out of both of them anyway. Our problem is, both cats have the run of the house. We keep food out for them all the time, but it seems that only one of them is doing most of the eating. We're thinking that we'll have to just set their food out at certain times of the day, either in the morning or the evening and then just have water out all the time. My concern about this is, how do we make sure BOTH of our cats are eating? We both work so we can't monitor them all the time. The other issue is that M.K is really weird about eating in front of us - she absolutely won't do it...if we hear her eating in the kitchen and we're in the living room, we have to wait for her to finish eating before we walk in there or she will abruptly stop eating and go outside. Any ideas about how to set up a regimented eating schedule for 2 cats with completely different eating habits would be very helpful. I know this is a really LONG post, but any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[catloverami]

It sounds like W had eatern both his and M.K.'s food while you were on vacation as that is a big weight loss in such a short time. I suggest that you feed M.K. in a separate room, so that she feels safe. Feed her in the morning and again at night in another room when you are present to be there. Then you can be sure how much she is eating. I've never believed in free-feeding for exactly the problem that you're having with now M.K. You don't know how much she really is eating. Cats like a routine and it's best if you can feed M.K. and W. at the same time each day---when you get up in the morning and at bedtime. You could give her some her extra treats or a small additional meal to bring up her weight.

 

[Jen]

MK eating again

@catloverami..
Thanks so much for your reply. I agree about the structured eating time, it's just that over the years, and especially after we got W a few years ago, it became difficult to do with 2 very different cats. It took them a long time just to get along with each other, but that all seems to have settled now. I took your advice (sort of , and since MK spends most of her time out in our backyard, I began to bring her a small bowl of food in the morning, and close the back door so W couldn't get outside during that time. I kept an eye on MK over the next hour or 2, and sure enough, she started eating more. Not having the distraction of W around really made the difference. She has put some weight on and looks almost back to her normal weight, and I am sooo happy about this. She also seems calmer and relaxed and generally happier. (I think she's just been hungry!). W in the meantime has lost a bit of weight, but she needed to, and she's looking fine as well.
Now in the evenings, they both sit outside (together) on the lawnchairs and just hang out.
I hope all is well with you and Thanks again!:catmilk
Jen

 

[catloverami]

Thanks for posting the followup....it's always satisfying to hear how things turn out, and it sounds like they've both achieved an ideal weight and M.K. isn't as stressed as she used to be. gr8!

 

[olgapattison]

Hello folks
I have exactly the same situation as the starter of the topic with some minor difference. I have 2 cats, one is almost 3 years old the other is only 5 months old. So the kitten is not letting the older cat eat properly. Every time the older cat comes to the feeder and starts eating, the kitten hears it and comes running and the older cat walks away. I can't feed the older cat in a different room because she doesn't eat as soon as I put the food down on the floor fer her. I keep the food bowl full of food at all times and she is used to it. She is also not food aggressive since she was a kitten. I could be standing there for hours waiting for her to get hungry if I had to feed her in a different room. Do you guys have any suggestions on what could be done here?

 

[catloverami]

You could try a couple of things. Feed kitty first, and after feeding kitties usually have a playtime and then have a nap. While she's napping you could then feed your older girl. If that's too much juggling you could feed your girl on something higher that your kitty can't jump up on, say card table height. I don't like free-feeding as you never know for sure who and how much each cat is really eating. So you could try and convert your older girl to eating on a schedule of 2 meals/day, morning when you get up and evening. She should be hungry enough so that she eats up the majority of her meal. If she's being fed kibble, cats do tend to want to graze with that, but usually not so much with canned food as it's more palatable and they more readily eat it all at one time. Also, you could feed your kitten in a carrier or separate room, so she doesn't bother your older girl. A good quality no-grain canned food is better for the cat than kibble. Hope this will be helpful.

Here's an excellent website on cat nutrition: Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health