[Richo]

My new kitty is now residing upstairs with Barnaby but here's the problem. He eats all the food from both dishes. If I put more out, he eats it and there is never any food left for Barnaby except for what me may eat as soon as I put out food. Barnaby never eats on a schedule, just whenever he feels like it, and usually only a few bites at a time so if I were to give him food right now chances are he wouldn't much if any and it would be left out to be eaten by the other kitty. I'd like him to be able to eat when he's hungry without having to regulate or deprive him because the other cat eats everything.

Does anyone else have this problem and any solutions?

 

[ospunkyo]

Sorry - no great ideas here, but I'll be curious to see what suggestions other people have because I'm dealing with a very similar thing here with my new cat.

It's like he's always *starving* - eats everything from his bowl/plate and eventually wanders down to start eating Pfeffa's (she tends to take a few bites initially, then finishes the rest throughout the evening). I've shooed him away, but know he's just going to come back when I'm not there.

I've been thinking of doing two smaller meals with them. Less for her to leave on the plate.

Also, when I see that she's at her dish and eating, I try to distract Hobochangba with shiny things to let her eat as much as possible without him distracting her.

 

[Kittys Mom]

Is your new kitty small? When I got Thomas, for a few weeks I was able to put Kitty's food in a high place that Thomas couldn't get to, but Kitty could. Unfortunately that only lasted until Thomas was big enough to jump on top of the fridge.

After that, Kitty just had to fight for her food.

 

[mismodliz]

If your kitty is small enough, this might help for a temporary solution...

I just bought a child gate at Walmart this weekend for $10.44, and I used it to block off our pantry/storage room. It gives Stephen a place to go to get away from the puppy and prevents the puppy from eating the cat's food.

 

[Richo]

He's small enough but younger than Barnaby and I'm sure he can out-jump him. He even tries to push his way into Barnaby's food dish when Barnaby is eating, and gets away with it.

Barnaby is just like Pfeffa in the way that he just snacks here and there throughout the day.

Barnaby is a little on the chubby side and I was originally afraid that he would eat more than he should with having another food dish out. I guess I won't have to worry about that problem. :wink:

 

[Padunk]

Forgive me if it was posted earlier, if it was, I missed it. But was the new cat a stray? Former stray cats can forever have food problems like this. They act like they have to eat and eat because they're not sure when their next meal is going to come. I have this issue with Punky, I have no idea how long she was a stray, but even though I've had her about a year and a half now, she acts like every meal is her last.

I feed them small amounts and often, my guess is Barnaby will learn that if he wants to eat, he'll have to do it in one sitting. It shouldn't disrupt him much when he gets used to it.

 

[Richo]

I suppose maybe my best bet is to overload the new kitty's food dish in hopes that he will leave Barnaby's alone while there is still food in his. I'll just have to keep an eye on his weight and make sure he doesn't get fat. Right now he's young and energetic so he appears to burn if off.

He was found stray. Hard to say if he was ever someone's pet or not. He's rather small and thin and I would guess less than a year old.

Barnaby gets a spoonful of wet food per day and I made sure I fed the new kitty his dry food first to make sure he was occupied when the wet food came out. Well sure enough he knew as soon as Barnaby started eating it (and from 10 feet away) and tried desperately to barge in. I had to close him in a room to let Barnaby eat in peace.

A house full of entertainment.

 

[ospunkyo]

From what I know about my new cat, he WAS a stray, so that might explain his frantic eating habits, as well as his eating Pfeffa's food - and his tendency to beg from us while we eat.

Poor Barnaby! Getting pushed from his own plate by new kitty!

 

[Richo]

I still can't believe how much he eats, probably about 5-6 times as much as Barnaby ever did. And it seems like poor Barnaby doesn't get much to eat because his dish is always empty lately, but when there's food in it and he knows there is, he still doesn't eat much, if any.

Barnaby doesn't seem to have much of an appetite lately. Even when I give him a spoonful of wet food from a fresh can, which he normally loves, he just nibbles a bit and leaves 90% of it there which will get eaten instantly by the other cat. I'm worried about him getting malnutritioned. His personality doesn't seem to have changed because of the new cat so I don't know.

I don't think he's jealous either, but when he goes into his room to be brushed and the new kitty comes in meowing he stops purring and gets up and lays down somewhere else and then the new kitty lays down wanting to be brushed. But then Barnaby will get up and come over and lick the new kitty while I'm brushing him.

I don't know if anything is wrong at all. Just worried because he doesn't seem to be eating much at all.

 

[tanyuh]

Has the situation gotten any better in the past few days, Richo?

 

[Richo]

No, nothing new to report. He's still pigging out and trying to steal my attention from Barnaby, and is he ever noisy. :twisted:

 

[drjean]

Might be best to feed them separately; keep them apart for maybe an hour, to let Barnaby take his time and not feel threatened. That way you can accurately monitor what Barnaby is eating to see if there is a real problem.

If you're feeding only or mostly dry, that may be a big part of the problem. It may not be fulfilling all his nutritional needs, especially if he was a stray or on a poor or irregular diet before you got him.

At least half of any cat's diet should be canned food. For why, please see:http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Richo]

That's interesting. I always thought the canned food was the cause of weight gain so I kept it to a minimum using it as a treat. I'll have to start feeding more of that.

I don't think I'd be able to keep them apart for feeding times. Like I mentioned, Barnaby has a tendency to snack in small portions throughout the day. Anytime he eats, he only take a few nibbles and then comes back a little while later. Problem is that the food dishes are continually empty with Baxter around. I will try feeding him canned food to see if that helps better satisfy his appetite.

Thanks for the information.