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Kayllisti
08-13-2007, 06:31 PM
About this time last year, I adopted a young cat from the shelter. He's now about 2 years old; we've named him Fnord.
Fnord was my first pet (not including the many my family had when I was a child) and I wanted to be meticulous about his health. I fed him the food the vet reccomended and he was always the perfect weight and very active.
A few months after I adopted Fnord, a friend of mine had to give up his cat. Not wanting the cat to go to a shelter, I took this cat in. He too, has always been well behaved.
Ever since, I have found it extremely difficult to monitor my cats' weights. I feed them the exact reccomended amount according to the information on the bag of the dry food, but both of them seemed to be gaining weight.
I have tried feeding them smaller amount seperately. This seemed to work fine, each of them eating the proper amount seperate from the other. But then I noticed that both of them had gained even more weight on what should have been a much lower calorie diet! So, watching them closely, I found that they have been eating the dog's food too, and quite a lot of it! My dog has the opposite problem, she has always been slightly under-weight. So, I have to keep her food down and available to her all day.
Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can better regulate my cats' diets in a multi-pet household?

Julia423
08-13-2007, 09:22 PM
Funny...cat's eating the doggy food! I have dogs and a cat. My cat won't come downstairs and thus I don't have the problem with the dogs' food. However, I don't leave the dog food out and available. Once they have eaten, the bowls come up. They eat twice a day, 1/3 cup of food per meal. I have been told that often the measurements on the food bags are too much. I follow my vets advice regarding the amount. So perhaps you could just put out enough food for that meal...and then put the bowls away? It could take some getting used to but it might help. ;)

TIFFERS
08-13-2007, 11:47 PM
...the food your feeding may not be filling enough. Also, it may be that your cats are older and less active. What kind of food are you feeding them? A lot of commercial "weight management" foods only maintain the weight, they don't help them lose the weight. There are prescription diets for weight loss.

Lovemybudgie
08-14-2007, 12:54 PM
If you cat is really big then go on a diet.And please tell me what food you let him or her eat both of them put on a diet. IMS IS REALLY BAD DON'T USE IS ON ANY ANIMAL!!!!!:)

TIFFERS
08-14-2007, 06:45 PM
IMS IS REALLY BAD DON'T USE IS ON ANY ANIMAL!!!!!:)
...why do you say that?