one fat cat, one normal - any tips?

[pinningwobble]

basically what it says in the title, I have two ten month old cats (not siblings but related). one doesn't eat a huge amount - not really big on cat food but goes mad if I open a tin of tuna etc - but she is a normal, healthy weight. the other is overweight. she was always a bit rounder even as a tiny kitten but now she is much bigger than she should be. I don't know what to do as if I put her on a diet the other one automatically has to go on a diet too. I can't feed them separately as they are grazers. anyone else had something similar happen and how did you sort it out?

[escondida]

I only put down food when trim cat is desperate & try to make sure trim cat eats first, moaning cats get chucked outdoors.

I sometimes put down food at night for whoever, that has to do with me getting enough sleep.

[pinningwobble]

my cats are both indoor cats (there is a good reason why in case anyone is anti-indoor cats) so I can't chuck fatty outside. I may try only putting food down when skinny starts yowling for food though, that's a good idea.

[ragged]

You could chuck fatty into another room during feed time maybe? And only put down the minimum you think trim cat needs. This has worked with one of my fat cats (I think other fatty is supplementing with wild kills).

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Ours are the same, came to us at about a year old and one put on half a kilo fairly rapidly and is definitely a bit podgy, whereas the other is very slim. We supervise their wet food and make sure thin cat gets slightly more, but still leave dry food down, fat cat's weight has stabilised over the last 6 months but she hasn't lost any yet. I feel mean leaving no food out overnight (they are shut in at night) or when we're out all day.

[shaska]

I do think that to an extent they're like people - they have natural shapes and some tend towards the tubby more than others. That said, if fatty's eating skinny's leftover tea then it's wise to curtail it as much as possible.

Is there a spot tubby doesn't or can't get to where you could leave skinny's food? Alternatively, could they have separate bedrooms overnight? That's what we do - one of mine tends a bit towards gluttony, so she's separated from dinner leftovers overnight, and skinny madcat gets left alone with them to perform her 'one bite, walk away, return. one bite, walk away, return' routine.

[Archfarchnad]

If they're chipped and you've got a bit of money to burn you could consider a few Sureflap pet feeders. That way you could put the correct amount of food into each cat's bowl and the greedy one couldn't nick the other food in addition.