Fat cat on a diet - help needed!

[sweetkitty]

Hope theres a vet/vet nurse/cat expert out there that can offer me some advice. Here's the story:

I have 3 indoor cats 2 males, one female. One of the males is grossly overweight. The reason being is that after polishing off his own dinner he polishes off the other two's in the night. He has been on low cal food forever. However in the last few weeks we decided to get tough (our vet has advised us this as well) in the morning we weigh out exactly what he should have for the day (he's on Iams Light they all are) we put all their bowls down 4-5 times a day and take them away once they are finished to stop fat cat eating it all.

The problem now is the other two cats appear to have lost weight whilst fat cat does not (maybe he has I'll take him to the vets and have him weighed in a few weeks) the other two cats are not greedy cats and want a little and often so they are really upset about the new arrangements.

Fat cat is so greedy he bolts down his food and then sicks it up (at least every other day) I am forever cleaning cat puke off the carpet and it is getting me down.

The problem is we know we have to get some weight off fat cat but the other two seem to be really suffering. They are also driving me mad constantly around my feet in the kitchen begging for food.

Please help if I had the money I would seriously consider boarding fat cat at a cattery for a few months but that's only a short term solution.

[iota]

Can't you feed them in separate rooms? Isolate him at home rather than sending him to a cattery?

[sweetkitty]

Afraid not they hate being shut in any rooms and would stratch up the carpet.

I won't send him to a cattery just feel like it's the only way I can control what he eats without making the others go hungry.

[miggy]

First thing I would suggest is stop the Iams. I can almost guarantee that if I see a fat cat and ask what they feed, it will be Iams. Very addictive/high calorie food, even the light. Your cat might not gain more with the light but I would be amazed if he lost any.
Switch to a lower quality food that they can have more of, even tinned food for a short period just to get the weight off. Or something like james wellbeloved.
Is there anywhere thin cats can get but fat cats cant? sometimes feeding the others somewhere like a work surface works. Have known people knock up a wooden box with little access hole so small cats can get in to feed!
HTH

[sweetkitty]

Thanks I buy the 10kg of Iams as it is £36 and lasts them ages money is tight right now. The other two are losing weight on the Iams and it's only been 3 weeks thats what I'm worried about.

I think I will take him back to the vet and ask his advice again. We are moving house in April so I think I will reassess the situation after we have moved. One of my other cats is a giant tom he's long and tall so he needs to eat a lot just to sustain his weight so theres no where I can block off that fat cat can't get to apart from on top of the fridge freezer he may be fat but when it comes to getting food he can be remarkably agile.

[miggy]

You would save money by buying something like james wellbeloved instead of iams actually. Iams is premium food with premium price (and premium calories!).
There is a prescription food available-Hills rd- that your vet could give you-but expensive and you would still have problems with the others

[pixel]

We had a fat cat who actually ate less than the thin cat which seemed a bit unfair! Our vet put her on a diet of pasta with a tiny bit of tuna to give it flavour. Seemed a bit weird to me but she ate it ok and did lose weight. Only trouble was she was allergic to wheat and she ended up with excema but once we changed it to rice instead she was ok. I'm not sure if such a diet is usual vet's advice or if it was because our cat had many health problems and was also allergic to additives in cheap cat foods so drastic measures were called for.

Perhaps you could give your fat cat less food than the others but bulk it out with something less fattening (like rice) so he takes longer to eat it? That way the other cats would get a chance to finish theirs before you whisk their bowls away and fat cat wouldn't feel deprived.

my sister was also advised by a different vet to give rice to her tubby cairn so I don't think it can do any harm.