Anti fat bastard cat biscuits

[Fernandina]

We have four cats, all neutered, one petite female who is normal weight and three males, one who is normal weight, and two large-framed big chunky brutes. All of them are your standard moggy, and the big boys are very much food-driven. We don't leave dry food down for them to eat ad lib because it would be gone in no time.

Any recommendations please that will help the big boys but will also be ok for the little one?

Honestly, no. If you want successful weight loss in the overweight ones you'll need to feed them a proper prescription weight loss food and feed them separately from your healthy weight cats.
Speak to the vet nurse at your practice and they can devise a proper safe weight loss plan. It is notoriously difficult to manage weight loss in cats, more so in a multicat household. Expect results to take around a year, and that's if you follow the weight loss plan to the letter! It will be worth it though to reduce their risks of cardiac disease, diabetes and mobility issues.
Your veterinary practice is there to help though so please do seek their professional advice

Feed them separately?

My chunky boy will raid the bin if he’s hungry, he’s taken bites out of cake left covered on the worktop, will drag the food recycling caddy across the kitchen until the lid comes open, and tries to break into the Dreamies, which are kept in a closed Tupperware box. Honestly if he’s that hungry I’d rather he just gets more dinner!

Four chipped feeders so they each get a diet suited to their size, age and health needs.

Try feeding them with a different wet food, one that is high in protein - or fresh chicken/turkey. I used to cook a turkey leg, divide it all up into portions into freezer bags, and leave it in the 'fridge.

So no recommendation of a variety of cat biscuits then?

They do regularly get cooked meat off whatever roast we've had that Sunday. Today it is chicken as it happens. Their diet also includes wet food, generally the senior one as they are all middle-aged.

All four of them have been to the vet this week already. That's how we know which ones are overweight. (They are all big on fluff as well, so it is hard to see where fluff ends and cat starts).

Can't use chipped feeders - one of them can't wear a collar. Thanks for the idea though.

Cat biscuits arent good for cats unless you're trying to get weight onto them. Iams are good for that, the cat balloons.

Chipped feeders work off their microchip, not off a collar, so would probably be the easiest (if a bit pricy). You could use a chipped feeder for the slender cat and then feed the others using slow feeders and puzzle feeders to slow them down and increase activity.

Can't use chipped feeders - one of them can't wear a collar. Thanks for the idea though.

Chipped feeders work from their microchips, not their collars.

If you want them to lose weight, the easiest way to do it is to just reduce the amount you're giving them and stop any treats and tidbits. Cats are notoriously fussy so I would stick to a food you know they like, and just feed them less of it.

So I would figure out what they need to hit their ideal weight (feed them to their ideal weight, not their current weight) and put that in their feeders. The slimmer cats can then have more, and the big boys can have less.

Microchip feeders are the way forward. You'll only need one for the petite female who can feed ad lib and as they work off the microchip, no collar needed.

I managed to train an elderly, slightly demented cat to use one so it is possible although it did take a while. Younger cat picked it up in an afternoon.

Fat cats meanwhile get fed separately on weighed portions of diet food with no more snacks from dinner time. Puzzle feeders or slow feeders also good idea to stop them inhaling their food and just begging you for more - Silkycat has a slow feeder and it's a godsend.

Wow those feeders look amazing! I have to feed my cat on a windowsill or the dog eats his food which means I've had to switch to dry which has made him fat.

Thank you for this thread

Cats are notoriously fussy Not this lot! I've had cats all my life and I've never known such gannets. They are medium-term private fosters, by the way, not my own.

I've looked at the microchip feeders, there's no way we'd get four of them in our kitchen. I suspect that one of them would be terrified of it anyway, despite the lure of food.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

Four chipped feeders so they each get a diet suited to their size, age and health needs.

This... I have to do this so the 7 month old gets her kitten food, chonky girl inky eats her weighed portion of anti fat bastard biscuits and the Ragdoll boy actually gets to eat some of his (he never overeats and could be left to graze, the other two not so much). Chonk eats her foot the second it's down and is always on the lookout for a chance to steal the other twos or pinch some human food... and is still overweight, but at least stable.

Excuse the typos

I’m looking at microchip feeders for my lot, I have 4, 2 chunkies, one slender boy and one kitten. Chunkie boy is always hungry he thinks he is wasting away of his food now. Isn’t topped up constantly

You don't need 4 microchip feeders.

Only the thin cat needs a microchip feeder so she can eat full-fat cat food and the fat bastards don't nick her food.

Fat bastards then just get small portions of skinny cat food and no roast dinner top-ups. If you can feed them all in separate rooms, great, if not, never mind as at least their stealing opportunities have been minimized.

Changing their bowls to slow feeders is also good - some of these are smaller than others, although they are likely to be furious when they first arrive. Silkycat stared at hers in disgust until she realised it was learn or starve.

@Fernandina

Cats are notoriously fussy Not this lot! I've had cats all my life and I've never known such gannets. They are medium-term private fosters, by the way, not my own.

I've looked at the microchip feeders, there's no way we'd get four of them in our kitchen. I suspect that one of them would be terrified of it anyway, despite the lure of food.

You'd only really need chipped feeders for the two non-greedy cats, so they can go back to their food as/when without worrying about it being stolen.

The fat boys can then have free reign to their diet food and once it's gone, it's gone.

Another option (if you don't want to do chipped feeders) is to install an internal catflap with a chip reader and put their food in different rooms of the house.

Haribo, an only cat and very much food driven has been on a diet since December. I've been weighing out Hills Perfect weight dry food, he was 6.4kg and is now 5.9kg, he looks less chunky. He has a small delicate head and with a fat body he looked like a skittle.

Downside, he's lithe enough to catch birds .

Rather than offering Dreamies as treats, try giving fat bastard (love it!) a small sprinkle of dried catmint. Minimal calories, and cats adore it. Mine will spend ages rolling in it and purring. In summer she will chew fresh leaves straight off the shrub.

The microchip feeder also has a v helpful training mode to help nervous cats figure them out:

Stage 1: feed in the feeder
Stage 2: Lid starts closing tiny amounts after cat has eaten on delay
Stage 3: When cat happy increase amount lid closes until eventually lid closing completely
Stage 4: Reduce delay in lid closing so no opportunities for any lurking cats to nick food before it closes

It took us about 3 months with a very elderly, demented and probably blind cat. And one go not even bothering with training mode with a v bright, young cat.

I have just this week been told that my previously chonky cat is now perfectly in proportion , and we also have a little cat who she will bully out of the way to steal her food. I’ve managed this by not allowing free feeding and watching her like a hawk at mealtimes and shooing her away as needed. They share a sachet of wet food (Blink usually) twice a day and I am very strict with biscuits - a handful in the morning each and about 6 each before bed (otherwise little cat wakes us up vomiting!). They are currently on Purizon sterilised cat biscuits which are slightly lower in calories but Zooplus no longer sell it so I’ve bought Scrumbles to try.

I think I'll pay a visit to a pet place tomorrow then, and look at these microchip bowls. I will also search for anti fat bastard biscuits while I'm there.

@bellac11

Cat biscuits arent good for cats unless you're trying to get weight onto them. Iams are good for that, the cat balloons.

Really? Is this why my pair are such chonks?!

@Fernandina

I think I'll pay a visit to a pet place tomorrow then, and look at these microchip bowls. I will also search for anti fat bastard biscuits while I'm there.

My cat has been on anti fat bastard biscuits for ages. On the upside he's not get fatter, on the downside, he's still a fat bastard.