My kitten is fat...

[ChatterMonkey]

We have two kittens, had them a few weeks now and they have settled in amazingly and now rule the house...!

Issue we have is that the boy kitten, peanut, is a gannet and steals all of the girl kitten, pistachio's food. And he is now getting fat, as confirmed by vet. At around 13 weeks old hes nearly 2.5kg so well above the expected weight.

Pistachio is more of a grazer eater and think would enjoy having dry food available all day to pick at. However as soon as any good goes down, in either of their dishes, peanut eats it all...! Its not causing arguments with them, she doesnt seem overly bothered when he's eating from her dish, but the weight difference between them is getting really noticeable so worried she isn't eating enough.

How do we stop him eating her food? We have limited space for feeding etc, the food dishes are in the same room as the litter tray so i dont want to restrict the access to rhe room.

Other than standing over the dishes and moving him whenever he goes to hers, what can we do to stop this?? They have their own dishes and known which is which, i dont put the food dishes down until they are waiting at the right spots, so they know whos is who's. Hes just greedy and wants hers when his is empty 🤣

Im not going to restrict food in any significant way, just want to start implementing controls over him stealing food from his sister's bowl. Its more so i can ensure that she's eating enough

TBH I always though kittens couldn’t really overeat as they need loads of calories. Do they go out?

faqcats.com/can-a-kitten-overeat/

My title is maybe a bit misleading as i know he isnt really fat to the extent of it being a problem, the issue is more that he steals his sister's food. So yes he is eating too much because of that, but im worried thatt she isnt getting enough at the same time. And food isnt available for her to graze on as her brother has ate it all...

I got a barely used second hand chip controlled bowl ..eBay, £50. Worth it even at full price to be honest. It will last for ages. Years.

Can you get slow food bowls for cats like for dogs?

Tried to attach but it won't let me!!
Search for Slow Feeder Cat Bowl on Amazon

That kitten doesn't look fat. I breed BSH and my colour is not as heavy as the blues for example and my largest boy is 2.3 kgs. I wouldn't worry.

They're way too young to go out!

The vet correctly diagnosed my girl boy sibling pair as the grazer and the guzzler. She mentioned these bowls too but I couldn’t really afford them. We fed ours separately so one in the kitchen and one in the hall with the door firmly shut otherwise he’d barge his sister out the way to get to the bowl. When the girl was finished but had left half as usual id cling film hers and put it in the fridge or under something heavy (boy cat would jump up and pull off the clingtiln) and give it to her later.

bur what has made the biggest difference is what we are feeding them. We moved off pouches which were meat and jelly/gravy and on to tins of pretty much pure meat - the chicken one just looked like shredded chicken and if you put it out on the table as a sandwich filler for lunch I don’t think guests would notice a thing! She eats more of this kind of food, isn’t sick as often, and once he’s had his bowl he doesn’t go near hers. And he has completely stopped jumping up looking for food. They are now nearly two.

Thank you for that suggestion, just ordered one on amazon to come tomorrow!

Reading reviews and found one that said it sorted the exact same problem im having, so decided it was a sign and ordered one!

It's quite a bit cheaper than the microchip one so will try this first and see how it goes!

Our first sibling pair had a gannet male and runty female who was always petite.

He’s probably going to be a big boy and needs his food.

<ignores OP's question>

What lovely kittens!

😆😆 He says he's big boned OP. He's a growing lad.
Beautiful coats by the way. On both of them.

I had micro chip feeders when one of mine needed to have soft diet. I couldn't work them out. Let alone my pair of thickos!

Slim! Not remotely fat.

Shame.

I had exactly the same issue - boy muscled in and girl was a bit scared - he wanted all the food and all the attention, always pushing her out of the way.

He got bigger and she hardly got much bigger and is still tiny! She was always much more active though and much brighter than him. Unfortunately the male died suddenly at about 9 years old - I just found him dead - no accident or anything 🙁, and 2 years on, she is still very small and weighs almost nothing.

She has blossomed socially though, and still hunts and eats 3 100 gm pouches a day plus crunchies, and seems healthy enough. Hasn't visited a vet apart from being spayed and chipped! They both looked very much like your female!

No advice but they're so cute!!

Yay so glad! Hope it works!

She is definitely aware of her lightness, she does jumps distances and heights that peanut is still a bit scared to do, so he knows he's heavier, but i agree with other pp's that he is muscled rather than fat.

We accidently got the sachets in gravy rather than jelly the other day, and it was a good mistake as they both loved it! No issues with pistachio eating slowly as she kept pace with her brother! So hopefully that sorts the wet feed, and the slow feeding dish will sort the dry food!

Also thanks to the posters who have mentioned how gorgeous they are, i mught be biased but i definitely have the best kittens ever...! (Aside from when they decide 2am is the best time to jump on the bed and lick our faces.....🤣)

I don't understand how the microchip bowls would work as surely greedy cats will just pounce on the food and knock other cat out of the way?

The flap would shut if that happened @ABitCofused.

Your own kittens are always the best kittens ever. Must be great being a cat or dog because everyone just tells you your gorgeous all day long.

I agree - recently got a new kitten and OMG it is like having a human baby in the house again. So much work 😂 and no peace.

Aahhhh! That sounds amazing! Thanks.