When you find out let me know. I have two cats 21 pounds and 19 pounds and then two normal weight ones , one a bit underweight.It's a problem because the 21 pound one lives to eat. When they get their morning wet food it's distributed in decreasing quantities from obese to skinny but the dry food is the problem.

I brought all of my cats into healthy weight ranges by stopping dry food entirely. Skinny cats bulked up, fatty catties slimmed down. Something about the carbohydrates in dry food-think of empty calories and what they do to people. I've ranted about cereals in cat foods for years but now think that any carbs are very bad when too much are fed. Since dry foods need carbohydrates to hold the kibbles together, they're automatically high carb. It may not be horribly high but still is too high.

Another problem is the portion sizes given by the cat food makers. It's always been far too much for my own cats.

If you can visualise this, it helps to find the proper portion size for your cats, no matter how fat or thin they are: A cat's comfortably full stomach is about half the size of its head. So, a half-head-sized portion is about right for two or three feeds daily. Maybe try to slip in a dab more for the thin cat and a dab less for the heavy cat. My cats' vets thought this was hilarious when I told them about it. They'd been working with me on fat and skinny cats for some time before I stopped feeding dry food and started the tinned food. It took weeks to hit on the half head portions.

Besides accomplishing proper weight, my cats shone with healthier coats, more energy and general good nature.

The only way to adjust weight is to adjust caloric intake. Simple in theory, a bit more complicated in practice. I absolutely agree with minimizing or eliminating kibble and feeding canned food (or a homemade or raw diet) instead. Even the low-carb kibbles like EVO and CORE have a much higher carb content than most canned foods, and EVO and CORE are very high in both calories and fat. It will not be easy - and perhaps not even possible - to take weight off of your fatty as long as you free-feed him. Put him on three small meals a day, and cut back to two meals a day after a week. Believe me, he'll adjust to the portioned, scheduled meals just fine. I took a houseful of fat cats who were raised on free-choice kibble and switched them to portioned, scheduled meals with very little fussing on their behalfs. It took about 18 mos to bring them gradually down to optimal weights, but they all look great now. I weigh them all every two weeks and make slight adjustments to their individual food portions, if necessary, to maintain proper weights. Most of them are fed 1/8 c. of EVO kibble for one meal and between 2.2-3.8 oz of Raw Prey Model (a homemade raw diet) for the other meal. The RPM meal could just as easily be swapped for commercial canned, as far as quantity is concerned.

While all of my other cats were needing to lose weight, my oldest was needing to gain. I just fed him under my watchful eye as many times a day as I could convince him to eat. If I couldn't supervise while he ate (to keep the other cats from bothering him), I just put him in a separate room to eat behind a closed door. I also fed him whatever he was willing to eat, even if it was low quality, "junk" canned food brands.

If you haven't done so already, I strongly recommend you take your elderly cat to the vet for a full blood panel and Total T4 test to check his kidney, liver, and thyroid function, among other things. Skinny old cats often have diseased kidneys and/or thyroid glands, which can be treated and/or managed with proper care and medication. If your old cat has uncontrolled hyperthyroidism, you could feed him everything in your fridge without putting an ounce on him.

Laurie

For my fosters, I just feed them 2x a day in separate bathrooms with the door closed until they've finished. Underweight kitties also get some NutriCal squeezed on their paws to lick off to increase their calorie content. Overweight kitties get individualized laser tag time until they are panting good and heavy. Just like humans, it's much harder to turn fat cats into svelte cats than it is to make skinny cats gain some chub. And, just like humans, the added exercise is they key to making it work.

it was easy for me...a friend got me started on feeding the cats wet food to supplement the dry. My larger cat doesn't even touch it, the smaller cat gobbles it up. Strange.

You can also do what some of my clients have done, as this is a pretty common situation. one method that works well is to get a durable cardboard box (large, like what a dishwasher might come in) and put the food dishes in there. Lid on it if fat cat can jump high... (but few cats, no well how good a jumpers they are, will purposely jump into a tall box without being able to see what's on the other side). Cut a small hole just large enough for the skinny cats to easily go through and get to the food, but way too small for the fat cat to get through. Feed the fat cat outside the box (as he is likely to gobble his/her food up immediately and then try to get to everyone else's). If you have a particulary determined fat cat, you can reinforce the hole with duct tape to increase the time the fat cat takes to actually tear its way into the food box. My sister did this and got her fat male cat to lose a lot of weight while her two skinny females maintained their slim figures. Worked perfectly. But ditto on the canned food idea, too, as canned food (high protein, lower carb) can 'normalize' a lot of cats that are not the proper weight.

Both my fat cats lost weight when I switched from Science Diet dry food to Wellness canned food. I now give the oldest one (15) some EVO dry too because he lost too much.

I have seven cats - too expensive to feed canned.

I adopted an obese cat off the e-list at the shelter. She's a black tortie/declawed in front. Sweetheart.

Long story short, i now am giving two meals of kibble a day. I put down lots of food and let them eat what they will until they are full. This takes maybe 15 minutes and they all walk away from the food. Again at 5 PM. I know they are hungry because they all meow at meals now. They didn't meow before on my previous system which was a failure. I think that cat GAINED weight.

My 2 cats are only 1 years old one is so fat and the other cat is skinney her are some websites i found

http://www.allfelinehospital.com/thyroid.pml

http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/how-do-you-feed-multiple-cats-when-one-is-overweight

You measure the correct amount of food for each of them to reach/maintain the correct weight. Then you watch them eat and make sure each eats their food only. We feed our cats a measured amount of food twice a day - no free feeding.

You hill eventually come to a time that you realize your structured 2 meals a day will not work for older pets or any pet that cannot gobble down half a day's food in one sitting. Many cats need to graze because they can't handle large amounts of food without vomiting. I've had 2 old cats and one thick cat for 5 years. Stopping free feeding because of Lil chubs caused my older cats to lose weight because dry food has much higher calorie content and they couldn't eat their wetfood and dry food in 2 feedings a day. I bought a hopper feeder and the biggest plastic storage bin I could find. You can put a cat door in side that only lets in the right cats of their sizes are not different enough for a smaller entrance hole to exclude chubs. FWIW my big boy eats 1 can of wet food a day plus a handful of dental treats. Technically it's the calorie requirements for a 10 lb cat. He weighs 17 lbs. My vet is not worried about his weight because he's just a really long large cat, but he's not 17 lbs because we over feed him, it's in the genes too. I couldn't in good conscience feed him less because he's just be so hungry all the time. The vet says he's healthy so he's just fine despite appearances.

I've never had a dog or cat that did not remain on a two meal a day schedule for their entire life!

Feeding cats with different needs can be a challenge, but there are several strategies you can use to ensure both cats are healthy and happy.

First, it's important to establish separate feeding areas for the two cats. This will allow you to monitor their food intake and make sure the overweight cat isn't eating the older cat's food. You could also try feeding the cats at different times, so they are not competing for food.

For the older cat, you may want to consider feeding a high-quality, high-protein diet that is formulated for senior cats. Senior cat food is designed to be more easily digestible, and often includes additional nutrients that can help support aging cats. You may also want to consider feeding smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day to help ensure your cat is getting enough calories.

For the overweight cat, you may want to consider switching to a weight management diet that is designed to help cats lose weight. These diets are often lower in calories and higher in fiber, which can help cats feel full without consuming too many calories. You may also want to measure out the cat's meals and feed at set times throughout the day, rather than leaving food out all the time.

Finally, it's important to monitor both cats' weight and adjust their diets as needed. Regular veterinary check-ups can help ensure both cats are healthy and receiving the appropriate nutrition.