My kitten eats too fast and is getting big. How can I slow him down?

Feeding our pets is often a tough love situation. Many cats simply do not stop eating when they have consumed a sufficient amount of food, so it is up to us to only provide them with proper portions. Since Obe has not lost weight, he is consuming an appropriate amount of food. However, there are some ways that you can try to slow down his pace of eating. Try spreading his wet food over a large surface area (such as a baking sheet) or put small amounts of his wet food into different sections of a muffin tin so that he has to work for his food more. Other puzzle toys (here are some ideas for homemade ones: https://www.purina.com/articles/cat/feeding/diy-cat-puzzle-feeder) can be useful in feeding wet food, just as they are for dry food. At this point, it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about, but it may make everyone's life easier if you can slow down Obe's pace of eating with one of these ideas. I hope this helps!

I recommend feeding an all meat canned or wet diet with added canned plain pumpkin. Cats do not do well with carbohydrates so feeding only meat will help Pumpkin lose weight. The canned pumpkin will help fill her up and add fiber and bulk up the stool to prevent constipation. Increasing her exercise also will help. You can feed her up on the dryer or a table so she has to jump up, and having her increase her activity chasing toys or a laser pointer will help also. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Pumpkin.

I adopted a cat that weighed 28 pounds. I measured his diet food and added in several tablespoons of plain canned pumpkin to his food twice daily. It took almost two years but he is now 12 pounds. He still gets canned pumpkin daily to maintain his weight. Most cats enjoy pumpkin. The cats may lose weight better on an all meat canned diet or Hills metabolic diet. With pumpkin, canned food, or the metabolic food most cats are not as hungry, and can still lose weight. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Miso.

Kit is very handsome! Thanks for posting a picture. Since cats are obligate carnivores, we think the most biologically appropriate food for a domesticated cat is a mouse which is a high protein diet. The closest we can get to that ideal diet with commercial food is a canned food diet. Canned food diets are lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein than dry foods. Since cats are obligate carnivores, they are not able to utilize carbohydrates effectively and will often just gain weight on foods that are higher in carbohydrates. The best website I have found to describe this well is listed below. http://catinfo.org/ The above website also discusses changing cats from dry food to canned food. I most commonly recommend Wellness canned food for cats. It is a very food company with a good history and cats tend to do well on it. The general rule for cats is that they should eat about 5.5 ounces of canned food each day for each 10 pounds of ideal body weight. But be sure to go slowly with any diet changes to prevent GI upset. As far as getting Kit to be more active, I would recommend looking at the website below for ideas to get an indoor cat more active. https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Do you have time to run out to a pet store and get a timed feeding bowl? This will release a specific amount of food at set times, and will keep Nala from overeating. You can also put her food into a muffin tin, dividing it equally among the 12 tins. This will also force her to slow down eating and may allow her to get full quicker. Check to see if you can get the timed feeding bowl first. Good luck, I hope this helps!

I would try to teach everyone to meal feed. this would mean you place everyone’s food bowl down at the same time for 30 minutes. I would put them if different areas of the house if possible. Once that time is up, the food gets picked up. If you have to add canned food to the smaller cats’ food to help entice them to eat and prevent weight loss, that’s ok. This would also allow you to feed Clover a set amount and prevent obesity. Unfortunately, this is the best solution. There isn’t a great way to prevent him from eating too much when it is always available. You can also encourage him to increase his activity by making him play more. I hope this helps.

I have a couple of suggestions for you. First, one of my friends used a latch to create an opening in their laundry room door that only the skinny cat could fit through. They left food in there for the skinnier cat to free feed throughout the day and meal fed the heavier cat. Second, if your skinnier cat will eat from food balls or no-bowl feeders, I would feed all meals in that way. Third, I would only feed twice the amount of food that the heavier cats needs twice daily. That way the skinnier cat has enough to eat, but there isn't enough extra for Luna to eat. The skinnier cats tend to get this concept after a couple of days and eat more at a meal instead of grazing as much. Finally, you could consider changing to or adding a canned food meal. That may help the skinnier cat eat a "meal" instead of grazing. Canned food is less "addicting" and less fattening than dry food, so it might be beneficial for both cats. I use a timed feeder (CatMate C20) with canned food to keep my cats from waking me up too early in the morning. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.