How to stop my overweight cat from overeating kibble when free-feeding?

Hello. Just for convenience, most folks just leave a bowl of food out for cats to graze on throughout the day. But if Maximus is overweight, or trending toward being overweight, you will need to control the amount of food he consumes in a day or place him on a metabolic weight control diet. As I see it, cats seem to get hungry, 10 minutes after I turn off the light for bed, so having some available will help me sleep all night. If Maximus is more considerate, & you do not mind feeding when he asks for food, you can certainly do this. Ideally, I would calculate the proper amount he needs daily based on what your bag of food recommends & divide this into 3 feedings, morning, noon or early evening, & the remaining amount for snacking overnight. Remember, if you are feeding for an ideal weight, or for Maximus to lose a little weight you will feed for that weight. In other words, follow the food amount recommendations for a 10 or 12-pound cat if he needs to lose a couple of pounds. Just divide the total daily amount into 3 separate meals. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

There are only two ways you can control this. The first is to separate them during feeding times, offer multiple feeding times in a day and not to leave food down to free feed. The second option is to purchase one of the specialized automatic feeders with the individual collars. Each cat will wear it’s own special collar and when it approaches the feeder, the feeder will read the collar and dispense food or not. Best of luck.

You are correct that Alby does need to lose a few pounds. This can be a tough situation. While you can feed a food meant for multi-cat households, you may not get the results you desire. These diets are typically medium calorie and meant to keep fat cats from getting too fat and skinny cats from getting too skinny. Your best option is to start separate feedings. Cats generally need to eat 4 to 6 times a day for best results. The skinny cats can eat a food with a higher calorie content while Alby gets a food with a lower calorie content. You can find the calories on the side of the bag. Utilizing food puzzles or kibble dispensing balls can help Alby to burn some calories and stay stimulated while eating. Also setting aside 30 minutes a day for vigorous play will help to burn calories. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

It is more likely she is bored rather than hungry. You should do some environmental enrichment for her and I would also suggest you get an automatic feeder that will dispense food every few hours (her daily amount broken up into multiple smaller feedings through the day). I would cut out the wet food all together. Some Feliway diffusers may help to calm her a bit as well. ( https://www.feliway.com/us/Products/FELIWAY-CLASSIC-Diffuser ) ( thedrakecenter.com/materials/environmental-enrichment-indoor-cats ) ( https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Dispenses-Digital/dp/B000GEWHNS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3LGP5X3KNCN9U&keywords=automatic+cat+feeder&qid=1563116991&s=gateway&sprefix=automatic+%2Caps%2C485&sr=8-3 ) Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.

This can be a challenging situation, especially if you have one cat that's more of an "eater" than the others. I would try to offer canned food for one meal, and dry for another. For the canned meal, you can put it out into separate bowls, ensure that everyone has their own bowl, and monitor the situation until they finish. Most cats will go ahead and finish a portion of canned food, unlike dry, which they will often "snack" on. You can also reinforce the "ownership" of each cat's bowl by calling them, and then feeding that cat only in that bowl (and consequentially, in that space) at all times. That way, you're teaching them that they will get fed at "their" bowl at all times. Interlopers onto other bowls should be discouraged and redirected back to their own bowl. Finally, if you're up for spending some money, there is an [automatic feeder](https://www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder) that opens only for a signal from your pet's microchip. This can become really important if one pet is on a special diet for health reasons - it only opens when the cat that has the specific microchip approaches. This is the best way to ensure that the right cat gets the right food.

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.

Start feeding them separately and measure their food. Divide the total amount your cat should have per day and split it into two, three or more meals, depending on your schedule so she doesn't have to go too many hours between meals. Check the label on your cat food for feeding recommendations for your cat's weight or, if you haven't yet done this, make an appointment with your vet for an evaluation and a prescription diet and weight loss plan. Feed one cat in one room, shut them in and feed the other cat at the other end of the house, or upstairs if you have a two-story home. Depending on how food motivated your cat is, you can get her to follow you around the house a few laps before putting her food down for her. If she likes to play, take some time to play with her every day, using a wand toy or a ball she can chase and swat around. Drag a toy on a string for her to chase as you walk around the house, anything to get her moving and active.