How to balance eating and food schedules?

[Spoon&Sphynx]

We have one sphynx, Luna, who just turned one yr old last month. We recently added a kitten to our family. We're having issues with the 2 of them and feeding schedules.

Midi, our baby, eats 1 scoop of dry food and 1 portion of wet food twice a day.
Luna, our adult cat, eats dry in the morning and both dry/wet at night

Our baby isn't eating all of her dry food in one sitting. She eats the wet and nibbles the dry throughout the day. This is fine, as it's what our adult cat does as well, but now that there is more food being left out (enough for both kitties to get the correct amount) our adult cat is eating everything and gaining weight very quickly! I don't want to take Midi's food away because she needs it as a growing kitten, but I also don't want to lock her away when she eats because she likes to eat throughout the day, and she would be separated from Luna. And even if we cut back Luna's food and put her on a "diet" she will still be sneaking Midi's.


I hope this makes sense. Any suggestions on how to handle this? I'm lost. Any ideas are most welcome!

 

[zombiequeen13]

hmm.. We have 4 kitties that are all on the same food schedule. We only do dry (Taste of the Wild Canyon River Feline® Formula) and we have never had an issue like this. Hmm... hopefully others can provide you with helpful suggestions. Good luck.

 

[luvmybaldie]

Hello all,

Couldn't figure out how to put a a new post so here it goes...

I'm new to the site and also a new sphynx owner. Saved Bella the love of my life from a home where she was being severely neglected. She has gained weight and is sweeter than any other animal i"ve encountered. My vet was against the raw diet and I was unsure of the proper nutrition needs as well. So I bought a supplement from knowbetterpetfood.com called ( USTEW) for cats.
I have been using ground beef, chicken, turkey and some organ meat with the supplement for her food. The food is all fresh from the butcher but cooked with the added supplement.. Is anyone familiar with this supplement? How do you experienced sphynx owners feel about the cooked fresh meat diet with supplements? Can anyone recommend a better supplement for this diet? Do you feel this is the healthiest alternative to raw? I also add in a pinch of all natural powdered taurine with one of her meals a day.

Tary

 

[spikesmom]

I had the same issue!
Spike (5 year old adult) used to be free fed dry and wet food twice a day. We now have a kitten who is 5 months old. So now we feed as follows:

Breakfast - dry food & wet food for both cats at 7:30 a.m.
I watch them eat so they don't switch dry bowls. It takes about 10 minutes. They now eat the same wet food that is for both adults and kittens (Core, by Wellness, which is grain free, high protein), so I don't worry about them switching wet.

Lunch - dry food, 10 minutes (or til they walk away). Again, it's supervised. My husband is home during the day.

1st Dinner at 5:30ish -wet food and dry.

2nd Dinner at 10:30/110 p.m. - dry food 10 minutes.

Of course, if you want to get hi-tech and money is no object (btw I saw some time ago a DIY version of this with cardboard box)-
Gatefeeder GF-100 RFID Controlled Automated Pet Feeder for Cats - Smarthome

 

[Chameleon924]

I have an adult male who doesn't need to gain any more weight and a 9 month old kitten who is a bottomless pit.
I feed 3x a day (until the kitten is a yr old), then I will switch to 2x a day. I feed each what they are suppose to eat in separate rooms. After 10 mins I pick up all the food.

Since you feed dry and canned I would try something that is grain free and Indoor formula. Usually grain free foods are for all life stages and the Indoor formula's has less fat. So if your adult female sneaks a little extra, it won't be as bad.