Need suggestions for feeding options

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Lisa and Witn (GA)

Lisa and Witn (GA)

Member Since 2009
I have five cats. Four are normal weight and Cracker is extremely overweight. The four are grazers and eat gradually during the day. Cracker on the other hand, believes if there's food and a bowl he should eat it. I've tried feeding all of the cats in separate locations, however Cracker will find the other bowls and eat any food that's in there.

I am looking into the microchip feeders that will only allow the cat is wearing it into the food bowl. Does anyone have any experience on how well these work? Most of them are extremely expensive and the best price I found is $77. Since I need four of them, I'm trying to find an economical way of helping Cracker lose weight. The only other option I can think of is to keep him locked up separately from all of the other cats. I would prefer not to do that especially since he's very bonded to them.

If you have any recommendations on microchip feeders or any other suggestions to keep Cracker away from the others food, I would love to hear them.
 
I don't have any actual experience with this, but I did also look into the microchip feeders for the same reason on a smaller scale (two grazers, one hoover). I found that some of the microchip-activated feeders allow you to program multiple IDs. So in theory, you could have it programmed for all the grazers only. But as I said, I never ended up trying this solution, so I don't know how well it works for this problem. A lot of the designs seem like they're not foolproof at excluding, they work best when you have several normal-appetite cats that just need to be fed separately at their own feeding stations.
 
I have one microchip feeder with one to arrive hopefully soon.

Rhubarb has a rotating 5 meal dish which my civvies rarely touch thankfully. I use the microchip feeder to keep her out of dry food. Up until my one civvie started becoming a butterball and the other stopped eating, I was putting off getting a second dish. You can get away with one dish for multiple cats as long as you keep an eye on weight. When Mel got sick, I decided that $200 for a second dish was worth it to prevent any more vet visits. She has always been a finicky eater.
 
I have all Microchip SureFeed Connect feeders and they are amazing! I am able to program the feeder for specific amounts by oz of food (even have 1/2 bowls if you use wet and dry or 2
Different wet foods). There are tiny scales under each bowl and they are calibrated for use of 2 1/2 bowls or 1 bowl. The App lets me know when they eat, how many ounces and computes graphs to show changes/issues. I’ve had them since they were released and love them! I did buy the back cover for one feeder since I had one male who figured out he could sneak in through the back of the feeder when the cat who was programmed to it opened it! The cover solved the issue. Definitely not cheap feeders but I highly recommend their products. You can program more than one cat to a feeder so your grazers would be able to share one microchip feeder. If you get the connect version, you will be able to know who ate what and that is helpful!
 
Lisa, I am unsure of those feeders. My experience, 6 cats including the diabetic, I had to do two feedings a day 12 hours apart. It became ritual - the diabetic ran into the separate room to eat and others stayed in kitchen. Gave time for them to eat and then pick up food after. I understand not everyone's schedule allows for this but we were lucky to be able to accommodate for "kitty feeding time". Best of luck.
 
LalaMeow said:
Lisa, I am unsure of those feeders. My experience, 6 cats including the diabetic, I had to do two feedings a day 12 hours apart. It became ritual - the diabetic ran into the separate room to eat and others stayed in kitchen. Gave time for them to eat and then pick up food after. I understand not everyone's schedule allows for this but we were lucky to be able to accommodate for "kitty feeding time". Best of luck.
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None of mine are diabetic and all are eating canned food. The reason I am looking for something is to keep Cracker away from the other bowls. If there is food in a bowl, he thinks it's his. He is huge and I need to get the weight off him before any health issues develop.
 
Ahhh gotcha! That makes sense. The feeders do sound like a great idea. I'm looking into them now, as we have one baby that has put on weight and we had to say goodbye to our diabetic baby yesterday. So now we can leave food out, but the feeders look excellent.
 
@LalaMeow Hi I just happened to come across your post and went back and found your post about your precious boy Rocko, I read your whole post, it broke my heart
Rocko sounded like the best cat ever, just so loving, you definitely were the best mama Rocko could have. You did everything you could
I would not want to see him suffer and would have made the same decision, as I have had to do in the past with another kitty of mine yrs ago
My heart aches for you when I saw the pic of you and Rocko
He was a beautiful boy. He will always be with you
Please take care ♥:bighug:
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
@LalaMeow Hi I just happened to come across your post and went back and found your post about your precious boy Rocko, I read your whole post, it broke my heart
Rocko sounded like the best cat ever, just so loving, you definitely were the best mama Rocko could have. You did everything you could
I would not want to see him suffer and would have made the same decision, as I have had to do in the past with another kitty of mine yrs ago
My heart aches for you when I saw the pic of you and Rocko
He was a beautiful boy. He will always be with you
Please take care ♥:bighug:
Click to expand...

Your words and kindness overwhelm me. Thank you for taking the time to respond with your sentiments, love and support. I am forever grateful to everyone here. Many blessings.
 
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