Feeding multiple cats
Feeding multiple cats can be challenging, and even more so if you have to feed two cats when only one is dieting!
All cats are different. Some love to eat their dinner all at once while others prefer to graze. Some eat lots of food, others very little. It can be stressful ensuring each cat gets their required amounts, and isn’t left with too little or too much.
Fortunately there are a number of ways in which you can make sure that your overweight cat only gets its required calorie allowance.
Microchip feeders
The most reliable way of ensuring your overweight cat won’t eat another cats food is to put the other cats food in a microchip cat feeder.
Microchip cat feeders were designed for multi pet homes to stop pets stealing each others food. They will only open when the feeder recognises a cat that is programmed using its microchip reader.
In this instance, you could look to feed your overweight cat as normal, and put the other cats food into the microchip feeder to prevent the overweight cat from being able to nibble on it.
In our opinion, the best microchip feeder on the market is the SureFeed Microchip feeder. It may seem pricey, but its nothing compared to couple of visits to the vets to sort your cats weight problems!
- SELECTIVE ACCESS FEEDER: The lid only opens for authorised pets, preventing cross-feeding, ideal for pets on prescription diets
- PERFECT FOR WET AND DRY FOOD: Sealed lid and bowl helps keep food fresher for longer, keep flies out, whilst locking odours in
- MICROCHIP AND RFID COLLAR TAG COMPATIBLE: Works with all common identification microchips and the Sure Petcare RFID Collar Tag (1 included)
- SIMPLE ONE BUTTON PROGRAMMING: Easy and hassle-free set-up with the touch of a button, and the capability to store up to 32 pet IDs
- BATTERY POWERED: Up to 6 months battery life. Use with 4 x C Cell batteries (not included)
Last update on 2023-11-30
How do microchip feeders work?
- When the feeder arrives, you programme your cats microchip to the feeder (its normally one click of a button)
- Once registered – the lid will open when a registered cat approaches the feeder
- The lid remains closed for any pets that the feeder doesn’t identify
Our favourite feeder comes with a training mode that helps cats get used to the lid moving – starting with very gradual movements until the cat is comfortable.
Top tips for feeding cats separately
There are a number of different ways that you can use to try to feed two cats separately. Some take a more involvement from the owner, or retraining of your cats, but pick those that work best for your circumstances.
- Feed them in separate rooms – If both of your cats eat their food as soon as it is served, the easiest way to feed your cats separately is to move them apart until all of the food has been eaten. You can do this in separate rooms, or letting one cat eat in the garden for example.
- Feed them in separate cat carriers – A great way of keeping your cats apart and also creating a positive experience with their cat carrier. Simply put each cats food at the back of their cat carrier and close the door whilst they eat it. This can also help if your cat is particularly nervous about going into a cat carrier.
- Feed them at different times – Training your cats to vary their meal times can make it significantly easier to manage who eats what at meal times. You could feed one cat first whilst locking the other out of the room. Once finished, you can switch the cats and feed the second. This relies on each cat eating their meal there and then and a little bit of patience from you!
- Use a baby gate to separate your room – Sometimes its not possible to use separate rooms, so you could try using baby stair gates or baby enclosures to try to keep your cats apart during meal times.
- Stand guard and separate them! – Not the best use of your time, but one of the most effective. Watch whilst they both eat and move them apart if they look to eat each others food.
- Train your cats to eat only at meal times – One of the biggest issues with feeding two cats at once is that some cats prefer to graze throughout the day. Although this is convenient for you, leaving dry food down all day is too much of a temptation for any overweight cat. Over the course of 5-7 days you can train your cats to eat only at scheduled meal times (they will remind you if you forget!) by simply removing the food that is available for grazing and removing any unfinished meals after a set period (5-10 minutes maximum).
Don’t feed me!
If your cat is overweight you should consider buying it a ‘Don’t feed me’ collar. You can control your cats diet at home, but you never know who else might be feeding it whilst out on its adventures.
By wearing a ‘don’t feed me’ collar any other home owners will know that the cat is on a diet or has health problems and will know to send them home for meal times!
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