Overweight cat and unique challenges to help him

[Ocean Planet]

I have a 6 year old cat who has gotten overweight. (17 pounds). He wasn't always like this and feel it is all my fault for not controlling the food. He has gotten more lethargic this year and it concerned me. Healthwise, he has confirmed colitis/ibd via scopes at internal medicine last summer, but nothing else. He is on 2.5mg of prednisolone daily to keep inflammation down - which did contribute to him eating more I know.

This past week I was very concerned about the lethargy so took him in for some testing. Bloodwork came back great. I had them do some Xrays to verify nothing was growing in there that shouldn't be. They came back great too. Showed me how all his organs looked normal and the extra space in the Xray....... fat. yeah. So the weight has to be why he feels so down a lot of the time.

I know the #1 thing is to lose the weight slowly. Reduce food very slightly for a while.

Challenges:
1. I live alone and need 8 hours sleep and go to an office for work 5 days a week for 9 hours. I can't feed timed portions over the day because I'm only available at limited times. No friends or family in the area that can help either.
2. The more challenging part is that I have another kitty who has GI lymphoma (almost 1.5 years into remission!). He needs to eat. Whenever he wants. He can have as much food as he wishes to keep his weight on.

So you see the issue. I have one kitty who needs to eat free and one who needs to slow down. But the fact that I'm at work or sleeping makes it hard to control things. I've thought about those automatic feeders that read chips but they are both so skittish, they'd probably be afraid of it. I tried some toy fish with holes that you put food into but they are not interested in trying the puzzles either. Both cats mostly dislike all wet food as well.

I hate to do this but the only thought is to separate them to control feeding. Maybe permanently until he loses weight. I really, really don't want to but I can't let him keep growing up and past 20 pounds.

The only good thing is that I wouldn't need to confine anyone to a bedroom. I am thankful to have a 2-story place where I can let one have the upstairs and one the downstairs. This separation would only be during the work day, at least I think..

Has anyone done anything like this successfully or does it sound like a good idea to you? I hate seeing him loaf around like a lifeless bump on the log I do get him to sprint down the hallway to chase toys a couple times but know this will get harder the older he gets.

My next problem is how could I best block off this passage at the bottom of these stairs? (The culprit kitty is in the photo! ha) Ideally it would be nice to think of something they can see each other through but sturdy enough they don't knock it down. I could remove the handrail if needed but hope to not have to drill many things in the wall to install anything, but if i have to, then I have to.

Thanks for reading!! Its upsetting to think I need to separate my cats for weight loss I can't think of anything else though.

 

[Kieka]

Do you feed wet or dry food?

If you feed dry, you can set up a room or closet with a microchip cat door that only allows the one who needs more access in. That way that cat can go in whenever they want for food. There is a slight learning curve for the door itself but once they figure it out it isn't too hard. If you don't want to sacrifice any doors, you can do the same method with a kennel or custom box.

I've seen people do a piece of plywood on one side of the kennel that has the door mounted into it. Just make sure the kennel either has two doors or you mount the plywood in a way you can take it off to add food. Or you can build a box out of plywood and do the same, that one you would want some vent and light holes added to.

For the food the other cat has access too you can do a timed feeder to space out food in smaller amount throughout the day. I got a timed feeder to limit the amount of food out during the day. Mine drops just morning and afternoon enough that my crew will eat all of it before bed. It's not perfect and I can't control the individual portioning but my goal is mostly to keep food up at night so they don't boredom munch when I'm sleeping. But you could figure out the portion for your cat who needs to loose weight plus a little in case the other eats it too. The other could get food from their safe area if they want more. It took a little while for mine to get used to the sound but they did.

Although, I wouldn't knock the individual feeders though for perfect control over their amounts. I have an adjustable bed and it only took a few days for my cats to adjust to the noise that makes and they now sleep through it moving. They have also adjust to the auto feeder and a Roomba with only a few skittish days.

 

[Ocean Planet]

My cats are fed dry food. They hardly want anything to do with wet food.

The auto feeder is a good possibility for a helpful tool. I wonder if they make them were you can dispense food remotely from a phone? hmmm. I also never heard of a cat door activated by their chip.

Thanks for the new ideas This is the sort of things that are really helpful. I don't have any other 'cat' people to ask in life. ha ha

 

[Kieka]

My auto feeder uses an app.

Petory Automatic Cat Feeders Wi-Fi - 4L Dry Food Dispenser for Cats and Dogs 10 Meals per Day Smart Pet Feeder with Desiccant Bag Dual Power Supply 10S Voice Recorder Amazon.com

 

[Ocean Planet]

My auto feeder uses an app.

Petory Automatic Cat Feeders Wi-Fi - 4L Dry Food Dispenser for Cats and Dogs 10 Meals per Day Smart Pet Feeder with Desiccant Bag Dual Power Supply 10S Voice Recorder Amazon.com

Oh wow, thank you! I will probably pick one up and give it a shot. I keep wi-fi cameras on their food so I can monitor their eating habits remotely. If I can work in some timed portions with something like this... it could be very helpful!