Help with getting a cat to stop grazing

Good evening! I have fully transitioned my cat Pinky over to wet food from an only dry diet. He is used to grazing, and he does this with his wet food. I'll give it to him early in the morning, and he doesn't finish until close to noon, which is when I would like to give him his midday meal. Sometimes it is after midnight when I can get him to finish his last meal. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, however, he has a dog sister and we have another cat in the house, who are both on different diets than he is. I don't have a real way in my small home to keep them separate while he's eating all day, so I just have to give him the bowl every 15-20 minutes to try to get him to eat more. I am afraid my own behavior is encouraging his grazing, but I'm not sure how else to ensure he eats everything.

How can I teach him to stop grazing while also ensuring that he gets the full amount of calories he needs in a day? He recently was anorexic and I don't want to go back to that if I can help it.

 

Can you give him smaller more frequent meals to encourage him to eat it all. There is nothing wrong with a diabetic cat grazing.
The other thing you could do is get an automatic timed feeder and set it to open every few hours.

 

Oh definitely not! I don't mind his grazing at all, but it requires a lot more time on my part to make sure he eats everything/keeping the others away. I'd say he probably eats maybe a half ounce to an ounce ever 30 minutes to an hour or so, and he needs to eat at least 12 to get all his calories for the day for the food he eats; thankfully I work from home so I can make sure he eats, but I worry on days where I might not be home all day. I've left his bowl next to him in a closed room with fresh water while I have been gone for a few hours, and he's had maybe a few bites. He's on an appetite stimulant, and he isn't showing signs of nausea, I think that he is just an incredibly slow eater. He runs to where we (used to) keep his dry food, so I think he's missing it. I don't have any plans to switch back, so we will just have to get used to the new routine! I just don't know if I should trust him to eat enough. He eats more when I am holding his bowl to his face, but this becomes tedious!

I will absolutely look into an automatic feeder! Is there a certain one I should look into?

 

Another option is a microchip feeders. I use them to keep my cats out of each other's food bowl. I have a couple cats that think everyone's food bowl belong to them and it is their job to make sure they empty it.

Since I started using them Cracker has lost several pounds. He went from 22 lbs down to under 16.

 

I was just coming to suggest the microchip feeder as well. Very expensive but probably worth the upfront cost to save on stress.

 

Maybe feed the cats on a table or counter so the dog can’t get to it?

Is there a reason the other cat can’t have the same food (low-carb Weruva is it?) as Pinky?

 

Hi Danoodle and Pinky,my kittie also was and is a grazer.
Not sure if this is an option for you, but it did work quite well for Kitkat to get him to eat a bit more than just a few bites at a time. He gets Purebites freezedried chicken treats for tests and such and he really likes them. I found if I crushed up a bit and sprinkled them over his food he would actually eat more of it when I did need to get him to eat.

 

Bonita flakes are great for this too!

 

Well, at this time, it would be a little expensive to switch her to Weruva; right now she is on Hill's Science diet dry, but when I get paid next, I am going to stock up and slowly start transitioning her to Fancy Feast wet. I didn't know before about the dry food, but I definitely know better now!

I will definitely try this out, thank you!

 

I agree they are expensive but have proven to me they are worth the cost.

 

We've used two approaches to keeping the dogs out of the cat food:
1) Make a "cage" with a cat-sized hole into it, so dogs can't get to the food. Has to be deep enough that if the dog squeezes his head in the hole, he still can't reach that big sloppy tongue far enough in to lap up the food. We've used wire shelving tied together, those wire grid squares that have connectors so you can make shelves/cubes with them, even a small dog crate with a makeshift front on it with the cat hole in it. Cats prefer not to eat in a box, so using something open makes them happier. Have also put wire grid/shelf pieces around the bottom of a long-legged piece of furniture to make the cat food cage and keep dogs out. Two hints--you can make the hole smaller by putting something, a strip of wood, a couple rulers, etc, across the Bottom of the hole, cats easily step over, but it blocks some of the space for the dog to shove his head in. Another is we got a very long bottle brush (like a dryer vent brush) and formed it around the cat hole, so cats get brushed as they go in and out, helps cut down on the fur around the house and the cats like it, too.

2) Feed the cats up high, on a dresser or sideboard or table, that the dogs cannot get up on. Be sure to put the food near the back side, so dogs can't reach it from the front. If necessary, add some barriers or caging around it.

For cleanliness, we took a large, low, clear storage box and cut down one side of it. Cat bowls go inside this, now a 3-sided tray, so that all the bits and drips are contained and it's easy to take it to the sink to clean it, bowls and all. Keeps the furniture we have the cat food up on clean and dry.

We have grazers, too, and one super piggy. Piggy cat gets fed his measured amount closed in the laundry room (so the others don't take some, since we restrict him because he's fat because he eats everything he can). Piggy cat has arthritis, and can't jump high anymore, so the other three get fed up on a side table in another room. They graze, over several hours. I've found that by taking away the food about 2 hours before the next meal, they are hungrier and eat more initially, then slowly finish off the rest later on. I know you are concerned with your cat getting enough food, but maybe for a few days trying something like this would encourage him to eat more initially, and slowly 'stretch' his stomach so he feels like he can eat more at a time?

Bonita flakes could be a great idea, we call them Stinky Fish because they absolutely reek. But all our cats and dogs love the stuff. Blech.
If he eats more when you put the food right under his face, could it be that his sense of smell is weak, so he doesn't recognize there is food to eat? I have one cat with chronic sinus inflammation, when it flares up she stops eating as much (to the point where she loses weight) because she can't smell the food. (we had to stop using the bonita flakes as another cat is allergic to fish and gets diarrhea.) Our vet has her on a daily claritin, it makes a world of difference. Maybe ask your vet about something like this?

 

I used a pet carrier and replaced the door with a magnetic pet door to keep all of my other pets out of Charlie's food. Since I used a timed feeder to make sure he had food throughout the day, this kept the other pets from eating his food before he could get to his bowl

 

Thank you all so much for the recommendations! Thankfully, I discovered this evening that it was actually the food that he was being picky about; he was out of food today, and PetCo was out of the specific flavor. I got the Weruva pate that's the same ingredients and close to the same percentages; the one he had been eating was pure shredded chicken instead of just being a pate. He devoured the entire thing within 10 minutes of me putting it in front of him! Something about the other food (probably the texture of the shredded chicken) I think he didn't like.

I appreciate the suggestions for how to keep the dog away - I will definitely raise the food, but unfortunately both of my cats are bigger than the dog, so anything I make would be big enough for her to get in. But that also means she cannot get up high!

I will absolutely be investing in an automatic feeder, especially since we have a few trips planned later this year, and that will help the person who I will have come and check on them daily.

Thank you all for your great suggestions!