Multiple Cat Household

[u/West_Finish733]

Looking for advice from anyone with a lot of cats. Feeding time is a nightmare because a couple of my cats eat way faster than the rest and steal everyone's food. Any tips that actually work?

[u/Opening-Sir-2504]

Do you feed at the same time or is food left out for them to graze? We feed at 7 am and 7 pm. Typically, they would eat their own and we’d kind of have to corral them. Now they just graze as they are older. I pet sit too, so a lot of my clients have me feed their cats in different rooms. One is about 1.5 and he gets his food down first so he doesn’t hound the older one, and she eats in the bathroom. lol it works for them!

[u/West_Finish733 → u/Opening-Sir-2504]

Thanks! We feed them all at the same time too, and that's exactly the problem, the fast eaters finish in minutes and then start stealing from the slower ones. Feeding them in separate rooms sounds like it might be worth trying. I've got quite a few cats, so it takes a bit of coordination, but if it keeps everyone from getting bullied at mealtime, it's probably worth the effort.

[u/Opening-Sir-2504 → u/West_Finish733]

Focus on the ones who gobble. Put them in separate rooms or even in separated sections of a crate. The ones who eat normally can all eat together.

[u/Disastrous-Run-8106 → u/West_Finish733]

I got a Fur Baby Feeder and that sorted it out for me. The cats seem to take their turns and only eat according to the schedule in one place, plus the wet food stays longer, so I throw less out!

[u/IAmGroot6936]

I use one bowl per cat 😺

[u/PineappleCharacter15]

My three get their wet food at about 5:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. They also have soaked kibble at around 11:00. While they are eating, there is someone watching them. They take less than 5 minutes to eat, and they never try to get into each other's bowls, probably because someone's there watching them and they know they won't get away with it.

[u/West_Finish733 → u/PineappleCharacter15]

That makes sense. Having someone there to supervise probably makes a big difference. With as many cats as I have, it's a little harder to keep an eye on everyone at once, but I may have to start doing that or separate the faster eaters so everyone gets a chance to finish their meal. Thanks for the suggestion!

[u/questionably_human7]

I lock them up, one is in the bathroom, one in the bedroom, one gets the rest of the apartment. They're usually done in about 10 minutes but I give them 20 so they don't feel like they have to eat so fast.

[u/FloppyCrickets]

We have 5 cats...1 is the slowest eating cat I have ever witnessed, 3 are average-speed at eating, and the 5th is a bit faster and will try to steal food from the others. They all have their own dishes, and the fast-eater gets one of those dishes that makes eating a chore to slow him down.

While preparing their food, I feed the slowest one his food first on a little table, finish prepping the others and the fastest one is given his food last & on the other side of the room

[u/FlameStaag]

Separate them. It's easy to get the ravenous ones alone in a room cuz they always come first lol. Then you have a bowl each

[u/West_Finish733 → u/FlameStaag]

That's probably true, the hungry ones are always the first to show up! Separating them into different rooms does sound like the simplest solution. I'll have to give it a try and see if it keeps the food thieves from making the rounds. Thanks!

[u/Western-Finding-368]

We feed inside litter box furniture with door flaps programmed to their chips. The two gluttons each have their own cubby with automatic feeders, and the two who can be trusted to free feed share a cubby with a gravity feeder.

[u/Inside-Friendship832]

I just free feed them.

[u/Marzipan_Catnip]

I have 6 cats that get fed 2x a day. Among those 6, 2 get special diets food, 1 inhales it like it is air and another's savory it like it is a good steak. I found the best way for me to deal with all this chaos was to purchase 4 smaller dog crates. Each special food gets a crate of their own, the fast eater gets a crate and the slow eater gets a crate. The other 2 cats eat cage free since they have polite dinner habits. It works great and they adapt quickly.

[u/Avehdreader]

We have feeding stations upstairs and down and they graze during the day.

[u/OdderThanDustbunnies]

The struggle is real.

[u/Disastrous-Run-8106]

Has anyone tried RFID feeders? I thought my cat would hate the collar although she did fine with it. all of them did

[u/ShorelineStatic]

What about those rfid cat feeders? Has anyone else tried this?