Overweight cat in a multi-cat household.
This is Vernon:
He is a slightly husky boy living with our two other cats. We'd like to keep dishes of dry food out so they can all eat when they want to, but as Vernon was a rescue straight from the street, he is conditioned to eat CONSTANTLY. As such, he became a very heavy boy soon after moving in with us.
THE SOLUTION:
Our vet suggested we create a feeder cage (in this case, a birdcage) so the other two can get in and eat when they want to, but our big-boned boy could not.
Here it is:
See how that works? Vernon gets fed regularly, don't worry- and he's lost three pounds, putting him back into the heavy but healthy range.
As you know we moved recently, and the new place is a bit smaller, so we need to conserve kitchen space. Thus, this past weekend I built a new feeder cage into an old rolling kitchen cart. It went a little something like this:
1/2" hardware cloth...
Hinged panel for access to the food dishes... held in place by velcro...
The little "door" is actually two cheap ikea picture frames. We tested it by putting it around Vernon's head. There's no way he's getting in there.
And there's one of the svelter cats gettin' her food on...
So there it is. Probably added years to his life.
