Feeding dilemma

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in weeks (due to crazy life), but I've been keeping up with everyone's news. I just had to come post on some of the recent events, today, and figured that as long as I was here, I'd solicit some advice! The boys are fine. Still delighting in the glory of battle. Usually at 3:00 a.m. :rolleyes: Rizzo actually groomed Barli for a few seconds the other day, and Barli let him do it! I'm not sure which half of that interaction surprised me more.

But, here's what I need advice about:
The Problem:

Mr. Barliman Butterbur is getting fluffy. You know, plush. If pressed, I might even go so far as to say "rotund." We knew this was going to happen, as he is a BIG eater. For instance, when he first came to us, did he cower and mope? Did he explore? Nope. He went straight out of the carrier, and right to the food bowl! I'm afraid he's eating a lot of Rizzo's food, as well as his own. I wouldn't worry so much, but he's only a year old, and if he's getting pudgy now, I'm afraid he's going to end up grossly overweight. I'd like to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later.

The Complications:

1) Rizzo has never been very fond of food. He eats because he has to. He's lean and muscular (with just a hint of belly flab to let the world know he's a house cat!). He never eats more than a few bites at a sitting, even if it's something that he's excited about eating. So, I figure he needs to be a free feeder.

2) Barliman can jump like any kitty, but Rizzo is a GROUND CAT. He doesn't try high jumps usually, and when he does, he's unsuccessful (*wriggle* *leap* *THUD* *THUMP* *shake* *groom*). Consequently, there's no place in the house that he can get to that Barli can't.

3) Barli has a bit of a turbulent tummy, so that if I feed him anything other than his regular dry food (including wet food treats, loose catnip, and hairball paste), well . . . let's just say that cleaning the litter box becomes really unpleasant, and I spend a lot of time trimming the hair under his tail.

How in the world am I supposed to feed these two so that the one doesn't become grossly obese and the other doesn't wither away?

Solutions?

Here are the things I have thought of to fix the problem, and why they won't work!

1) Reduce the amount of food I put out for the two of them.

I'm betting that Rizzo would be the one to get less food! Barli can be pretty pushy about his food, and Rizz tends to just walk off and pout when Barli gets pushy.

2) Switch them to diet food.

Well, Rizz doesn't need to be on diet food, but I don't suppose it would hurt him. But, given Complication #3 in the above post, I really don't want to add a lot of fiber to Barliman's diet!

3) Reduce the amount of food I put out for them, and feed Rizzo wet food (the only thing he'll eat more than a few mouthfuls of at once) daily, in the bathroom, with the doors closed.

Sounds kind of silly. And I still think that Barli would eat all of the dry food in that case!!

Anyone have any other ideas? *bats eyelashes*

:)

I was always afraid something like that could happen in my house because it means: a) regular feeding times; b) feeding Mr. Butterroll at a different place than hungry Rizzo e.g. one in the kitchen the other one at the bathroom:(

I am so glad plush Tigris is the finicky eater and slim Filou finishes the dishes.

BTW Twink- glad you're back!

Twink you have been missed!! Don't take off like that again!http://petoftheday.com/talk/images/our_smilies/wink.gif

The thought of this scares me to death because of my very large crew. Maggie Sue really should be on a diet but I just don't have the energy to try to keep everyone seperate so I decided I love her "Plush" little butt and I will just let her alone. Fat cats can live long happy lives too...so Maggie has told me many times!http://petoftheday.com/talk/images/o...es/biggrin.gif