<p>Dad<em>of</em>3: Our vet put both our cats on a wet food only diet (though we still use dry kibble for treats) because the dry stuff is high in carbs and is a factor in kitty diabetes. He says this is now the standard advice for feeding cats. Twice a day we give each one his own bowl with a controlled portion, and since we don’t want wet food sitting around, we take the bowls away after an hour or so. They seem to have figured out that the food won’t be around all day and eat all or almost all of it right away, so there’s no chance for one to get extra food from the other’s bowl. It was easy to just reduce portions when the vet suggested some weight loss.</p>
<p>Calorie control food, reduce the amount put out and live with begging. We use Royal Canin Satiety.</p>
<p>Cat on a diet? Yeah, sure.</p>
<p>We are feeding old cat and new cat in different rooms for now. They eat the same food but new cat gets much more per day. Old cat is quite used to being fed twice daily. We do NOT leave food down all the time. Our vet says that is a sure way to have an overweight pet. They do NOT always ration themselves.</p>
<p>So how much do you feed them - I haven’t checked to see if it lists calories, but between the two of them, they finish about 2/3rds of a 5.5 oz wet food can in one sitting. And every three hours they beg/demand/claw door jambs for more - like a big spoonful of dry food. It appears one tends to eat more at a time while the other wants food frequently, and putting equal servings typically results in one eating the unfinished remnants of the other’s.</p>
<p>I kept new cat quarantined for several days. Then I took washcloths and dry bathed each cat and placed each of them under the other’s food dish. Then we had them eat on the other side of a door from each other. This seemed to let each of them get used to the other’s scent in a progressive way.</p>
<p>V blue bird … I have not heard of this washcloth trick and it is a good one. </p>
<p>The best thing is preventing the two cats from surprising each other and being forced into a “I hate you” mode. Keeping a new cat in a separate room for as long as it takes, has always worked for me.</p>
<p>There is something about the scent mixing… When one of our kitties came home from a short visit to the vet, the other went ballistic and was attacking her as if she was a total stranger. The hissing and spitting lasted until Mr B grabbed both cats (one at a time!) and rubbed them against the dog’s wet fur. It calmed them down in a nanosecond - the cats sniffed each other, wrinkled their noses (yuck, au de wet dog!) and proceeded to eat next to each other!</p>
<p>I hope thumper’s kitties are making some progress towards a peace treaty…</p>
<p>Au de wet dog! Love it! I have one cat that goes to the dog groomer and when he comes home I’m sure the other cat thinks he smells like au de dog - wet or otherwise. They always have a hissy fit but get over it quickly enough.</p>
<p>Just checking in to let you know we have made no progress getting these kitties to know each other. Yesterday, old cat got out of the basement and chased new car around. We thought that was OK. New cat retreated to her bathroom and that was the end of that. So today we figured we’d let them be on the same floor together and this time old cat went int attacking again. Oh well.</p>
<p>New cat has a vet appointment next week and we will ask the vet for some ideas.</p>