<p>No, this is not a joke. I need help figuring out how to feed the little guys. Cat #1 was just diagnosed with diabetes. In the hope of avoiding insulin shots, the vet has put him on a high protein, low carb diet. Diabetes is reversible in cats when caught this early. </p>
<p>The good: cat eats his food, then walks away, so it’s easy to remove his bowl when he’s done. The bad: he eats anything (which is why he’s an overweight diabetic), including the food of Cat #2–just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. </p>
<p>In an effort to avoid medication or radioactive iodine treatment, the vet has put Cat #2 on a low iodine diet. Unfortunately, this kitty is a grazer, so I cannot just pick up his food after he’s had a few bites. He will starve to death. If I leave it down, though, Cat #1, the diabetic, will eat it and it contains the dreaded carbs.</p>
<p>Any ideas on how to feed these guys properly? I’m pretty sure someone could turn this into a logic problem for the LSAT or maybe a parody of a Shakespeare play: “Two cats, alike in dignity…”.</p>
<p>I am tempted just to forget the whole diet thing for the hyperthyroid kitty and go straight to the radiation solution, which is permanent and 99% effective, but it’s a ton of money and we are paying for college, as well as private high school.</p>
<p>Your cat won’t starve to death if it can’t graze. Just feed them separately twice a day and see what happens. I have the same problem with a fat cat and a not so fat one. I feed them the same diet though - but once a day and when they run out too bad. By the time feeding time comes they are both stalking me and meowing loudly.</p>
<p>Seems like this is a common problem and there ought to be products available. My neighbor, who is a tinkerer and whose cats I feed when they are away, has designed his own system. The cats wear tags with UPC-like ID labels on them that trigger mechanisms in doors on wooden boxes containing their food bowls They have to stand in front of their own door to get dinner. The tag triggers door to open on their own box, but it closes if cat tries to eat from the wrong box. It really works.</p>
<p>Auto cat feeders set to dump food at the same time. The skinny kitty will learn quickly that the grazing days are over. We were facing the same problem, and Mr B was thinking about designing a RFID tagged feeder system for our cats, but they turned out to be fast learners.</p>
<p>Thanks, Celeste and BunsenBurner. We were brainstorming today about how to design separate feeding boxes. Love your neighbor’s idea and the RFID tagged idea. Both my husband and son love techie problems like this.</p>
<p>Glad to hear it’s possible to convert a grazer to a twice a day eater. That has been a big worry of mine.</p>
<p>I also converted my grazer because his sister the rescue was an overeater. Think cat shaped good year blimp! A couple days of meowing and soulful looks and now all is good.</p>
<p>Is there low carb low iodine food that you can give to cat #2? That way, it won’t be that big a deal if cat #1 eats it (unless you are trying to get him to eat less so that he won’t be as fat).</p>
<p>Does either cat still jump on tables? (My son’s cat, whose diabetes was cured (the vet says it happens about 20% of the time) does not jump on the counter any more. Too old.) You could feed whichever cat jumps (if only one does) in a high place. Alternatively, use a dog crate to feed one cat while the other wanders.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there is only one low-iodine diet (prescription cat food) and it is not low carb, which is totally ridiculous since cats are obligate carnivores and really can’t digest carbs anyway. But I guess carbs are cheap, so that’s why the cat food manufacturers add them to their food.</p>
<p>I have no suggestions, but my older cat got fat when we got a younger cat. He ate all her high fat kitty food and has never been the same. She’s now about 3, and he’s still fat, even though they are both eating low fat food…</p>
<p>Also, carb food is easier to make dry food with. Note also that since humans are doing the buying of the cat food, the cat food tends to have ingredients attractive to humans, as opposed to things that cats prefer to eat (e.g. liver, stomach and intestines with partially digested vegetables inside, and other organ meats, or meat and bones from small rodents).</p>
<p>I like the ideas from Celeste and Bunsen, but if these can’t work out, is it possible to make your own cat food? That way, you could cover both their dietary needs with one balanced low carb, low iodine recipe. A quick google search came up with loads of info on this. Of course you’d want to discuss it with the vet and see what s/he thinks. Just throwing out another possibility.</p>
<p>Somewhat off point but one thing I learned in reading - e.g., the book Gulp - is that cat food (and dog food) is formulated for a level of nutrition but isn’t attractive to the animals unless it’s coated. The dry foods are dull and get lousy responses. But they coat them with stuff. I forget the names but they call the most popular cat stuff “cat crack”. Same with dry dog food. And btw, the way they test the foods is misleading because a manufacturer will often want a food a dog prefers at the start … when the dog digs in … and they don’t care that much when the dog switches to the other food. They show the dogs digging into the food in their ads but not the lack of continuing satisfaction. This speaks to why people sometimes have issues with their animals’ appetites. </p>
<p>I have no idea how to manage this particular combination of diets. We have had a few. One cat was on kidney diet, but we were able to put all them on it (which they like because it’s saltier, makes them drink more, etc.). But to keep them “normal”, we mixed in low calorie food and watched the kidney cat’s behavior and levels. One oddity is they became used to eating more often so after the kidney cat’s death, we shifted them to low calorie all the time. But they go out and get a lot of exercise so this suits their lifestyles more than being hit with nutrient rich food every bite.</p>
<p>I have no idea if you can try a low calorie diet. We use the horribly named “Satiety” by Royal Canin.</p>