I get such rage at overfeeding when I travel

[Sunny]

I can't explain this, but my brother doesn't understand yowling and attention cries when I am away from needing food.

So my boys are big, they are on a 7oz diet per day divided into 3 meals. 6oz wet, 1oz dry/snack.

I calculated 10.83oz each for the days that I was gone based on 12 cans and 4lb of dry food. 1/2 of that was dry food which explains why both gained weight while I was gone.

My sitter tattle-tailed and sent me a message my brother was feeding them when he made his 2nd visit when he spotted left over dry food in the bowl. MY BOYS LEAVE NO TRACE OF FOOD EVER.

I had a text fight with him the night before my return about not notifying me when he feeds them, an issue I've had before, and threatened to put a lock on the cabinet because of his irresponsibility. He said Anubis was howling for an hour at him (wanted attention) for an hour straight and my sitter was not feeding them enough, it was cruel to let them starve. WTF?

My sitter was following my instructions and exact routine to the letter so this extra feeding was simply ignorance. I love my step brother, but sometimes he infuriates me to the point of selling the place and downsizing to reduce expenses.

Diet time! Playing with Isis will hopefully help Anubis shed the extra weight.

I threw away the remaining 2lb of a 6.6lb bag of dry this morning.

I will adjust my work schedule to go home at 3pm every day so I'm there when Anubis and Ra start feeling pangs of hunger. They start seeking attention at 3pm and between 4-5pm one or both will do the sit and stare, or jump up to the desk or where I'm at to let me know it's time.

I'm going to "short" the big boys 1oz per day over 3 meals which will not seem like a lot to them, giving them 6.5oz wet over 3 meals. Isis will get 3.5oz split up into 3 meals since she can only eat about 1oz at a time.

Whew.

/rant

 

[John Popp]

Wow! It's always tough leaving your pets for others to care for. Even my wife and I have different ideas about their feeding schedule and whatever their individual needs are. When we are both away, I can guarantee that they will be overfed and I just need to let it roll off my back. I then look at the difference in what the price tag is for boarding, the cats state of mind for being held up somewhere besides home and the additional food intake for a week or two doesn't seem like such a big deal.

I'm a big proponent of puzzle feeders for dry food and perhaps this can resolve some of your issues. There is an egg shaped one that works great and I can give our cats a nominal amount of food that keeps them engaged for hours. Relieves some boredom, parses out their food intake and keeps them away from some other trouble they can find.

Anyway, don't look a gift horse in the mouth and have a calm conversation with your brother after applying the 24 hour rule when you're this upset.

 

[Trish Allearz]

Frankly, I'd prefer my cats have food left out when I'm travelling. I am assuming your cats ARE overweight and you are trying to shed pounds? If not, I don't think a few days here and there of them eating extra will harm them and I DO think that it's better for food to be there then not when no one is home for an extended period. In my eyes- I would think, what if the sitter can't get over to check on them one day? What if the car breaks down, horrible weather strikes, etc?

But I'm pretty lenient on my crew with their feeding. They tend to work off what they take in.

 

[Sunny]

He doesn't keep a schedule, so it makes it very tough to keep to my feeding schedule given how much he travels playing gigs, volleyball tourneys, and crashing with a girlfriend or friend periodically. He rents a room and always on the go. That's why when I'm away once every 2-3 months for a week, I bring in an outsider. But since he lives there, Anubis in particular will seek him out for attention and is a high maintenance cat.

Where I live was based on their needs and a large enough garage to be able to park 2 cars in and work in at the same time. Being over protective or sensitive is not a bad thing but yeah, changing things up to wet food only and keeping cool will allow harmony back into the household.

It's going to be a tough adjustment back to brushing their teeth each morning. Isis is a big time counter hopper when it comes to food related items and seeing the cats chewing and getting brushed will spark a fight or they will simply refuse to jump up to the bathroom counter. All three are eating together downstairs, I don't want to break this momentum.

 

[Sunny]

Ra was a perfect weight, he's up .8lb and Anubis was on the high side for his size and is up 1.1lb. For a cat, this is a lot of weight in a short amount of time. I guess when you are being fed 2x the amount and using that as a substitute for attention, it's no wonder. My boys were never free fed and I'm seriously considering spending $x,xxx and re-develop a remote controlled feeder with camera I can execute from my phone or over the Internet.

Example: http://www.newtonnet.co.uk/catfeeder/

 

[Sunny]

Bottom line, getting them back to a wet diet, 3 times per day and adjusting my work schedule plus the additional (hopefully) play time will help everyone slim back up to fighting weight again. It won't take long and it won't take starvation, probably by end of month they will be back to where they should be.

 

[admin]

John what is the puzzle feeder you use?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Sunny, if it is the sitter that is supposed to be feeding them, and your brother is just supplementing with unauthorized meals... could you possibly LOCK up the food and only give the sitter the key or the combination to the lock? That way your brother can't access the food to give extra meals...and it will reinforce how serious you feel about this issue.

 

[John Popp]

We have a couple of them, and I also craft them out of paper towel tubes and such, but the one I like best is the Egg-Cercizer from Funkitty. You can vary the size holes if you are using larger oral care treats or keep them small for kitten size kibble. After I bought one, I went back and bought two more. We don't ever put a lot of food in them, just enough to preoccupy them while we are away.

Here's a shot of one and a video.

​

 

[Jacq]

Oddly enough, my cats don't eat when I'm away. I always have plenty of food thawed for my sitter, and it's still there when i get back.