My last blog about Crinkle, my rescued red tabby, mentioned the fact that he has gone from skeletal to portly in the year he has lived with me. I have more than a few cats; none are obese except him. I feed them all Science diet dry food and a canned food meal at night. It has worked well for me and my cats for years. My cats are active, with cat towers, lots of steps in the household and a fenced in cat yard that includes trees. But, Crinkle is fat. So fat, I really had to take off my blinders and address the problem.

With a house full of cats, some very thin, I chose to take up the bowls of food and replace them with cat puzzle feeders. The thin cats have all the food they want with the flick of a kitty wrist. Crinkle will also have to flick the wrist. In other words, he will not be able to hoist himself over to the cat bowl and gorge. Eating will take longer. Eating so much to maintain his weight will be a lot of work for him.

I love Crinkle. He wormed his way into my heart with his struggle to survive against the odds. Now, my job is to help him attain a healthy weight. I am sure his metabolism  is screwed up after starvation and then obesity. I think his mantra has become ” I shall never go hungry again!” . I don’t want him to be hungry. But, I do want him to be healthy. With only a couple of cats, the job would be easy with meal feeding and limiting portions. With a house full of cats, it is more difficult. Wish me luck with the feeders. If I don’t make progress with this, the next step is to segregate him in the house.

Keep your fingers crossed for Crinkle!