Multiple Cats, Different Diets - how to cope

[@christianeraphael1270]

Thank you Doktor Uri 👍🏻💐 important matter, very interesting. We have four kitties, with 3 types of diet. Normal, urinary and kidney weakness diets. I ended up giving them their food in 4 different rooms 😸, the only way I can make sure I see who eats how much of what. I have 2 different dry treats in my left and right pocket, the little one might eat both, the ones with weaknesses the treat allowed. Everybody is happy, each cat feels being separately worshipped, being given their plate solo. At my bed, I have two empty reading glasses boxes screwed to the bedside table I might feed them their own treats when they come to bed. We are having a great time 🙂 despite age weaknesses.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Cat problems often require creative solutions and I hope everyone can learn from each other on my channel!

[@wombat.6652]

Thank you. This is a lot more affordable.

[@paulasimson4939]

Pirate's face when he couldn't access Clawdia's kibble!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I hope we didn't over-do it on the pathos.

[@paulasimson4939]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet It was adorable! Very helpful information, I especially love the RFID water fountain.

[@justinewhite-hadley3138]

I had no idea Mr. Pirate was almost 22!!!!!❤❤❤ Sweet boy has had a glorious life!!

[@AnnaKhKem]

13:13 - That was a real tear-jerker! It hit me hard! 😅

[@roccobot]

That cat looks aware he's one of the luckiest cats in the world

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I try to make that true!

[@natlee8947]

Good to see you again Dr. Uri. Always appreciate your great advice.

[@Beryllahawk]

That is SUCH a clever little water fountain. Our two boys have been getting extremely impatient with us humans about the water - the way they knock their water "jug" around, it gets empty quickly (or gets dust or fur in it) - and so they have begun figuring ways to DEMAND that we change the water. Something with a filter like that would be a game changer! Happy Christmas to you and yours!! Thank you for all the wonderful videos

[@DieGrinsekatze]

Aaaw, he is back! 😻🥰

[@mayahamovic1431]

Thank you so much for your videos!! Always very informative!

[@l.a.8709]

I so need this video - 3-thirteen year olds with different health issues and two that are on specific (different) diets 😖

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Glad the timing worked out!

[@rickbear7249]

Hey, Dr Uri, wishing you and everyone on your channel, a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS & fabulous New Year, from Rick in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🎄

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Thank you! Happy holidays to you as well.

[@OomaGooma]

❤you rock! And your cats are beautiful. Thanks for all the info you provide.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Thanks!

[@UN33kWabb1T]

I've always allowed free feeding for my cats but one alleged cat expert here in the USA says to remove the cat's food bowl after 20 minutes. I have 2 boys inside and give each half of a 3 oz can of Royal Canin chicken & gravy with about a dozen pieces of dry kibble. After they finish this off (usually an hour or 2 later) I clean their bowls and if they seem interested, I split a 2nd can between them. I will usually feed them 1 or 2 more times during the day unless they don't seem interested-usually the 4th time is just before I go to bed. They also have a water fountain they can drink from freely which is cleaned twice weekly and change the filters each week. I have a wheat grass planter, so they get some greens in their diet since they never go outdoors. Thank you for the wealth of information you provide for those of us who love our cats! ♥♥

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I think the consensus is that free feeding is optimal as long as you don't have a good reason not to free feed; like a cat who eats themselves into a ball, and even then, feeding a prescription weight control diet will likely allow free feeding.

[@barbaracholak5204]

Missed you, welcome 🤗 Happy Holidays from my house to yours 🎅🎄🤶

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Thanks - happy holidays to you too!

[@SotDaStagan]

Quel plaisir de voir Mr Pirate et Clawdia! Le désavantage avec les distributeurs petlibro, c'est qu'ils ne reconnaissent pas la puce électronique des chats et que ces derniers doivent porter un collier. Beaucoup de chats n'aiment pas ça ou n'ont pas été habitués à en porter un, ce qui fait beaucoup de changement dans leurs habitudes. En Europe, nous avons les distributeurs Surefeed qui lisent les puces électroniques. Leur désavantage toutefois, c'est leur faible contenance et l'apprentissage pour le chat peut être fastidieux

[@glockenrein]

04:39 don’t let that cat whisperer dude hear you. 😂

[@Rainbows-k1w]

That guy also tried to claim that cats who are trained to use buttons like Billi (RIP) don't actually know the meaning of the words they press. I flat out blocked him because his channel from showing on my homepage because he clearly knows nothing.

[@alyssam8550]

​@@Rainbows-k1w yeah I used to like him but he's bizarre. He thinks there is 1 way to do everything and that everything that isn't his way is basically abusive.

[@jh7644]

​@@Rainbows-k1w Well to be honest, cats don't know the meaning of the words. They merely associate the sound with the occurrence of a certain event. Sound X leads to me getting food. Sound Y leads to me being stroked etc. It is pure conditioning, no understanding of human language. You could just as well record melodies or nonsensical sounds on the buttons instead of words, the conditioning would still work just as well.

[@Rainbows-k1w]

@@jh7644 Yes, but he implied that it wasn't even conditioning/was completely random. Obviously a cat doesn't understand the word "food" means "food", but a cat can understand if they press that button they get food.

[@jh7644]

@@Rainbows-k1w Ah, now I understand what you meant. That really is a strange statement.

[@LouiesLog]

That little fountain at the end ❤

[@kiute.c]

My two bonded boys get so confused when they smell another food in the other cat's bowl that they end up whining and not eating 😹 They also don't like to eat too far away from each other (I know this is rare lol). One of them has IBD and must adhere to a strict diet, but thankfully the vet said that it is perfectly fine for the healthy boy to eat the same food. They are biological twins so I hope they can continue eating the same foods throughout their lives. They seem to need to do everything together...even use the litter box one after the other. I love my little bonded weirdos 😻

[@hanbnantheman]

youre awesome dr. uri!!! thank you for another awesome video!! please give clawdia and mr pirate many pets for me!!

[@alyssam8550]

This has been such a problem for my cats, and I've wanted to get rfid bowls for them so badly but they're so expensive. We have 5 kitties who all come from pretty intense backgrounds. Our 5 cats are on 4 different diets, and a couple of them can have no overlap. One needs strictly urinary care diet and having other food causes issues. One is on a gastro diet, and he can have other food but cannot have the urinary food because it constipates him. We have a kitten who eats a mix of kitten and adult food, and two adult cats on regular diet. The two on medical diets are overweight and nearly 8. This has been a bit of a nightmare to keep up with. They hate being on a feeding schedule and it is so unsustainable with our crazy work schedules and everything. Ugh. But we love these kitties so much and we'll do whatever it takes for them.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I hear you - it’s a challenge!

[@aidinia]

We have 2 cats, one will eat everything he can get access to, and the other will eat 3 bites and go away, come back in 5 mins to eat another 3 bites. I would love to leave them food accessible all day, but we ended up giving them dry food in the morning and wet/pate food in the evening, so we can control how much they eat, mostly the first one that will totally go and check his sister plate when he finishes his.

[@MajiMarji]

Is her name spelled Clawdia? My childhood kitty looked a lot like her but he had a tuxedo on.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Yes!

[@Kleyguerth]

05:34 In my case it is exactly the opposite... My orange cat is underweight while my other two non-orange cats are overweight!

[@eggrat6]

We got an older petlibro model that was on clearance for our cats after months of struggling to feed them separate diets. One of them is a grazer who really struggled with set mealtimes. The microchip feeders have been the only real solution. Worth it, though very expensive even on clearance.

[@lifeisgood3995]

I adopted my third cat who was, unknowingly to me, a sick kitten. The vet has her on a special food/diet. The only solution that I’ve found that works is to feed her in a different room.

[@AgnoTek]

I use the Surefeed Feeders for my 4 cats. They get their wetfood in it. And the main point is, it works with the cats' own chip, no need for this extra RFID Chip

[@smulroy]

I have the Surefeed Microchip Pet Feeders for my two cats. Bought them years ago because my orange tabby eats all wet and my tuxedo eats all the treats. Now I need to give my orange guy kidney diet food and the feeders continue to rock. Best ever investment. Pricey, but worth it!

[@bepriceless]

Thanks Dr. Uri. My fatty cat is a master thief of stealing everybody else's food. I think he would probably know how to steal from an IFRD feeder.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Every tool has its limitations 😅

[@nevar23]

I love the idea of that feeder for my senior boy, but my younger cat will eat anything, including senior boy's renal diet kibble. She's a rescue and after 2 years of indoor life she'll still nudge him out of the way if she gets a chance to go for his bowl.

[@sirenknight8007]

Great video and ideas - pretty kitties. 16:27 speaking of fiddly parts, that fountain spout looks modified from the Petlibro I used to have, the problem was it has another small hole in it that you literally could not clean. I’m hoping the newer versions are better, and that one does look better, as my experience with the PetLibro company was really fantastic, the two I tried just didn’t work for me. My cats drink a lot of water (one is a large breed) and they sometimes play in it, so it needed to be cleaned often and they dirtied the filters quickly by dropping kibble in the water bowl on purpose (no way to accidentally do this as consistently as they did). 😂 I Love the idea of the dispensary style feeders, it would be nice if the kids had food available all throughout the day, but just less of it since bored chonk does bored things. I don’t want to do diet food, my smol boi was too thin when we adopted him, made me sad. No sad cats in my house. 😊

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I find that the little pipe cleaners the Petlibro fountain comes with work well for cleaning the models I have. I'll also fill it up with hot water and dish soap and run it for a few minutes once a month to clear any biofilms. Just make sure you run at least 2-3 volumes of clean, warm water after to clear the soap! Takes 15 min and gives me peace of mind re: clean water supply.

[@aeriana99]

I have an EPI cat who needs to have select protein diet mixed with pancreatic enzyme, and prefers to graze throughout thr day. I also have a lil chonker who is absolutely obsessed with food but needs to lose some weight. For the last couple of years, I just feed them multiple times a day with me present to ensure that each cat is eating only what they are supposed to eat, but it's like a part-time job if not full-time. I just got the SureFeed microchip feeder (arrived yesterday!) for my EPI cat, because none of my cats will tolerate wearing a collar. 😩 Still in training mode to get my EPI cat used to the feeder opening and closing, but it's showing promise!

[@WintaAssefa]

I love Claudia way too much.

[@josephgblea6595]

Awwwwww...... Mr.P!

[@yowaikemen]

Clawdia

[@nadinebruning5012]

She is so beautiful and sweet :3

[@Valdagast]

I wonder what happened to my aunt's cat. He just slowly stopped eating. He was old, but all his values were normal. At the end he weighed just over 2 kg.

[@TheBontekraai]

i can imagine they stop eating when they know their end is near. but i am not a vet.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Probably cancer but could have been a number of things. Bloodwork is just one tool for assessing a patient, and some diseases do not result in obvious changes.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Cats don't 'stop eating when they know it's the end'. Every animal wants to live and won't just give up for philosophical reasons! Inapetance is a very common clinical sign of a multitude of diseases though.

[@Valdagast]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet He would meow for food but he wouldn't eat. He was the nicest cat. He would go up to people and meow at them until they petted him. Everyone knew Caesar, he was the neighborhood greeter.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Awwww!

[@tristanmills4948]

We lucked out that our special diet cat will only eat his own food so he has a big plastic tub with a microchip cat flap in it so he can come and go as he pleases.

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

My solution to one kitty being on urinary diet and one kitty not needing it is to feed them food they like so much the bowls always come back clean; then I don't gotta worry about theft. And to accomplish this, I stopped feeding kibble and went all wet food supplamented with freeze dried meat that I rehydrate in hot water before mixing it into their bowls. Got a rotation of salmon, whitefish, chicken breast, chicken heart, and minnows. Since both kitties get regular varity, they're less interested in robbing one another's bowls. Bonus points, urinary diet kitty is A BIG OLD BOY. Edging up on 14 pounds and I can see his muscles thru his fur. Never thought I'd describe a cat as having a swimmer bod but that is legit how he's built. And then you have his unrestricted sister. She weighs 8 pounds. *Barely.* But SHE'S the food motivated one! The big boy is a velcro cat, most motivated by getting butt pats or scritches around the back of his jaw up to his ears. They're so different from one another and I Love Them Both

[@QMulative]

Got a video of her meows?

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I think it's in the background of many other vids! 🤣

[@CaptainWolffi]

My problem is that both my boys can eat the same food but the little guy inhales his food and the old boy wants to take time and enjoy his food. Pretty sure the little one can just push his head into the feeder while the old one is eating

[@marymayer4875]

Lol, how old is 'young' Cawdia now? Just for fun, mine are 16, 11 and maybe 6. Last was a stray.

[@bethk980]

I tend not to agree with a lower protein diet. Two of my cats were placed on a low protein diet and had severe muscle wasting and weight loss.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Cats should never be on a low protein diet EXCEPT when they are in IRIS stage III or IV renal failure, when a moderate protein restriction is appropriate. You should only be feeding them a prescription advanced kidney disease diet at that point, which will have appropriate protein levels. Hope that clarifies things.

[@jimmyst44]

Soooo what do you do, if your cats frequently go outside, wearing that collar... and loses that collar? Or if it is not very easily released, how safe is it really?