Conference misery::feline_v1

    I don't know if this will work in all multi-cat families, but I'll
    tell you how I feed my four cats and generally avoid conflicts:
    everybody has a separate dish, put down in a separate corner of
    the room.  In the beginning I had to use the plant sprayer to
    discourage raids on the others' dishes but now they are pretty good
    about only eating from their dish.  This lets me give them different
    amounts of food according to their size and activity level, and
    give individual medication as well.  I'm sure the hungriest one
    steals leftovers anyway, I can't deny that I do find the 'wrong
    cat' at the 'wrong dish'.  At least they start out at the 'right
    dish' and get their fair share -- even my timid littlest one.  I
    have found that my cats try very hard to maintain their individuality
    and really seem to prefer having their very own dish; of course
    I also have to feed them in a specific order or all h__l breaks
    loose!  They are very set in their ways and in this instance it
    works to my advantage.  In the beginning you'll have to stand guard
    and apply discipline until they get the idea, as I said a plant
    sprayer worked well for me.  Good luck!

    No manner of aversion will deter KIWI from eating any and 
    all food he can get at.  When he hit 14 pounds we realized 
    a change was in order.  Not only did we put Kiwi on a diet
    (Hill's R/D), but we fed him separately in another room.
    We continue to feed Kiwi in a separate room and he doesn't
    get let out until the other 2 cats are done eating.  If you
    don't want to stand guard every night as you say, then this
    may be your only solution.  Actually, it's not too much of a 
    hassle to do this.
    
    Donna
    

    I don't have enough rooms! Other than one bedroom (and I can just
    *see* my son's reaction if I suggested feeding a cat in his room!)
    the only downstairs places with doors on them are the bathroom which 
    can't be locked from the outside (it has a latch not a handle) and the 
    top of the cellar stairs. I lock the dogs outside while I feed the
    cats to keep *them* out of the cat food.

    We had this problem with our two, Sura used to eat his dinner really
    fast then start on Kimi's. We have a cat cage we use for visits
    to the vet, cat shows etc, so we started feeding Kimi in the cage.
    You'd need more than one cage with five cats (maybe four cages?)
    but you could probably use at least 2 cages for general transport
    etc. Kimi usually jumps into his cage at dinner time as a hint that
    he ought to be fed (subtle isn't he?). Maybe you could isolate the
    chronic food stealers in cages (the reverse of what we do).
    

    Our two little terrors , Sooty & Sweep , get through about 12oz
    of tinned food per day each plus a handful of munchies for good
    measure . They weigh in at about 9lbs each and are 1 yaer old
    (is this a normal age/weight ratio??)
    One thing that i find curious is that don't appear to drink much
     unless they are doing that when they are out , and couldn't
    care less about milk . Any comments ???
    
    regards  DC
    

    A downstairs bedroom is exactly where we feed KIWI.
    They don't take too long to eat so maybe your son
    wouldn't mind too much volunteering his room twice
    a day for 10 minutes or so.  Doesn't seem like too
    much to ask.  You don't necessarily have to split
    the 5 up into separate areas.  You could just se-
    parate the aggressive eaters from the non-aggressive
    ones.
    
    re .5  Maybe because 1 year old is still a growing
    stage for cats, but 12 oz. is a lot!  As long as
    they're not overweight, and 9lbs isn't overweight
    for an average size cat.   My adult cats get approx.
    4oz of wet food and 1/8 cup of dry food per day.
    They weigh in at 6, 9, and 12 lbs.
    
    Donna

    RE: .5
    
    12 oz seems like a lot for a 9 lb cat; have they been checked for
    tape worms??
    
    Deb
    

    	We have 6 cats that we have to separate for their food.  
    
    	Merry was up to 20 lbs at one point.  (Not all fat.  He's a
    BIG cat.  His "normal" weight should be around 15 lb.)  We had him
    one room with his restricted food.  Two FUS cats with their CD in
    another and the remaining 3 in the kitchen with their Science Diet.
    They quickly learned where to go for their food.  Two of the rooms
    we used to feed in are bedrooms.  There really is no mess.  And
    just a few minutes of keeping the door closed.
    
    	Nowadays, we feed 3 in one room and 3 in the kitchen.  The 3
    that eat in the bedroom, come running and the ones that eat in the
    kitchen stay there until I get back to give them their food.  ALthough
    agression was not the cause of our seperate feedings, we did have
    a competition problem.  Merry would bolt his food and throw it up
    a few minutes later.  Now that he only has to compete with 2 other
    cats instead of 5, he hardly ever throws up.
                                                              
    tlh
    

    We now only have four cats to feed at once, but we still seperate
    them at mealtime.  Monroe is at the bottom of the pecking order
    so he eats by himself in the front bathroom.  Jesse and Winston
    eat together in the master bathroom(all three of them get C/D for
    FUS).  Jouissance has to eat by herself in the cat room because
    she is so tiny (13 weeks) and easily distracted from her dinner.
    The others would play "hey Jou Jou... look at this neat toy", and
    then when she started playing they would gobble up her kitten food.
    The only cat that doesn't like this arrangement is Jou Jou, she
    is a social kind of cat and doesn't like being by herself even if
    it is for her own good.
    
    Jo Ann

    We seem to have solved our feeding problems. I bought more dishes
    so that no two cats share even a double bowl. We also have made
    liberal use of a spray bottle to keep them off the table until
    the food has been served.