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Puzzle feeder. Kibble goes inside a slotted ball (of some kind), ball gets swatted about, kibble or treats fall out. Excersize and dinner ! You may need to put up with excessive meowing until they figure things out.
There are timed release feeders on amazon which have adjustable portion sizes and number of feeding times. Our tabby is known to sit in front of the feeder waiting for kibble to drop when he's hungry.
It sounds to me like you're doing fine. If you keep the cats occupied and active and don't overfeed them, they'll lose some weight. They sell freeze-dried chicken and fish bits for treats, too.
I want to note that it's important that cats lose weight SLOWLY. It's dangerous for them to lose weight too quickly. If you are able, I'd suggest either taking them to the vets for a regular weigh in, or investing in a digital postal scale.
You want them to lose just ounces per week and it's nearly impossible to measure that with a human scale.
I'd second the suggestion of using freeze-dried meat items as treats. A good independent pet store will have everything from chicken hearts (a favorite at our house) to beef lung. Bonus: they are chewy and take some time to eat.
I have a fat cat 6 yr old male. He hunts. He doesn't eat a lot more than the other 2. His Dad is huge too, American Pixie Bobtail, Mom is a Tortoise shell. He's got to be over 20 lbs. I'm using Iams weight control and 1/3 about 1 tbs of canned once a day.
I'm aware they have to lose slowly. Will a postal scale weigh over 20 lbs?
One of the most important things to do, when helping an obese cat reduce is get rid of the kibble.
Kibble is empty calories, high carbohydrates (which cats don't need and cannot process) and dehydrating. And no cat ever got healthy on a "weight management" kibble, because those are generally even higher in carbs than other kibble.
Having said that to address the OP: Obese cats of unknown health status really should have a check up and lab work first to make sure they don't already have diabetes or other diseases that obesity can cause.
Also, as someone else mentioned, it is extremely important that the cat lose weight very slowly.No more than an ounce a week, or less. I recommend purchasing a baby scale and weighing weekly or every two weeks.
Feed small meals frequently. Add a little water to the meals. Feed canned pate products that are low in carbs. Fancy Feast classic is one. Depending on the weight of each cat, I would recommend you start with 6 ounces a day, per cat, split between four meals.
The division in time does not need to be even. They can still get their overnight fast (to help with motility and pyloric emptying) and the four meals can be fed during the day, at scheduling that is convenient to your day. Last meal at bedtime. Play some interactive Games with them first. Get them running and jumping and climbing.
First meal at breakfast, but don't feed as soon as you get up. Let them wait a little. Encourage a Game before you feed them.
Even if they don't seem much interested in playing yet, as they lose and start to feel better (both from the weight loss and getting rid of the kibble) they will start to be more intersted in playing.
Weight the cats on the day you start. Weigh them again in one week. If no weight loss, don't make any changes yet, wait a week and weigh again. If no loss again cut back a very small amount from the 6 ounce total. And proceed this way.
If there is weight loss already, and it is one ounce or less, continue with the 6 ounces and monitor. If the cat has lost more than an ounce, on 6 ounces a day, it's happening too fast, so increase the amount of food by an ounce.
Adding a little water helps slow the cat down from gobbling the food, and helps them feel fuller, and keeps them well hydrated.
The benefits of feeding more meals a day, is to keep the cat from getting too hungry, and to keep the cat from having sugar lows (which are caused by carbs in the diet) and to allow more flexibility, as you cut down on their quantity. Reducing each meal by a little bit, when you are feeding 4 meals a day, is easier on the cat, then making two meals a day smaller.
I recommend keeping a journal record. Weigh at the same time, in the same place, every week. Make not when you weigh, if the cat has recently peed or not. pee is heavy and can affect the accurate weight tracking.
I have a fat cat 6 yr old male. He hunts. He doesn't eat a lot more than the other 2. His Dad is huge too, American Pixie Bobtail, Mom is a Tortoise shell. He's got to be over 20 lbs. I'm using Iams weight control and 1/3 about 1 tbs of canned once a day.
I'm aware they have to lose slowly. Will a postal scale weigh over 20 lbs?
Use a baby scale.
And you've got to get rid of the kibble and feed him a decent low carb wet diet. See my post above.
Iams weight control kibble, see below ingredient list. What I have bolded is filler and junk. Look at all the corn. That's called ingredient splitting. They split up all the kinds of corn they use, because if they lumped in one "corn" it would be the first ingredient in the product.
And ingredients are listed by weight BEFORE processing.
That chicken is not really the first ingredient, it falls way down on the list when the water is removed from it.
The cellulose is made from tree roots (usually pine) and is a bulk forming fiber, to "make the cat feel full". It doesn't work and the cat is getting almost no nutrition from this product, and will always be hungry and have high and low sugar crashes.. This product is 45% carbs DMB. Considering cats do not need any carbs at all, not to mention the lack of moisture, and lack of real meat protein (cats will not derive any benefit from the grain protein)you can imagine what this is doing to your cat.
High carb dry kibble does not satisfy a cat. Carbs do not play any role in cat nutrition or health. Cats are strict obligate carnivores. They need a meat based died with high moisture. Protein from MEAT, and moderate fat from MEAT, is what satisfies a cat and helps him feel satiated and energetic.
Well, cats don't need carbs at all, but I admit that is unrealistic when feeding commercially processed products.
Try to keep it under 10% DMB. I posted a link to a chart you can use.
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Kibble goes inside a slotted ball (of some kind), ball gets swatted about, kibble or treats fall out. Excersize and dinner ! You may need to put up with excessive meowing until they figure things out.
