Hi all,

I’ve got a minor issue with feeding my cats. There’s two of them: Ovie, my 5yo female and Olaf, my 4yo male. They’re good together, play along and chill with each other. All good, until it comes to feeding time.

Ovie, the female, like to take her time eating and usually spreads it out over the course of 30-60 minutes. Olaf, the male, on the other hand, likes to get it all down as fast as possible. He even has a bowl designed to slow down his eating because he’ll throw it all up if he doesn’t.

I’m feeding them in separate rooms (they both have access to water and a litter box) and I keep the door to Ovie’s room closed until she’s done eating. Otherwise Olaf will go straight to Ovie’s bowl and basically inhale all of her food.

The issue is that mainly Ovie doesn’t like being kept in the room and will often not fully eat her food until she’s been allowed out, after which she’ll come back in, eat a bit, go back out, come back, eat some more etc. Like a couple of kibbles at a time.

The problem comes in when I have to leave shortly after feeding time. I don’t want to leave Ovie locked in one room, but If I’m not there to keep Olaf away from the food, he’ll just eat it as soon as he has the opportunity. That means Ovie either has to be unhappy but fed, or free but hungry when I’m not there for the hour after feeding.

Tldr: cat eats other cat’s food if I’m not there, gotta keep them separated while feeding, have to leave other cat either locked in a room or hungry when I’m not there to supervise.

Has anyone else had a similar problem and if so, what helped? Any advice is appreciated.