I may have mentioned my diabetic princess (or not, unable to remember) and we have a problem here in ILCland–her brothers eat her special food and she nibbles their regular food. It is driving MRILC and me nuts. We have to do timed feedings and the boys do not cooperate and she would eat until the she exploded if we let her.
My point is there was an ad in a thread afew months ago that was for a cratedoor with catflap just for just this situation-the need for separate feedings w/o separate rooms-just multiple crates and collar tags to allow entrance. Does anyone else rember this, did anyone buy the product, or did I dream it?
I don’t remember it but I feed all three of my cats separately because of my chubby tabby’s tendency to overeat and vomit (and she has lost a little weight and has stopped puking since I started doing it this way) - any reason why feeding in separate rooms is not an option? They only complained a few days; maybe a week, until they got used to the new routine.
The major rooms in my house do not have doors, the rooms that do have doors the cats will not stay in w/o going nuts and it would add another layer of complication to my morning that cannot be absorbed-we tried it already it really does not work. The concept is a crate(door-can be purchased separately) with catflap with a selector system that allows free feeding but keeps selected critters away.
This might be a silly question, but is the “special” food for your diabetic cat not suitable for your other cats? Have you discussed with your vet the possibility of feeding one type of food for all three (maybe another type you aren’t currently buying)? My understanding of a diabetic diet (at least for humans) is actually that it would be very healthy for everyone to eat like that.
As for what you described…
http://www.smarthome.com/6191c.html
http://www.smarthome.com/6106.html
http://www.futurepets.com/Automatic_Pet_Door.htm
Perhaps one of those would suit your needs. When we got a regular animal-flap into the screen door at my parents house, neither one of the cats, and only the neighbours’ dog were willing to use it. No amount of convincing would get those cats to push the flap open; I don’t think I’d buy one per cat until I knew if they would go through the flap in the first place.