Flashback: wife says Mickey, second-oldest cat, is just fluffy. Vet says fine but he needs to be 25% less fluffy. We attempt tech solution where other cats have collars with fobs that open electric cat dishes for their food. Mickey blockades the electronic cat dishes.

In my experience vets have an unrealistic idea of how feeding works in a multi-cat household

Same for our Hammy, but if we restrict his access to food any more than we already do via a timed feeder he will both 1) keep the household awake all night with his rage and 2) eat every bit of plastic/paper he can find until he's given himself a blockage. Chubby seems like the best option.

Pictured above: Mickey blockading high-tech cat dish, Mittens not giving a shit. This could have escalated Cuban-Missile-Crisis style but we gave up on the tech.

Mickey is an absolute icon.

When we had cats years ago, and one needed to diet, we separated them at feeding time into different rooms.

can only admire both the ingenuity and passive-aggressiveness

Do tech people even know cats?

We solved that problem with Booster (Chonkster, Sir Chonks-a-Lot, Chonkasaurus) by putting the open gravity feeder where 3 of 4 cats can jump to it, and he can't. He gets fed at his own station & we make sure stub-tailed girl doesn't steal it. If he ever makes the jump, he's lost enough weight.

omg I remember this

I respect Mickey and hope he secretly gets extra food tonight for his ingenuity.