Stop cats stealing each other's food

Microchip feeders are one of the most genuinely useful innovations for multi-cat households — they make sure each cat only accesses their own food, which is a game-changer when you have cats with different calorie needs or one who'd happily hoover up everyone's breakfast given half a chance. So tell me a bit more: how many cats do you have, are they all microchipped, and what's driving the worry about weight — is one of them already a bit of a glutton, or are you just keen to stay ahead of it while they're all still a healthy size?

That's exactly the situation microchip feeders were made for — and honestly you're smart to act now before habits are set. A greedy cat who learns they can't steal from their sibling tends to stop trying quite quickly. Can I ask: are you looking to cover all three cats' bowls, or would you start with just protecting your slow eater first?

Perfect approach. In that case I'd go with the SureFlap SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. It reads each cat's existing microchip — no tags or collars needed — and the lid closes the moment a registered cat walks away, so no sneaking in from the others. The bowl itself is quite shallow and wide which suits most cats well, and the programming is straightforward: you just hold the cat near the feeder once and it stores their chip. For your slow eater specifically, it means she can graze in peace without you needing to supervise mealtimes. When you're ready to expand to all three, you buy a separate unit per cat — each feeder only stores one or two chips, so each cat gets their own. It's not cheap, but it's a one-time buy that solves the problem properly.

Yes to both. The bowl is stainless steel and pops out for washing — dishwasher safe too. It handles wet food fine; the lid creates a decent seal so it also keeps food fresher between meals, which is a nice bonus if your cats are grazers rather than meal-fed. The only thing to know is the unit itself is battery-powered (four AA batteries), so it's not tied to a socket — you can put it anywhere, which gives you flexibility with placement if your cats need distance between their stations.

Great call. One SureFeed feeder for her will immediately take the pressure off at mealtimes, and once you see how the greedy two react you can decide whether to roll out to all three. Most people find the dynamics shift pretty quickly once stealing becomes impossible — the bold cats tend to lose interest fast. Good luck with it.