A couple in Hong Kong came up with a creative way to help some of their chubbier feline family members get in shape.
One of them is Meatball!
Meatball & Mochi
Meatball has always been a laid-back and chill cat who doesn't have a care in the world. "He has a sort of a human quality to him and has very human like facial expressions," Daphnie, human mom, told Love Meow.
However when it comes to meal time, Meatball puts aside his charm and immediately turns into a food vacuum, gobbling up whatever that is in his bowl and others too.
But Meatball is not the only one. Pepper, a younger cat also enjoys her food so much that she has begun sneaking munches from other cats.
Meatball & Mochi
In their purr-filled household of four adult cats (Meatball, Mochi, Pepper, Nugget), Meatball is the oldest and the heaviest.
Once he has cleaned up his plate, he dives into his neighbors for good measure.
Meatball & Mochi
Pepper has picked up the same eating habit from Meatball. "Their waistline have progressively disappeared (non existent) and Pepper does a good job of sitting up on her hind legs at times because of her booty," Daphnie said.
That's when Daphnie's husband, Koon Wah, decided that it was time for some intervention. He came up with a brilliant idea.
Meatball & Mochi
"My husband came up with the partition idea which was made out of cardboard," Daphnie told Love Meow.
Since cardboard doesn't last after awhile, Koon has upgraded it using some wood left from another project.
Meatball & Mochi
"We also had some fabric from some sake wine we bought in Japan and I sewed these to the front of each partition. Our friend commented that it reminded them of the Ichiran Ramen restaurant in Japan."
The kitties are pleased with their purrsonal dining area where they can eat in peace.
Meatball & Mochi
The contraption has helped separate the cats during meal time and manage their portion control.
Meatball's weight increase has stopped and now he's working on shedding a couple pounds (now at 6.5 kg or 14 lb).
Meatball & Mochi
Meatball picked this one to be his private dining space.
Meatball & Mochi
The booths are made to fit only one cat.
Nugget gets on the feeder but can't sneak a snack from Meatball's plate.
Meatball & Mochi
Meatball is on his way to a toner bod.
With the creative dining booths, the kitties can enjoy their fair share of food and come out of every meal happy and content.
Meatball & Mochi
Watch how meal time is like in this video:
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