Adult cat eating the kitten's food.

Any tips on what to do? They have their own bowls in different spots, but Cassie (2 1/2) keeps eating the kitten's food. I take her from it and put her in front of her bowl, but she won't eat her food.

A few options...

If Cassie doesn't have any special dietary needs and isn't overweight, then I would just let her eat the kitten food. That's the easiest one, if it's appropriate for your situation.

Or, if the kitten is still fairly small you can set up a box or a rubbermaid tub with a kitten sized hole in it, so Cassie won't be able to access the food.

Or, you can feed them at specified times with supervision.

Or, you could put them both on a food designated for "all life stages". Quite a few foods fit the bill.

Hmmm there's probably a few more options. Those are what came to my mind first. I hope it helps.

what food are you feeding the kitten>>>?? is it a different brand than the adult??

My three yr old eats kitten still since she is technically still growing and the adults didnt work as well for her

Most cats gain too much weight on a steady diet of kitten foods. How old is the kitten?

geez, i wouldnt worry about it. If I was in the same situation I would just feed kitten.

Your older cat is being greedy as all cats should be.
She either likes the taste of higher protein kibble or she likes the smaller size.

I gave Nutro Kitten to my bengal because i knew she had a high metabolism by the ammount she ate.

I stopped feeding her Nutro recently (after 5 years as a loyal customer) and switched her to Innova. I dont think they have a kitten line but I can tell you the kibble is small and if you mix the Innova EVO line with their standard line you will net a higher protein (standard is 30%, EVO is 50%).

Also get your kitten and full grown to get used to switching foods. You can easily do this by mixing. For a long time I mixed Nutro Max and Natural Choise. I also mixed a Nutro dry with Buffalo, and later with Royal Canin.
Mixing is also good to guarantee nutrition.

Thanks everyone. Cassie eats Purina Cat Chow and Sally Purina Kitten Chow. Cassie refuses to eat her regular food now and will only eat the kitten's. Cassie is 2 1/2 and Sally is 9 weeks.

I had the same problem when I got my kitten! My fatty 5 year old male kept going for her kltten food. He was on Nutro weight management at the time (I noticed he gained probably 4 pounds over the year he had been on that formula)... I ended up putting them on a shared formula (cats and kittens) of Felidae Wet (which they are no longer on, due to stomach issues in combination with the dry I converted them to) and now they are on EVO (just evo till they are fully adjusted and ready for wets again)! It works out that they are on the same formula (this is possible since my kitten is almost 10 months... She is a little older)! That is something you could check into but it is usually recommended that kittens are on kitten formulas for the first year, since mine is pretty close to one year I started her on regular a little early! Also when I had this problem Sharky told me that my fatty could eat the kitten food (of course in moderation with proper portions)... So I let him have at it with no issues what-so-ever and no extra weight gain (but this was only short term)! Best of luck!

PS... I wouldn't feed my cats purina, I would place them on a high quality diet!

What is wrong with Purina? I'm sorry, but your PS, kind of makes me feel like since I don't give my cats the most expensive food that I don't care for them as much.

Ok first off you shouldn't take such a strong offense. Purina isn't a high quality food... I used to feed my cat Purina until I searched further into the matter! I never said anything about you not carrying about your cats so please don't insinuate that is what I said (I hate that)... I'll leave some ingredients for you....

Here is the adult formula ingredients:

Poultry by-product meal (by-product is never a good thing especially when it is the first ingredient)
Corn meal
Corn gluten meal

Im only going to list three of the above formula because the first ingredients themselves are not of much nutritious value nor beneficial to the cat!

Here is the kitten formula:

Poultry by-product meal (there is that by-product again)
Brewers rice
Corn Glueten Meal (once again)!

I didn't judge you for your choice in nutrition I simply stated the Purina products are commercial grocery store brands and that there are better options for your kitty, I stated my opinion I never said you didn't care about your cats !

You are able to feed your babies whatever you like I was just sharing information that may be of interest for you to research!

Originally Posted by crazykitties

What is wrong with Purina? I'm sorry, but your PS, kind of makes me feel like since I don't give my cats the most expensive food that I don't care for them as much.

Click to expand...

I don't think Trixie meant to make you feel bad, she's just passionate about cat food, like a lot of us are.

The ingredients in Cat Chow just aren't very good. The first five are:

Poultry by product meal - "by products" can be nearly anything, like heads, feet, intestines, etc. And I don't like to see just "poultry", as that means they can't tell me if it's chicken, turkey, etc. I like to see a "named" meat source, not a vague mystery item.

The next five ingredients are corn meal, corn gluten meal, ground whole wheat, and brewer's rice, then soy flour. These are not appropriate for a carnivore, and together they outweight the by product meal listed first. In some foods there are legitimate reasons for the presence of corn, but there's no need for that much, plus the soy, wheat, etc. Brewer's rice is basically broken shards of rice left over from the milling process. Real rice would be better, but a cat still has little use for rice.

EDIT...

There are some good foods available for reasonable money. You may find that your cats eat less of a better food...I definitely noticed a difference when I got away from cat chow.

Thanks for that information! I guess I did not do my research good enough. I will look into other foods for them. I'm sorry that I thought you were insinuating that I didn't care for my cats, I get very touchy about them.

That's ok I do too. Don't worry just didn't want you mad at me and thinking I was a high maintenance food snob! You will learn alot of good tips in our Health & Nutrition forums! Also check out The Cat Site articles! Have fun in your search and deciding which food you will go with in the long run! You don't have to spend massive amounts of dollars to provide kitties with a nice balanced meal!

Granted the food I buy is expenisve but It's worth it to me!

Some foods to consider:
Nutro Natural Choice
Evo (expensive)
Wellness (expensive)
Innova
California Natural
... Check out the forums there is alot out there!

Granted the food I buy is expenisve but It's worth it to me!

Some foods to consider:
Nutro Natural Choice
Evo (expensive)
Wellness (expensive)
Innova
California Natural
... Check out the forums there is alot out there!

Thank you Trixie...

If you need more budget friendly ie around a 1$ a lb

Max by Nutro

Chicken soup

Solid gold

Sensible choice

Premium edge

LOL I am passionate about the kitties food now! I make sure they eat better than me! For some reason I am facsinated by all the good and not so good options out there, researching it keeps me busy during work and I find it fun...Yep I am officially a food dork It's all Sharky and Beandips fault... Just teasin