Lucy the Kitten and Steve the Cat

I adopted a (now) 5 month old beautiful orange girl named Lucy a month ago and she has settled really well with my roommate's resident cat, Steve. Steve is 3x the weight of Lucy and could probably eat her in two bites, but instead, they are good friends. In fact, when I first adopted Lucy, she was very sick and was in the emergency animal hospital within 3 days of being adopted...when I took her home and she was sleeping 23 hrs a day, recovering, Steve would come by and groom her and snuggle her.

Anyway. Lucy now has a clean bill of health and she plays all day with Steve. I'm having a bit of trouble with their food/feeding. Steve originally had dry food out all day, but I know that Lucy needs the fattier kitten food and Steve definitely doesn't. So first we put Steve's food up high and fed Lucy at scheduled times. Lucy's getting bigger now (and more daring) and can pretty much reach any height in the house. She absolutely LOVES Steve's adult food. And Steve loves Lucy's kitten food just as much, although he's pretty good at eating just his own. We tried feeding them both at scheduled times, separately, but they both just go to the door and meow at each other--and don't eat. Wet food is different, Lucy will just gobble it up and doesn't care about Steve's food, while Steve will eat it for about 5mins and then walk away from it.

So basically, it's only working that we feed them at the same time, next to each other. I've tried being sneaky and switching bowls, but they're obviously too smart for me. I also tried putting their correct foods in their bowls with a layer of the desired food on top, but they've figured me out. So I gave up. I started feeding them both the adult dry food, mixing in a little of the kitten food in...and then sticking with the kitten canned food for Lucy and adult canned food for Steve. The dry food is Iams adult and Science Diet Kitten. The wet food is both Iams. Their feeding goes like this:

--Morning, 1 cup of adult food in one bowl, 1/2 cup of adult/kitten food mixed in another (surprisingly, they keep to separate bowls). It's left out all day.
--Evening, Lucy gets 1/2 can of wet kitten food and Steve gets a few spoonfuls (as he doesn't eat as much wet food as Lucy does).

I wonder if this arrangement is okay? I just want Lucy to get the proper nutrition and Steve to not put on the pounds.

Also, for the last few days, it seems like Lucy has (ew) diarrhea. Could this be from eating the adult food?

Lucy weighs 4 lbs and Steve is about 13 (not fat, but humongous in size). I apologize for the long book of descriptions and questions. But if anyone could shed some light on my confusion, I'd be forever grateful! Thank you in advance,
Tina

What food are you feeding? You may be able to switch them both (slowly, to avoid the stomach upset) to an all-stages food to ensure that both get proper nutrition. Or, you could feed them separately (i.e. in separate rooms/areas).

Kitten dry food: Science Diet
Adult dry food: Iams
Kitten and Adult canned: Iams

I've tried to feed them in separate rooms, but they throw a fit and protest by sitting next to the door (one on each side, it's kind of cute).

I could try a complete nutrition brand, I'm just concerned that it's not enough for the kitten....

On the concern about soft poo--how long have you been feeding wet, and did you just out of the blue add wet to the diet or alittle amount at a time?

I decided about 2 weeks ago to have scheduled feedings (we got a 2nd cat and I was uncomfortable not knowing who was eating how much. I also added a wet meal to the diet. The first week was realy rough in the poo dept because I never thought to slowly add it. Now that they have had some time to adjust our poo is solid!

On how to feed separately. be persistent and consistent. They will learn to eat if they realize the only way the get the food is to eat it in designated areas at the designated time.

When I put out wet in the evening I leave it for no more than 45 minutes and when I put out dry in the morning they get 45 mins to an hour to eat and then I take their food bowls. In two weeks they quickly learned, eat now or don't eat.

Leslie

Hi Leslie---

I kind of all of a sudden added wet food about 2 weeks ago (I read that it's much better than dry, but now I read the opposite so I'm not so sure), but I started off small and then gave her more.

As far as separating them...the wet food really has been no problem. About 10 minutes ago, they each sat on one side of me and I held their bowls for them and they ate (It's quite obvious that the kitties run my life...but that's okay). But giving them the time to eat the dry food separately and then taking it away scares me...I don't want to starve them! It's really cute when I am standing by their bowls and they sit pretty and meow up to me. When I become a mother, I am going to have the hardest time saying no to my child....

I was worried about starving them too with the dry food being taken away. But they have learned that they eat when the food comes or they have to wait for another meal. In 45 minutes all the dry is eaten, and they do just fine until wet food in the evening. I do give about 1/8 of a cup of dry in each bowl at night, otherwise I'd have cats on my bed at 4AM demanding they eat.

Leslie