Eating each others' food

I've had an only cat for a year and a half, and adopted another kitty about a month ago. We'd kept them separated until recently, and now the new kitty has free run of the house while we're at home. So now I'm suddenly faced with the dilemma of how to stop them from eating each others' food. Both cats love to eat, and are not picky at all.

We feed each cat 1/2 3oz can in the morning and evening, and measure out a little bit of dry food that we leave out all day. When eating the canned food, our older kitty has a habit of eating half of it, then leaving the room to spend some time cleaning herself and maybe taking a bathroom break before coming back to finish. While she's away, the little one runs over and starts eating her food.

I also have two concerns with the dry food - one is that the new kitty is 3mos old and will be on kitten food for quite a while yet, but the other cat is 2yrs and on indoor adult. The other concern is that we measure the portions exactly for the older cat so she doesn't start to get overweight - but if there is other food available, she'll certainly eat that too.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with it? What's the difference between kitten and adult food, and is it a problem if they each get some of the other's?

I solved that problem by simply mixing the adult and kitten dry kibble together.

It's ok for an adult to get kitten food as long as that's not all they are eating and vice-versa.

And kittens need to eat as much as they can stuff their faces with without getting ill from overeating, so I don't think it's a problem if kitten eats adult wet food. Better adult than none at all!

Originally Posted by GingersMom

I solved that problem by simply mixing the adult and kitten dry kibble together.

It's ok for an adult to get kitten food as long as that's not all they are eating and vice-versa.

And kittens need to eat as much as they can stuff their faces with without getting ill from overeating, so I don't think it's a problem if kitten eats adult wet food. Better adult than none at all!

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That's exactly what I have done in the past! Just mix equal parts of each together, that way they both win whichever way they eat. None of my adult cats ever had any ill-effects from eating kitten food. And I wouldn't be too strict on setting limits for how much your new kitten eats because it is constantly growing and needs that food. Just make sure that your new kitty "paces herself" lol so she doesn't get sick. I have tried to keep my senior cat eating only her senior food, but I have pretty much given up on keeping them at their designated food dishes only. In the end they all end up eating each other's food anyhoo, so I don't sweat over it anymore.