muti cat feeding

caramarat

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I am the proud owner of Milly ( a 1yr old tortie) and Molly( a 20wk old dsh) I took them both into my home on the same day (when molly as 7 weeks old). Since they came from different households I thought there would be fights but to my surprise after an hour they became joined at the hip.

The are inseparable and do everything together but my problem is Molly keeps trying to eat Milly's Food. They are currently fed on Hills science plan ( kitten for Molly and adult for Milly) and get a pouch of meat ( same as before) at lunch time for a treat. I have to monitor every feeding time to make sure Molly eats the kitten food.

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem and if so do you have any suggestion to help with this problem?

Thanks.
 

dragulescugirl

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Congrats on the new cats! I just recently added two new kittens to my home and I have two older cats as well. Truth be told, I gave up and just mixed their food together. Since your two new furbabies are still close in age I don't think this will be too much of an issue.
 

followedbydolls

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One option is finding a multi age food product, i have california naturals here it's good for all life stages.

I also have kitten products here and my adult cats are known to nibble on it too, i don't worry about it too much lol

but really i think your best bet is the all stages formulas
 

missymotus

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I always switched mine to adult at 4 months or so when feeding commercial food.
 

momofmany

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I've gotten mine used to eating at their own specific places in the house. I need to do this because some of them are older and I mix their meds into their food so I have to keep them separated. Get them used to doing this and you'll have benefits down the road from doing so.

With as many cats as I have, I do free feed, and give them a dry food that is not really age specific. But I push wet on them more so than the dry, and I separate them at wet feeding times.
 

sakura

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You could feed an all-life-stages food. An inexpensive one that I like is Natural Balance (you can find it at Petco), and it has better ingredients than Science Diet anyway.

The kitten is probably fine eating as much food as it wants (but keep an eye on weight), but the adult should have controlled portions. I'd feed them each 2x a day together, and then feed the kitten an extra 3rd meal in a closed off bedroom.

I have 3 cats and they are just now all adults and can eat the same food, but the problem is that Henry would eat the food for all 3 of them in less than a minute. Henry is fed in a separate bedroom, while Mattie and Chloe are fed together and pretty much stick to their own plates.
 

cesg

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science diet (SD) food is actually pretty low quality, and not in the best interest of your cat's health. SD is usually loaded with carbohydrates, and as an obligate carnivore, your cats have a pretty low nutritional need (some experts say no need) for carbs. Check out http://www.catinfo.org a website run by a vet who actually studies feline nutrition.

Most vets do not study nutrition - human doctors don't either, but they refer you to human nutritionists. Unfortunately most vets simply listen to the pet food companies that sell them product (and make them money) to tell them which foods are best.

I used to listen to the vet. I had a diabetic cat I fed one diet, two cats with urinary issues that I fed another diet and the rest ate regular old dry food. When I learned about feline nutrition (from the website above and from others) I started feeding them all a high protein low carb diet. My diabetic cat had a dramatic improvement in her BG levels. My cats with urinary issues didn't have issues any more, and my other cats all improved physically.

Doing meal feeding will help you notice when your cats go off food.

cats under a year eat a lot more than you think they should. As long as you can still feel their ribs they are of good weight, and let them eat when she wants. At a year your other kitty has basically hit adulthood and will start consuming less

Congratulations on your new additions!
 

ebrillblaiddes

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What about mixing the two cats' foods for a while, then transitioning to adult food? It wouldn't be horrible for a 1-year-old recently-kitten cat to eat a little kitten food, or for a 5-month-old to start transitioning as long as she's healthy (I transitioned my two at around that age, also because I had an older cat).
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

...I do free feed, and give them a dry food that is not really age specific. But I push wet on them more so than the dry, and I separate them at wet feeding times.
This is what I do too - free feed dry, all stage, and feed the wet in different places, as I add Bugsy's meds in it.

To the OP: IMO you can get an all stage food much better in quality for less $$$ than what you are paying for Hills...
 
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