Is it ok to feed kitten food to my senior cats?

My cats are 12 1/2 and 8 1/2. The younger one is over weight and has been on a wet only diet for about a year now, well, they both are eating the same food.

I was feeding Wellness grain free flavours until their price went through the roof. Then we switched to EVO 95% meat. Then we moved. Now we are not able to get the EVO food anymore. I was stuck feeding the cats Go! Grain free kibble for about a month until I found some canned food again. I think that Frodo put all the weight that he had lost back on in that month! He was getting the same amount of calories in the kibble that he was getting in the canned but still he put the weight on. I don't really understand what is going on with him with that. I asked my vet about blood tests at his last check up and she said that he was just chubby and it would be a waste of money to do blood work ??? At least she was honest!

Anyway, now I am feeding Chicken Soup. The cats like it, which is a big bonus, but the adult formula is a little low in calories for their needs. The kitten formula has closer to the amount of calories I would like in a can - about 220. The cats get 2 cans a day between them. I need a food that has about that much per can because I cannot get them to eat more than this amount of food. Some days they don't even eat that much. The adult formula has 187 cal/can and the kitten formula has 210 cal/can. If I go with another food that doesn't have as many calories I can't be sure that Frodo will lose weight at the right rate. Also, my 12 1/2 year old cat may lose weight and she has always been thin so she can't afford to lose weight.

What do you think? Is it ok to feed them the kitten food?

I only like feeding kitten food to either kittens (up to 4-5 months old) or to nursing/pregnant queens. You have to be careful with seniors and the amount of protein they get.

I'd talk to your vet about if kitten food (with higher calories) is ok for the senior to be eating.

Do they like treats? Perhaps you can supplement their calories with some treats as well. As far as long term goes you really do need to talk to a vet about something like that.

My cats do like treats but not the ones that are healthy. I don't think it is a good idea to suppliment their food with unhealthy treats. I have freeze dried chicken and beef liver that Frodo likes but Blue will not touch them. They are not too bad since it is only beef liver or chicken breast meat and they are not from China.

I just called the pet food store and they also have Nature's Variety Prairie Chicken formula which has 190 cal. It is adult formula. They also have Go! canned food which has 212 cal. I will get a few cans of each to try next time we get cat food. The store is 2 hours away so I usually get a month or so of food at a time so I won't be getting some for a while yet. I will cross my fingers that they will like one of them.