Note 1: We're already planning to call the vet's office on Monday just to ask about this as well, but I thought I'd just ask here too as there's a lot of really knowledgeable people here that I'd like advice/answers from, too!
Note 2: This topic has been posted about a lot on this forum, but I'm not seeing anything similar to my situation as far as my cat's ages. I've read dozens of threads, but all the kittens were a good two-three months older than my guy.
Okay, so my girlfriend and I have two cats: Magnus, 5 years old, 14 pounds of pure muscle, and Kermit, 14 weeks old, 3.7 pounds. Both neutered. In the past week, they've really started bonding and they're very close now. We didn't have an issue feeding them separately before this week, but now it's getting sort of difficult. They both get wet food meals (Magnus eats one 3oz. can twice a day and Kermit eats half 3oz. can four times a day because he's always starving) and a little dry during the middle of the day for both (Royal Canin Special 33 for Magnus and RC Kitten 36 for Kermit). Magnus' wet food is RC Digest Sensitive and Kermit's is Purina Pro Plan kitten (the only straight up kitten wet food we could find in our store). I have been feeding Kermit in the bathroom and shutting the door because Magnus is really wanting Kermit's food and I have been feeding Magnus up on his cat tree because Kermit is equally wanting Magnus' food and couldn't get up on the tree. But now Kermit is getting stronger and is able to climb up on the tree and they seem to have come to some secret agreement where they both will only eat half of their own food and save the rest for the other. It's just about impossible to get them to stop eating each other's food because they refuse to finish their own meals and I can't keep them separated for too long because they both sit on either side of the door yowling (and we live in an apartment building and worry about neighbors complaining). If I completely put it up out of reach then obviously no one can eat at all.
The past couple of days, Magnus has not been interested in eating any of his wet food at all so we bought the adult formula of the Purina Pro Plan in the same chicken flavor as the kitten food in hopes that that might help him eat. He had a completely blocked urinary tract before we adopted him, and he hardly ever drinks water, so we really need him to eat his wet food. So, I guess my question is: how long is it before we can also feed Kermit adult food? Ideally, when Kermit's old enough, we'd like to put them both on the Pride by Intinct wet food we were feeding Magnus when we first adopted him (we switched him to the RC because he was having diarrhea issues for a while because he'd only previously ever had dry food and he also possibly had worms, so our vet had us feed him the RC until that all calmed down) or some other grain-free higher quality food. I have no idea about what age Kermit needs to be to eat adult food, though, as he's our first kitten, and I can't find any information on the age recommendation for the Pride by Instinct foods. On their site they do have feeding instructions for kittens for their foods, but again there's no age on that and I'm pretty sure little Kermit is still too young for non-kitten foods? I read on here about people saying after they're neutered it's okay, but Kermit was neutered really early so I don't know if that's still a thing to go by. All the kittens in the threads I read were at least 5-6 months old and Kermit's only a little over 3 months.
I'm also asking all of this because up to this point I've been home with them all day so I could kind of keep them separated a little to eat, and keep an eye on who's eating what, but next week I'll be starting my new job, so neither of us will be home for a while during the day so I won't be able to keep them and their foods separate for all meals anymore.
Hopefully I've put all the information here that's needed, I can't tell if I'm forgetting anything. Basically any help is greatly appreciated! I just want to keep my little babies happy and healthy!
Thanks!
Note 2: This topic has been posted about a lot on this forum, but I'm not seeing anything similar to my situation as far as my cat's ages. I've read dozens of threads, but all the kittens were a good two-three months older than my guy.
Okay, so my girlfriend and I have two cats: Magnus, 5 years old, 14 pounds of pure muscle, and Kermit, 14 weeks old, 3.7 pounds. Both neutered. In the past week, they've really started bonding and they're very close now. We didn't have an issue feeding them separately before this week, but now it's getting sort of difficult. They both get wet food meals (Magnus eats one 3oz. can twice a day and Kermit eats half 3oz. can four times a day because he's always starving) and a little dry during the middle of the day for both (Royal Canin Special 33 for Magnus and RC Kitten 36 for Kermit). Magnus' wet food is RC Digest Sensitive and Kermit's is Purina Pro Plan kitten (the only straight up kitten wet food we could find in our store). I have been feeding Kermit in the bathroom and shutting the door because Magnus is really wanting Kermit's food and I have been feeding Magnus up on his cat tree because Kermit is equally wanting Magnus' food and couldn't get up on the tree. But now Kermit is getting stronger and is able to climb up on the tree and they seem to have come to some secret agreement where they both will only eat half of their own food and save the rest for the other. It's just about impossible to get them to stop eating each other's food because they refuse to finish their own meals and I can't keep them separated for too long because they both sit on either side of the door yowling (and we live in an apartment building and worry about neighbors complaining). If I completely put it up out of reach then obviously no one can eat at all.
The past couple of days, Magnus has not been interested in eating any of his wet food at all so we bought the adult formula of the Purina Pro Plan in the same chicken flavor as the kitten food in hopes that that might help him eat. He had a completely blocked urinary tract before we adopted him, and he hardly ever drinks water, so we really need him to eat his wet food. So, I guess my question is: how long is it before we can also feed Kermit adult food? Ideally, when Kermit's old enough, we'd like to put them both on the Pride by Intinct wet food we were feeding Magnus when we first adopted him (we switched him to the RC because he was having diarrhea issues for a while because he'd only previously ever had dry food and he also possibly had worms, so our vet had us feed him the RC until that all calmed down) or some other grain-free higher quality food. I have no idea about what age Kermit needs to be to eat adult food, though, as he's our first kitten, and I can't find any information on the age recommendation for the Pride by Instinct foods. On their site they do have feeding instructions for kittens for their foods, but again there's no age on that and I'm pretty sure little Kermit is still too young for non-kitten foods? I read on here about people saying after they're neutered it's okay, but Kermit was neutered really early so I don't know if that's still a thing to go by. All the kittens in the threads I read were at least 5-6 months old and Kermit's only a little over 3 months.
I'm also asking all of this because up to this point I've been home with them all day so I could kind of keep them separated a little to eat, and keep an eye on who's eating what, but next week I'll be starting my new job, so neither of us will be home for a while during the day so I won't be able to keep them and their foods separate for all meals anymore.
Hopefully I've put all the information here that's needed, I can't tell if I'm forgetting anything. Basically any help is greatly appreciated! I just want to keep my little babies happy and healthy!
Thanks!
