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?
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?