Kitten eating the cats food???

[dvandyke]

Leia is now 12 weeks old and doing well. (I have bottle fed Princess Leia from birth.) I am running across a new issue with her. Luke (7 yrs old nuetered male) and Leia are getting along pretty good now. I still do not let Leia out without supervision but I don't feel worried about her being eaten by Luke any longer. haha. The problem we are having now is that Leia is wanting to eat Lukes food.

He is on adult formula Science Diet while Leia is on Kitten formula Science Diet. We keep Luke out of her food (He does not need to gain extra weight.) But do we need to worry about keeping her out of his food. He just looks at her like 'are you done yet' when she gets in it but has not one time growled or anything at her. For that matter he never gets upset at the dogs either when they sneak into his food which Luke outwieghts both of the dogs. (Yes dogs are getting fat. That is an ongoing battle for a dog forum. Know any?) I guess he is just a sharer.

But is it unhealthy for Leia. Will it keep her from eating the amount of Kittenfood she needs. She is growing so fast that she looks like a toothpick but the vet says she is very healthy.

 

[aquiel]

i think youll be ok, either way.
if your that concerned you could just put the adult food away when Luke is done.

 

[gayef]

I am of the opinion that kittens need to eat as much as they want as often as they want, but I like it to be a good high-quality KITTEN food formula - not adult. The extra calories they need (their little metabolisms burn so fast!!) aren't found in the adult food formulas.

If she is allowed to supplement with the adult food then yes, it will absolutely keep her from eating her kitten food.

 

[dvandyke]

Thank you for the response.

At what age does she change from the kitten food to regular cat food?

 

[nano]

Originally Posted by dvandyke

Thank you for the response.

At what age does she change from the kitten food to regular cat food?

In my opinion, the best answer is "when her body stops growing" meaning when she has reached full size. Not talking about weight but her actual body frame. After that, she can go to the adult formula and then it is just a matter of filling out her frame to where she is of normal weight for her size.

By default, assume 12 months is the time to switch to adult formula of your favorite brand. I think the cutoff to switch to senior formula is usually around seven years, so adult covers 1-6 years of age.

 

[gayef]

Nano is right on with his answer ... the best time to change from Kitten to Adult formula is when the body stops growing. Most people think this happens at about 1 year, but the truth is that kittens can continue growing until they are 2 or even 3 years old.

~gf~

 

[kluchetta]

Cool, Gaye, that is interesting. I was wondering why the supposedly 1-year-old male cat we adopted is growing...and growing...and growing!

 

[gayef]

LOL I hear ya! My boy Tonka will be 2 at the end of July and I swear if you sit and watch him long enough, he grows before your very eyes! LOL Now my girl Lexus on the other hand ... well she ~is~ growing but it is sideways growth - she is now officially shaped like a kidney bean. ROFL

 

[commonoddity042]

I'd just put the adult food up after luke finished eating.

 

[dvandyke]

Unfortunately his food is left out for him all day long. He just eats when he feels like it. He makes up his own schedule.

"no one will tell me when to do what I want. I get petted when I want it. I get food when I want it. I come out of hiding when you call only if it pleases me. Just try and put me on your schedule and see what happens to those bunny slippers."

He has been an only and spoiled cat for many years so we have always just left his solid food out for him and he can't eat canned food at all. Sensitive stomach. We even have to watch what types of litter we use. It took the vet months to figure out that the smell of the litter was giving him diareah.

BUT

Leia is only out when we can watch her so we can put his food on the dryer when she is out. He can jump up there without any trouble but the dryer is still a little tall for her. I don't want to shut the door to his room because they are starting to share the litter boxes and the watering trough (Which I thought Luke would never share because he even has to watch us when we move it or clean it) But he seems to have taken to this kitten. (I new he was really a softy at heart. Just don't let the dogs know

)

I can keep Leia's food in the living room for now. She is not to messy and that way I can keep the rest of the animals out of it when she is out. She really has only been interested in dry food as well so I have no plans on doing anything other than letting her have dry food available unless she changes my plans.

I don't know what I will do when she is big enough to be left out all day?? I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there.