kittens and older cats - what to feed?

[corinster]

We have two 4 month old kittens and two older boys that are about 10. We've been feeding the kittens Royal Canin babycat and the boys are eating science diet seniors.

Everyone's food is about to run out and before I head out to the petstore, here's a question:

Everyone is together now and the kittens are rarely separated from the older lads. We've been trying to feed them separately but needless to say that doesn't really work, especially as they all have food down all the time (older boys have measured amount, kittens have been free feeding - theoretically!). Needless to say, the older cats seem to love the kitten food and the kittens think that the seniors food is the best thing they've ever tasted!

Should I just buy a good quality adult food and let them all have that most of the time and try to add something to the kitten's diet to add the nutrients they need? If so, what else should I give the kittens to supplement their diet?

Alternatively, could I buy the 4-12 months food and the seniors and mix the 2? The only thing that worries me with this option is I can guarentee the kittens will pick out the old boys food and the old boys will eat the young cats food!

Everyone's eating and putting on weight (good for the babies, bad for the boys!) as things are but I want to make sure that everyone's getting the best diet I can provide.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[goldenkitty45]

IMO you can feed them both the same. I have a year old and a 15 yr old and they both eat Iams Multi-Cat and they are fine.

In fact, Ling has never eaten kitten food - she's done fine on adult food.

 

[valanhb]

I'm definitely not a nutrition expert, but on the Royal Canin Special 33 bag it specifically says that it's formulated for all phases of a cats life, from kitten to senior. Perhaps there is a good quality food that will provide everything that both sets of cats need nutritionally?

 

[darincm]

We feed our cat & kitten Natural Balance - its made for both adults & kittens. The kittens will tend to eat a little more

 

[sharky]

many food are all life stage ... Normally I dont like them as animals arent one size fits most ... but with very young and seniors you may need to look that direction... At least for four to eight months when your kittens can safely eat "{adult or senior foods" ... Have the 10 yr olds had senior panels to make sure they dont need a dietary adjustment??

 

[iben]

I have the exact same problem. We have a 15-year old cat who gets senior diet food, and a 4 months old who get royal canin kitten food. The old guy won't touch his senior food since the kitten got in the house, he'll only eat the kitten's food. I asked my vet about it and she said that it's extremely important that the elderly cat doesn't get fed with kitten food. Not only will he gain weight (which he already has) but he can get really sick because of the high level of proteins and calcium in kitten nutrition.
So for now we only feed the baby a little at a time so there's no kitten food lying around for the old one. But the vet also said that when the baby is about 9 months old we could start giving them the same, as long as it's a good product like Royal Canin.

 

[kmkelly127]

I have an 8-year old male and a just-now 1-year old male (we got him at 9-10 months) that we began feeding Purina Complete formula once we got the two. I was feeding Vinny (my 8-year old) Science Diet Senior until he began to turn his nose up at it and switched him to Purina One Senior, which he liked, until my vet shook his finger at me to not feed him any Senior formulas until he is "much older." He actually recommended Purina Complete before we got Sherman because of the nutrition value for cats of all ages in multi-cat households.