Kitten versus Cat food

[emily_the_spoiled]

Good morning everyone,

I bought my new kitten (Tanner) the Science Diet Natural kitten food, but he is eating both the kitten food and the adult cat food I leave out for Emily. My problem is that Emily is eating ALOT of the kitten food and has gained some weight. Since it seems that I am unable to keep two different kinds of good for them, what do you think about converting both Tanner and Emily to the adult cat food.

[wayne0214]

Emily, if Tanner is old enough to eat regular cat food, I wouldn't deny him the adult food. BTW, how old is Tanner? If he is still a kitten, it might be best to allow him to eat only kitten food, until he is a little older, anyway. Can you feed them separately? I have to feed Tiger separately from the others because of her dietary requirments, and the other would prefer her food over the regular dry food. Tiger is fed on top of the 'frig. because it is high enough so that the others cannot jump up and get to it.

.........wayne

[emily_the_spoiled]

Hi Wayne,

Tanner is 3 months old and currently eats a combination of adult wet food and kitten dry food. I try to leave the dry food out so they can graze throughout the day. They each have their own little eating areas, but that doesn't stop them from eating the other guys food (I think it is the concept of "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence").

Right now Tanner is not big enough to jump up high onto the fridge (besides I don't really want to encourage him to jump on kitchen cupboards, etc).

[hellostranger]

Hi EmilyTS,

Gus is a little older then Tanner (he's almost 6 months best guess) and when I found him he was so little and so hungry that I bought dry kitten food and put it out in their dish. Just like Emily, Squirt decided that kitten food was really good and started chowing down and gaining weight. After the first bag of kitten food was gone I decided to move them both to adult food. Gus seems to be fine - he eats enough for two cats but he always did that.

BTW, I leave the dry food out all the time and they have wet food every day for breakfast.

Laura

[wayne0214]

Emily, That is the point I am trying to make. when I feed Tiger and Amy, (both separately) I pick them up and place 'em on the 'frige. Since my kitchen is relatively large, and the 'frig stands by itself, I can get away with feeding both of them in this manner. There is no easy way for any of my furkids to jump onto the frig, except I have seen Amy do it -from 5 ft away (1.6 mtrs) from the kitchen sink! When either wants to eat, they come to me, regardless of I am doing, and sit down next to me, or like Tiger, she will pace back and forth,until I get up and find what she wants.. (Tiger is a perfect pest with large expressive eyes)

.......wayne

[Cataholic]

I think kitties need to stay on kitty food for as long as possible. One could always say it is just a marketing ploy, but, I think scientifically it has been proven that growing bodies need different things. Maybe putting the kitty in the bathroom twice a day with some food for another three months?

[neko1]

I agree with Cataholic...I feed Neko in the cat room cause he's on a special diet and I have no problems with it.

[NoahsMommy]

It is hard to make them eat only their food...

We had this problem when we brought Basil home to Noah and Noel. Basil wanted their food, they all the sudden thought kitten food was better. So, I mixed them. That was the only way to get kitten food down Basil...

[boscibo]

I had a problem with this, when I got Hanna. My problem wasn't keeping the adults out of the kitten food, it was keeping the kitten (Hanna) out of the adult food. She definitely preferred the adult Science Diet to the kitten food she was supposed to be eating. I made sure she at least ate *some* of the kitten food, but let her eat the adult food too. After awhile she wouldn't eat any of the kitten food, so I let her eat adult food. She was (and still is) getting canned Fancy Feast daily, and she's as big as a moose., and very healthy. I told my vet about this, and she said it was OK. I would talk to the vet, she can assess you kitten and let you know what is best.