1.22.2007

Question from Mom

Hi! Thanks everybody for sending good purrs for Merlin to feel better. I'm sure he'll back to normal soon.

I have a question for cats from multi-cat households. I knew that Merlin would want to eat Dobby's kitten food, and I have put up a gate to that room that Dobby can scoot under, but Merlin can't. So Dobby's food is safe from Merlin. But...

Dobby wants to eat Merlin's food. Every time I see him eating Merlin's food, I pick him up and take him to his own bowl. Is there any other suggestion? Is it BAD for Dobby to eat grown up cat food? Anywhere Merlin can get, Dobby can too, so I don't know how I could keep it away from Dobby but still keep it where Merlin can eat.

Any ideas? Dobby doesn't eat that much of it, and he eats plenty of his kitten food. Should I just continue what I'm doing?

14 Meows:

Luna und Luzie meowed...

Hi here is Luna.
in our house are 3 cats. And every cat is eating the food from the other. Every cat has it´s own bowl and we are eating together, but if one cat is ready to eat and there is something in the bowl, the other cats will eat it.A few years ago, we can´t buy juniorfood for cats.It´s not bad. Sorry for my bad english.
meow from Luna and her sisters

Lilly Lu, Iris and Maxwell Mufsa Millon meowed...

We have always had the problem with mu shue Lilly and Iris. Mu shue eat speical vet kibble Lilly eats deit kibble and Iris eats kitten kibble I tryed putting it in other places but still no luck It is not bad for them to be eating each other food Kitten kibble is just more fat in it But they just want to eat what the other one is eating I move them and do the same thing it been a loszing battle for years


laura

Madness, Trouble, Squish and Milkbone meowed...

It is not bad for Dobby to eat Merlin's food. The kitten food is just a bit more nutritious (and more fat) than the adult food. Since Dobby is still eating lots of his own food it is no problem. I did not want Mrs. B to eat Dobby's food, cause she is already overweight and it seemed to give her a bit of an upest stomach. I think what you are doing is fine. Don't worry about it.

mister jeter harris, hizself meowed...

wid 4 catz (+ 1) we're all eetin eech udder'z food. dere iz no way mi mom could ever get mi brudder mickey to go on a diet becuz we all get fed at da same time an he eetz evreecat'z food! (thus da need fer a diet, duhr!)
mi noo brudder matsui iz eetin regyoolar food. mi dad haz alwayz fed da feralz regyoolar food! he seemz to be jus fine!

Max meowed...

As long as the little guy eats his own food, it won't hurt for him to gnosh on big kitty food too. Buddah ate some of my food when he was little too, and it didn't hurt him any. Well, he is a little crackhead, so maybe....? Before he was a year old the People had to take him off kitten food because he decided he wanted mine and nothing else, and the vet said as long as he as still growing and was healthy, it was ok.

The M's meowed...

We agree wif everbody else, Munchkin is eating what Munchkin and Monte eat. Muchkin had kitten food until he was about 2 months old then he wanted to eat the big cats food.

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe meowed...

Definitely not a problem for Dobby to be eating adult cat food, as long as he's eating kitten food too. When we picked up Dragonheart from his breeder, she told us he had been getting a mixture of cat food, along with adult food, because she had the two kittens (Dragonheart and his brother), their parents, Dragonheart's older sister from an earlier litter, and two cats that were purely pets (Persians). So the kittens would get into the adult kibble.
-Dragonheart's Mom

Mattingly meowed...

I will continue the agreement here. Harlie is healthy and getting quite big, despite her preference for my adult food when she was a kitten. Mom had to stand in the kitchen to try to keep us in our own bowls, but sometimes she had to get ready for work and Harlie and I would switch. I love kitten food, I don't know why she didn't. My was relieved when after Harlie's ladiegardenectomy our vet recommended reducing the amount of kitten food Harlie got. So she still got kitten stinky goodness and a mix of adult and kitten crunchies. Before long, Harlie was eating around the kitten crunchies, so Mom just stopped it all together, and she's fine and still growing. And Mom is very relieved to have us both on the same food!

Sarah meowed...

I've had Jolee and Starbuck eating the same food, mostly because I didn't have kitten food and I haven't had a chance to get to the store this week. Gasp, I'm a horrible pet owner. But she has probably gained a pound in that week, and he eats high-end dry food, so I'm not worried that she's not going to be healthy. I am more worried that she's pissing him off by eating from his dish, because he is too much of a pushover to swat her.

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee meowed...

Eh, the only thing that any of my kittens ever got from eating adult food was gas. That was bad for me (and other noses) not the kitty.

Gemini meowed...

Momma said it never hurt me to have some extra food of Georgia's. She just made sure I got kitten food too for the calories and that Georgia didn't get shorted any.

LZ meowed...

We eat cat AND kitten food called Innova Evo. It has the nutrients for cats & kittens so we can eat the same food. Though now we're all adults...but its good quality food with no grains. That was the Lap Lady's solution for us.

kaze

Mo and The Purries meowed...

I basically agree with the previous comments: what we did a the Spooker Palace = when Daphne & Chloe came, we switched to just Iams kitten. Spooker gained some weight, but really enjoyed it -- and surprisingly, had much less barf episodes with the kitten food.
When I couldn't find Iams kitten at the store one day (and of course I waited until we were drastically low on kibble) I grabbed Iams regular adult. It seems to make no difference to Daphne & Chloe. But while Spooker has slimmed down a bit, I wonder if it is because she's urping more now that we've switched back...
But as for Dobby & Merlin -- they'll be happy as long as there's food in their bowls!!!

Not The Mama

Victor Tabbycat meowed...

Just like the ofurs said. All I can add is, Bonnie has a touchy tummy an barfed affer eatin my kitten food. At the pet store, they sed an adult cat eatin kitten food is a bit like a vegetarian suddenly eatin a big steak - shock to the system. Mmmm, steak.

Mom asked when I should switch to growed up cat food, an the vet said about the same time I joined Bonnie wif run of the howse, to keep B outa my food.