What to feed two very different cats?

May 2, 2006 10:20 PM

Looking for suggestions for a good dry food to feed two cats with slightly different needs. They refuse to play nice and eat from their "own" bowls, each preferring the other's food.

I have two cats, and I think I need to get new food. I am currently feeding a mix of Iams Kitten food and Iams Indoor food. I tried giving each cat the one best suited for them, but had to settle for mixing since they refused to cooperate.

One cat is very active, a year old, so needs to go off kitten food. I want something that will help him keep running around like the crazy cute maniac he is.

The other is about 2 and a half, and is a lot more, well, lazy, than the other. She'll still play, but prefers window watching to running lately. She has lots of dandruff, which I assume would be helped by food with more good oils in them? Shes a bit overweight, though, and could stand to lose a pound or so.

How can I balance the needs of a very active cat with an older, not so active cat? They are currently allowed free access to all the food they want, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. Any suggestions for coat supplements that will help with dandruff would be great too. We brush a lot but it still keeps comin'

posted by gilsonal to pets & animals (7 comments total)

With 2 pets, I tried to put one food dish up high - on the washer/dryer or on the kitchen counter.
posted by k8t at 10:36 PM on May 2, 2006

My vet recommends Wysong. It's what IAMS and Science Diet used to be before they started using as many fillers as your standard kibble. Supposedly makes for a smaller firmer stool as well.

If your cat is overweight, you may have no choice but to limit their food. Follow the serving recommendations on the package, and feed them at the same times every day. They'll learn quickly to eat when they are supposed to.
posted by Roger Dodger at 10:36 PM on May 2, 2006

My mother has 2 foodbowls in different places - one in the kitchen and one in the utility room. The young, svelte cat eats from both bowls, but the old one only eats from one. It just sort of worked out this way. Probably because the old cat is set in her ways and didn't want to deal with the new bowl.

My own 3 cats are in a smaller house, so I just mix the food and put it in 2 bowls. However, I put food in the bowls 3 times a day (morning, when I get home from work, and right before bed).

As it's dry food, it stays out and they can pick at it all they want, but doing the smaller doses helps me monitor how much they are consuming and prevents the older cats from gorging themselves. It's a little extra work, but I have the food in easy to open bins with a little scoop inside.
posted by Sangre Azul at 10:53 PM on May 2, 2006

gilsonal, I think we have the same cats. I buy Purina food in the teal bags. Sometimes I get the healthy weight kind (because of the fatty) and sometimes I get the indoor formula, and sometimes I get the hairball/healthy weight combo. I do this because, like your cats, mine share a bowl and that's all they have to say on the matter.

YMMV, as I am told that switching cat food may not be good for the animal. I figure, though, that since it's all Purina, and we've had no digestive upsets, things are going ok. The fatty is no slimmer, but she is more active.
posted by bilabial at 11:01 PM on May 2, 2006

My cats have been fairly happy with the Iams Multicat formula. One is a hog who will eat everything out of his brother's dish first and then eat from his own, the other is too polite to eat from the "wrong" bowl and thus ends up hungry (and yet remains chubby). Both have lost weight, primarily because I give them 1/2 cup each per day - 1/4 cup into each bowl in the morning and again later at night. They will bother you incessantly in the morning when they are hungry; holding off feeding them until later at night (7:00 or afterwards) can help with the morning pest syndrome.

To help ease them into it, you can try a slightly larger portion at first, like 1/3rd cup per scoop. I found that with 1/3rd cup my cats seldom ate all of it; at 1/4 cup they almost never have any leftover food in the dish at night.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:01 AM on May 3, 2006

I had a hyper kitten that would only eat what the lazy adult cat was eating. I switched to Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Adult formula for both and they seem to eat a lot less (I go through a large bag once a month, instead of 2.5-3 weeks with Iams). They both have shinier coats and better breath - not great, just better, and rarely vomit now.
posted by blackkar at 6:54 AM on May 3, 2006

I have read in a number of places-- I just failed utterly to find support on-line for what I'm saying here-- that cats bond with each other (and with their humans, which makes all those dead rats and birds so [anti] deliciously ironic) by offering little gifts of food.

If so, is it possible eating from each others' bowls is a gesture, offered and accepted, which signals mutual affection and an ongoing good relationship? A gesture it could be wiser not to interfere with?
posted by jamjam at 3:09 PM on May 3, 2006