Feeding & Multiple Cats

[bluebirdy]

I have two lovely littermates that are 9 months and have been with us since 9 weeks. As we initially fostered the entire litter (6 kittens) we started by feeding them together off the same plate (3 plates for 6 kittens). The other four kittens were adopted shortly, but we continued to feed Lillie and Meow Meow off the same plate and bowl.

Their feeding schedule is as follows. I give wet food twice daily on a plate (about a large spoonful for each kitten) and they share a small bowl with kibble if they are hungry throughout the day. We use Royal Canin kitten development food. They also receive treats as part of clicker training and also just because we can't stop ourselves from giving them treats

The growth has been quite different between our two cats. We are moving a long distance in two weeks so I had a quick check-up with both cats just to make sure things would progress well and I could get some advice. Our male cat Meow Mewo is approximately 1kg larger than our female Lillie. The vet says that both are in excellent health. Lillie has doubled her weight since her last kitten vaccination, so she is growing well but at a much slower rate than her brother.

For those of you who have multiple cats, what are preferences in feeding them? As it is right now Lillie usually gets to eat first as MM will wait, but she's a grazer. She'll take a few bites and then saunter away. Sometimes I give them special food (like cooked chicken) and they eat seperately for that because MM will hoover hers. I just put them on seperate plates and pick up MM if he starts to meander over to Lillie's plate once he's done his. Lillie also turns her nose up at most of the good treats (freeze dried protein) in favour of kibble style stuff.

I tried giving more structured meals and eliminate free feeding, but if Lillie gets too hungry she eats too fast and vomits. She tends to vomit more often because she has long hair and loves to munch on grass. We brush her often.

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The questions are:
-does anyone else still feed adult cats off one plate?
-if I try to give them seperate plates will it be a waste of time because they'll just eat off each others anyway
-is this really a non-issue

 

[banana queen]

I have four cats, and all four of them have a bowl each. I give all of them food at the same time (Izzy and Mittens first as they get impatient, but Amber and Socks just pick a bowl and sit by it and wait), and each kitty eats from their bowl (and if one kitty leaves a little and walks away, another will come and eat it when they finish theirs)

If the smaller cat is growing, it means she is getting enough. Littermates can differ in size, Amber is a lot smaller than Izzy and Mittens and always has been.

 

[GoldyCat]

I have 8 cats. I put the wet food in 8 separate bowls, but the kitties tend to switch up. One will decide he wants to eat out of a different bowl and pushes another kitty out of the way. That one then moves on and pushes another one away. Kind of like musical bowls. They generally end up back at the same bowls where they started. As long as everyone gets fed I don't worry about it.

 

[bluebirdy]

Thank you very much Banana and Goldy for your feedback.

I'd like to keep Lillie on the kitten food but transition Meow Meow to adult food because of his size sooner, but as they've never eaten apart I wasn't sure how that might look. Your feedback was very helpful. I will probably just start giving them their wet food on seperate bowls and continue with the kitten dry food for the both and then think about different food in a month or so.

I was told by the vet that the kitten food is a higher calorific version to help with early development. He said that I should start to change around 9 months. Is there other reasons to stay with kitten food for a cat who, while his weight is in the okay range, is definitely stout