I've got eight moggies - 14, 13, 13, 1.5, 1.5 and three of 5 months. I buy 'senior' food for my more mature babies, kitten food for the youngest three and the ordinary stuff for the other two - but they aren't very good at knowing which food is theirs

I work long hours so it is difficult to actually watch them eating - especially the dried food which I leave down for them all day. They all get raw chicken drumsticks as well but the older three aren't interested - they've never had raw until recently so think food should come out of a packet!

The kittens are shut in my spare room at night so I know they are eating their kitten food then. First thing in the morning they don't want to eat - just to get out of 'their' room and tear up and down the stairs

I just wondered how others in a multi-cat household feed their fur family? I worry that they may not be getting the right nutrition by eating the 'wrong' food and maybe I would be better just feeding them all the 'ordinary' stuff.

Also, Tigger, one of my 1.5 year olds only eats dry food - he won't touch the wet stuff - although he does have a gnaw at the drumsticks. He has Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved or Pro Plan. He always has access to fresh water and does drink a lot. Is this going to cause him health problems?

i feed a mixed kibble(JWB adult turkey, Hills T/D, Royal Canin Indoor 27) so everyone gets what they need! you could feed Royal Canin Maintenance diet which should be fine for all three as long as you supplement the kittens with some wet food for kittens daily they can crunch on the adult maintenance especially if you are also feeding the raw with it.

My vet recently told me that feeding my cat George Go-Cat was killing him! He refuses to eat any kind of wet food...I've tried only giving that to him and had to stop because he went a couple of days without eating the stubborn git. My other cat will eat both, he isn't fussy. But beware of dried food because even though George had plenty to drink aswell he has recently been diagnosed with bladder crystals and had to take a trip to the emergency vet last weekend because he was blocked which can be life threatening...the vet said he would have had about 36 hours to live if not seen to asap!! So now he has to be on an expensive special diet for the rest of his life...bless him!!!

it was nothing to do with dry food alone it was feeding Go Cat! it's full of garbage. So many additives and cereals as well as salts and sugars that your little kitty can't digest feed George a healthier dry food in conjunction with a nice wet food and maybe he won't turn his nose up? James Wellbeloved, Burns, Hills and Royal Canin make some nice foods for kitties that are dry foods. There are so many others to name those are just the big names that come to mind at the moment. I'm sure there will be others to chime in with more brands. Stick to low cereal and high protein diets for George and he will be a happy kitty!

I usually have kittens around, and I also have "senior" cats as well as younger adults. It doesn't bother me in the least as to what any of them eat, the concept of lifestage foods is nothing but a sales gimmick. Cats have managed in the wild for thousands of years without special foods, and so have domesticated cats up till 15 or so years ago.

There is no need to use "lifestage" foods

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Vervain Cats

So sorry to hear this. It's a shame you had to learn the hard way of the dangers of feeding an exclusively dry diet to cats. I do hope George is on a wet food diet now, because cats that have had a blockage due to crystals should NEVER be fed any type of dried food.
All dried food is too high in carbohydrates to be a sole diet for cats - they need high meat / protein foods exclusively.

More info here: Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi

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Vervain Cats

All of those foods that you mention are high in grain/cereal and therefore carbohydrate - they really aren't much better than Go Cat

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Vervain Cats

We feed ours on a mixture of wet and dried,we use JWB biccies,and Tuna,Chicken,White fish,Sardines,Turkey,Beef,Lamb on occasion as though they love it it tends to go thru them if given too muchFor our lot this works for us and them and we have our old man moggy Noodypops who has a sensitive tummy and eats only Chicken,the occasional beef and Tuna and he's a happy,healthy old man with good poos thus far i'm glad to say,anything else for him isn't good and our meezers are a fussy lot anywayAnd though i agree with you KK on the point of all manner of cats have managed on natural sources for many yrs and been well,over the yrs times have changed and a lot i know still do manage but a lot don't and couldn't because as you know i'm sure, breeding has changed the cats digestive system and needs and some simply couldn't survive for many reasons because we've humanised them over time and what was once a good source of a balanced diet would probably kill or cause secondary problems now too

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Dogs have owners, Cats have slaves

Burnthwaites Siamese

Actually I don't agree that the cat's digestive system has changed since being domesticated - there is no scientific evidence for this as far as I'm aware (if there is, please let me know where to read it!)

My cats (no matter what age) seem to do pretty well on the food I offer them, which is a good mix of commercial wet foods, raw and cooked meat, occasional cooked or tinned fish with only a very small amount of grain free dry food as a treat a few times per week.

I don't want to start another debate on food though, I do understand that different things work for different cats

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Vervain Cats