Expert: Brandy - 1/3/2007

Question
I have a resident cat and we brought home a new cat. They both get along great. The new cat is a youngin' (10 months old), our resident cat is 7. Resident cat doesn't seem to mind her. She's uber playful, and he's not as young at heart like she is. (Ah the golden years). I've noticed however, lately...the resident cat (7 year old), has been using the 'new' cats litter box, and eating her kitten food. If i had to make any kind of guess as to why, i would guess maybe he's showing some dominance, by using her box and eating her food, and drinking her water. My concern is,...i can't get him eating HIS adult cat food. He uses his box and drinks his water still...but WON'T stay away from the kitten food. Is there any cause of concern here? Should i be more worried? Is this something that will blow over in time? Any feedback, suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated!! =)
Thanks!!

Answer
Ah, memories...I went through that every time we had a litter of kittens, though the mamas were the culprits (and I used to think that the kittens had massive appetites). The older cat is eating the kitten food for the simple reason that it tastes better.  Just like children, kittens have higher nutrition requirements, and that translates into tastier food. That's also why a family dog will inhale cat food (even RC's adult food) since it has a higher fat content than dog food. It won't harm the RC to eat the kitten food, but it might pack on some weight, which might not be a good thing in the long run for him.

For the litter box, cats don't know (or pretend not to know) that a litter box belongs to an individual cat. My crew always seem to select the cleanest/newest litterbox, so it seems that the RC is doing just that, or just enjoys the sheer novelty of a different box. Some cats will even select one litterbox for #1, the other for #2.

If your kitten seems to be a decent weight for her age, perhaps a compromise; unless the RC is already on a good quality food, upgrade his food, delete the kitten food, or blend the two brands together (I blend Senior food (since 3 of my cats are over 7, which also is more palpable than adult...like kitten food), with Sensitive skin, since my youngest cat (age 4) needs to stay within some decent weight.

Your cats are fine. They just seem to enjoy watching you wonder about them. ;-)