My dog and cat share food and water bowls. Is this safe or harmful?

As long as they get along, there is no reason that you need to have multiple necessarily. If you start to note that they are competing or one is getting significantly more food than the other, adding a second bowl would be in their best interest. Hope this makes sense.

If the cats are all healthy and don't have any illnesses such as FIP/FIV then it should be fine. However if you have a cat that is ill or FIP/FIV positive, it can be spread through the saliva/bite wounds, so it would be best to make sure they do not share a bowl.

It is best to let the dog eat only dog food and the nutritional contents and vitamins are greatly different based on their needs. You can try to feed your cat up high, a counter or laundry room, to keep the dog from reaching it or getting to it. If the puppy gets cat food every now and then, it will not cause any harm, but it should not be its sole source of nutrition

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your pets. Home cooking pet food can be very satisfying as most pets love it. However, it is extremely difficult to make the meals nutritionally balanced. For this reason, I recommend using a recipe provided by a veterinary nutritionist. I have several clients using this and have been so pleased with the results. I recommend www.balanceit.com. The nutritional requirements for a kitten will be different from an adult dog. Kittens need more protein and fat for growth and development. They also require an amino acid known as taurine in their diet. I hope this information helps!

This is a good question! There is really no social or bonding benefit to feeding them next to each other, or having them eat from the same bowls - in fact, this can cause tension or even aggression issues in some cats, since they may get nervous about the other cat eating their food. So if your current system is working well, I would recommend just sticking with it :)

Bobby and Coco are adorable! I do recommend only feeding Bobby kitten food. This is a common problem where kittens will want the adult food. I would recommend once Coco is done with her food and she walks away to just pick it up. You are already feeding in different rooms so just by picking up the food should help. Otherwise, if Bobby cannot jump hight then I would put Coco's food higher up. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It all depends on what the AAFCO statement says. You will have to check if the food has met AAFCO standards for feeding kittens, adult cats, or all life stages. The crude protein, fiber, etc. is not very helpful in determining if the food meets the nutritional demand of the life stage. Below is a link to an article that explains this a bit further and will tell you where to find the AAFCO statement. https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ If the food is deemed nutritionally adequate, then it's OK to feed them each other's food, but keep in mind the recommended amount to feed (should also be somewhere on the bag). The biggest concern with feeding an "all life stage" food is that it gives them too much calories, which can lead to obesity. If you notice that your cats starting to get chunky, then it's important to start reducing the amount of food they get. I hope that helps and all is well with the kitties.