ants in the cat food

[brielle]

For those of you that leave a bowl of dry cat food out - how do you keep those %$#@ ants out of it?!? excuse my language but I had to battle hordes of ants this morning before work and I'm still havent gotten over it :mad:

hi Brielle !!
have you tried to put one of those boxes for catching ants ?
This is not poisonnous for your cat , but the ants eat it , return to their "home" and bring the others along ; in the end they die . In this way , maybe they will not be able to spoil the catfood any longer !:cool:

[Former User]

Wow, never heard of a problem like that...dunno really how to help....

[brielle]

Ok - I'll try one of those - I was worried that Maggie would chew on it though...she likes to lick/chew every new thing that comes in the door :)

Hope it works....otherwise I'll have to stop leaving food out for her while I'm at work....

[Efrat]

Simple Solution!!!

Put the cat dishes in a plate or a tray with some water inside, then even if the ants try to get there they cant pass through the water!

[brielle]

that is simple! I feel so stupid for not thinking of it :) :p

[AmberLee]

We have that problem here about one month a year -- ugh! It takes all (well, most) of the fun out of late spring. I put lots of those little ant houses out. The cats play hockey with them, but they help a little.

To keep the ants out of the cat food, I've bought some of those dishes designed to go under potted plants to catch overflow water. I put one under each cat food bowl and add enough water to make a moat to protect the cat food. It's not a perfect solution, but it helps. Note: enough spilled kibble can create a bridge for stubborn ants to cross on, so it's necessary to keep clearing the thing throughout the day. Either that, or teach the cats to eat without spilling! ;)

Good luck. And thanks for the reminder. Ant time is coming: I need to go get some ant houses. Bleech.

I've also got some of those ultrasonic ant repellants. It seemed to work at first, but not so later ... maybe it was my imagination at first???

Posted at the same time

[Lachesis]

Man Im glad we doing have ants here. Well we probably do but Ive never seen them....

[K & L]

We use diatomaceouseaous earth on food we leave at the park for the cats. It's not the swimming pool kind, but it works on ants, fleas, etc. We just spread a circle of it around the food area and there are never any ants. Here's a site with info on it:

http://www.allsands.com/Gardening/diatomaceousear_ze_gn.htm

[wolflady]

UGH! I just hate those &$#*&$@ ants!! LOL LOL Like AmberLee said, we do get this problem for about a month once or twice a year. This last year was the worst for us!! Did you all know that ants are attracted to water? That's why you find them a lot in the bathrooms? YUK!! Who knew?
I usually go around the perimeters of our house and spray on the outside (use pet safe repellant). Around doors, windows...everywhere!! I have also used those ant houses inside, along with the repellant. Actually, and very surprisingly...we haven't had as much trouble with ants in our cat food dishes as we have had ants in the bathroom and in the kitchen!! I do have these bowls for my cats that we use, called 'fool-a-bug'. I got them at PetCo. That might be worth a shot too!
Good luck to all dealing with those 'ants marching'! LOL :rolleyes: