Sara, great! I forgot about chalk! I'll draw a line around the kid's food tonight, that should help.

I'm using OrangeGuard spray and it's helping. (It's an extract from oranges that's safe around pets and food. A little strong orange scent in my opinion but the cats are okay with it surprisingly and it kills ants on contact.)

Livvy will attack ants on a onesie-twosie basis, but freaks out when they outnumber her paws. Since she takes about 5 minutes from her first pounce to her killing stroke (for an ant???) there is usually enough time for them to freak her out before her grand finale.

When the fur-kids go sit side-by-side studying the wall or floor together this time of year it's usually a sign we are getting a new ant attack started. I guess they are a good early warning system.