Ants and dry cat food

[sang72]

I'm so frustrated, I just moved to a new complex and now I have ants ants ants. They are always in the dry cat food, and my babies all look at me as if to say "there's little crawling dots on my food" I've tried ant baits (the enclosed kind) and melaluca oil, and vacuming them up. I've moved the cat food, but it's not working. I've taken to taking their dry food away and just giving them wet food twice a day. I don't want to use raid or any other spray, because I don't want my kitties to lick it up. Any Ideas?

Sang

 

[kitkatz]

Try puting the dry food in a plastic container with a well sealing lid.

And try to figure out where the ants are coming in.

 

[lotsocats]

Put the bowl of dry food inside a slightly larger bowl filled with water. The ants won't be able to swim across the moat to the feed, so the food will stay ant-free!

 

[hissy]

You can also do a line of cinnamon ants do not like cinnamon and they will not cross the line. In the water, they may form a bridge and cross over depending on how hungry they are.

 

[glentheman20]

Form a bridge??? As much as I hate them, they sure are industrious little buggers!

I'll keep the cinnamon thing in mind for the feral cat food. I currently have the bowl inside a pie pan filled with water, which so far has kept the ants out. I also surround the pie pan with a ring of rock salt to keep the slugs away.
I've also heard that ants won't cross a line of chalk, but that when I tried it the ants laughed at me and got some cat munchies.

 

[jcat]

The cinnamon generally works, as I found out just last summer at school. We'd been using baking soda, to little avail, until one of the kids suggested cinnamon or ground mace. As neighborhood cats often climb in the open windows and visit the classes, nobody wanted to use poison. We don't get as many feline visitors as we used to (there used to be a brothel next door with a slew of cats, but it was forced to move, for obvious reasons).

 

[vettechstudent]

I have one of those fool-a-bug bowls.They work pretty well,but sometimes on occasion the ants do figure out how to get in the food.If they do I throw out the food and wash the bowl good and it keeps them away for awhile.Just be sure and don't have the bowl pushed up against something(like the wall) or the ants will easily get in it.

Anyway,here is the pic and a link.

http://www.petsupply-reviews.com/pet...ug-825875.html


Good luck.In the summertime I am usually overrun with these little black buggers.

 

[mzjazz2u]

Put a couple of small containers out on the floor or counter with some thick honey in it. The ants love it and will be attracted to it and will get stuck in it! I don't think this will hurt the cats any but if someone else has info to the contrary, please correct me. My cats don't bother with it. They just want meaty stuff!

 

[gothic_amethyst]

This might make some of you laugh but it works. I saw a poinsetta in the christmas clearance and it was needing a home so I brought it home. I had a really bad ant problem. I think they were attracted to the pollen. Well to solve the problem I placed a small layer of vaseline around the entire circumfrence of the pot about a centimeter to and inch wide. Vaseline is sticky so they cant crawl, but it's not something they are attracted to so no extra ants will be drawn to it. It's also clear so noone can really see it. Just dont put so much that the cats will get it on them or spread it around the house. Start with a small THIN layer then just add more if they still can cross the layer. This works wonders outside with hummingbird feeders too. Ants get in the nectar and ruin it. Put vaseline around the pole and they cant crawl any higher. It should work just as good if placed around the bowl. Just put in on a place where you can still pick up or move the bowl. Otherwise you'll get it on you and it'll be off the bowl.

Oh besides vacumming, ducktape works really well to pick up ants. It's kinda cruel but works well if you have an ant attack, but not enough time to get out the vaccum.

 

[deb25]

You want to be careful with a poinsettia around the house. It is toxic to cats.

 

[gothic_amethyst]

Originally posted by Deb25
You want to be careful with a poinsettia around the house. It is toxic to cats.

Thanks, but I already knew that and I have my poinsetta in a room my cats cant and dont go in. Thanks for telling me if I hadnt known.

 

[amandag81]

Ok I read all of this thread and I now have the dry food in a bowl thats in a bowl of water. My question is how is this even possible?

The ants I am getting are TINY and light orange/brown in color and they are coming OUT of the dry food not going into the bowl. So I do not see how that would help. How is it possible these ants are coming or "spawning" inside the dry food. It grosses me out and I do not want my cats eating them for fear of them getting worms. I tried switching brands, cleaning out the dispenser (which is now changed to a bowl for the water mote idea), They just seem to come back with specific brands and not very often seems like every few weeks sometimes even months. It seems even more so with specfic brands. (chefs blend friskies), I am using a off brand that I havent used in years (indoor formula didnt matter what kind I got just the brand) and they are there again I do not get it and I am really frustrated with it. please help hehe ( I have 5 cats that LOVE their dry food and I feed about 12 feral strays with the same food but I dont want them to get worms or anything else these ants might do either)

Thanks for any info on this

Amanda

 

[halfpint]

Put the bowel of cat food, on a larger dish with enough water just to cover the bottom of the bowel, the ants won't go through the water to get in the food bowel, I have done this for several years, I tell everyone about it works like a charm

 

[halfpint]

I posted about the water deal without checking to see if someone mentioned it, the ants must be in the bag of food I would say.

 

[halfpint]

Originally Posted by lotsocats

Put the bowl of dry food inside a slightly larger bowl filled with water. The ants won't be able to swim across the moat to the feed, so the food will stay ant-free!

That's what I say to never have a problem anymore.

 

[urbantigers]

Are you sure they're ants? I have an annual ant infestation in my kitchen (the nest appears to be in the cavity between 2 apartments) and one year I had someone out to put something down to get rid of them and he mentioned something else he'd found - forget what it was - some sort of mite - that was commonly found in dry, contaminated pet food. They sound similar to your description.

 

[cearbhaill]

I don't think ants came in the food- I think they just swarmed the bowl and that's where you see them.

I had to quit leaving dry food down all the time and switched to scheduled feedings. Problem solved.

 

[amandag81]

Actually I have tested it a few times and watched these little orange ants are coming out of the dry food they make their way out of the bowl to get to food on the floor I never see them going in they mainly are coming out of the bowl back and forth for the food I did the water thing and they arent showing up but it just freaks me out never seen that before I thought maybe if a piece goes stale they get born from that seems far fetched but tahts exactly what it looks like to me =(

 

[stormy]

Originally Posted by hissy

You can also do a line of cinnamon ants do not like cinnamon and they will not cross the line. In the water, they may form a bridge and cross over depending on how hungry they are.

That worked wonders for me last summer. When we were invaded by tiny red ants that kept getting in their dry food and it's a raised bowl!

 

[loubelia]

My husband and I had that problem last year as the ants down here were bad. This year they're here, but better...thank goodness! But we make sure that the house is thoroughly vacuumed /swept good and then we put down Ortho ant killer (little yellow granules that attracts most ants, can find it at Lowe's for like 14.00) around perimeter base on the outside of the house and treat our yard with insect stuff. We also spray the house walls on the outside.