Solve the Mystery of the Moving Cat Food

[scruffylg]

I've got a bizarre situation with my cats' food. Can anyone help me figure out what's going on?

I keep my cats' food and litter in my carpeted basement. in an effort to keep the carpet clean, I purchased a tarp, laid it out on the carpet, and then put both the cats' food/drink and their litter boxes on the tarp (food at one end...litter at the other end). I've had this setup for around four years, and it has seemed to have worked totally fine. My cats are in good health, they eat fine, and use their litter boxes regularly without incident. I even have moved the location of the tarp a couple of times.

Recently, however, I discovered a number of small piles of cat food *underneath* the tarp. From the looks of it, one of the piles had been there a long time. Apparently, something has been moving their dry cat food out of their feeding bowl and underneath the tarp. Because of the size of the tarp and the weight of the litter boxes on it, it's impossible that the cats could have done this. Besides the fact that there's no reason for the cats to move their own food--rather than simply eat it--they would not be able to fit under the tarp to access the area where the food was found.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I presume there must be some animal (?) inside my basement doing this. I have had a problem with some mice in the past, but I have put traps in the basement, and one of my cats is an excellent mouser. I have a hard time believing that mice could be running around the basement--enough of them to move handfuls of cat food--and not be caught by my cat. Also, what kind of behavior is this? What kind of animal would move cat food from a bowl into a hidden area, without eating it? From what I can tell, the food that I "recovered" looks to be in pristine condition (aside from signs of "aging"). Is some animal creating a "nest" of cat food?

Has anyone ever had a problem like this? Any ideas as to what's going on?

Thanks.

 

[Jem]

The only animal that comes to mind (off the top of my head) that gathers and hides food are squirrels/chipmunks...I'm not sure about the feeding habits of mice, voles, moles, rats etc...and other critters that sometimes find their way into our homes.
But one of my cats will try to bury his food when he's done with it and will also sometimes push the water dish or food dish to another location...so maybe one of your kitties has found a way to hide his food? IDK.

I would do a thorough search of your house to try and find evidence of droppings and nesting, depending on the droppings you may be able to get a better idea of the critter you might have. And when I say thorough...get into the attic if you can, lift ceiling tiles if you have them. In the middle of the night, get a glass and see if you can hear anything in your walls.

We once had a squirrel get into the house but he only used our attic and walls to store food, his nest was outside so the only evidence of him was piles of seeds/pine cones and that we could hear him once in a while. Once we replaced the vent on the roof, he never came back in.

This fall we ended up with a vole getting into the basement, and as phenomenal as my cats are when it comes to mousing...our cats although interested in the critter, were sorta scared of it...it made loud noises and would actually try to bite them when they pounced.
And before you ask how I know.....I was trying to catch it with them...at 2 am...for almost 30 minutes....fun night! LOL!
I mention this as perhaps your kitties are them same...great hunters, but maybe this guy who's stealing their food is aggressive so they don't actually catch it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I gather the cats are not in the basement a lot of the time? It would seem to me that they would either be chasing whatever it is or freaked out enough not to want to go into the basement. Even if they don't see an animal down there, they most certainly would smell it and I would think they would have some reaction to what they smell. Since you said you found old food, do you think it is still happening now?

Aside from Jem 's suggestions, check for compromises in the basement walls/flooring, and if there are regress windows look for breaks/holes/gaps in those as well.

What if you were to buy/rent a camera or two to set down in the basement to see if you would catch some critter absconding the food?

 

[scruffylg]

Hi Gem and FeebysOwner. Thank you both for your helpful responses.

I've got two cats...one's a good mouser, but he tends to "use" the basement as he needs it and spends much of his time elsewhere, and the other one spends a lot of time in the basement but is more of a scaredy cat.

It does make sense that it could be a squirrel or chipmunk, as they store food, so maybe they are trying to create a food store for the winter--I guess it just never occurred to me that they'd find cat food a viable foodstuff and I'm surprised that an adult-sized one could get under and out of the tarp without leaving more evidence in the tarp itself. And we do have a lot of boxes in the basement, so it's possible that something has hidden itself among the boxes and I didn't notice or see droppings.

The idea of setting a camera down there is a good one. We have a baby monitor that I can use, though that doesn't have a record function, which might be useful.

I was hoping to avoid a massive hunt for egress methods, but Gem, you make a good point. At times I have heard a noise or two that was not easily explained, so perhaps there is a bigger problem allowing these critters to get into the house.

Thanks, again.

 

[Willowy]

I guess it just never occurred to me that they'd find cat food a viable foodstuff

Most animals love dry cat food.

Mice will create food caches, and are small enough that you probably wouldn't notice them getting under the tarp. Directly under the food dish is an odd choice but nobody said that mice are smart .

 

[fionasmom]

In your case, a camera is the best bet to solve this. Cats I have owned have ranged from the steel eyed hunter to the ones who figured mom was bringing the next meal, so who cares? That has even included outdoor ferals.

 

[Maria Bayote]

I agree with the cam. A recordable cctv is better so you can review in your spare time. We have to know who or what is the "culprit" and we go from there.

Is the basement well lit?

 

[scruffylg]

Thank you Willowy, fionasmom, and Maria Bayote for your comments. They were very helpful.

Update to the story....over the weekend we had a frozen pipe and a subsequent flood in our basement. It turns out there was a window open in our utility room that caused a pipe to freeze during the recent big storm. This open window is likely the entry point into the house for the what may be the offending "critter." The carpet in the basement is destroyed. I'm currently trying to get the remaining dampness out of the basement with fan and dehumidifiers. These loud machines, of course, terrify my cats, so their lives are upended as well.

The window is broken and will need to be fixed along with a bunch of other things. From the group discussion, it sounds like a small animal is to blame, but the truth is that it will now be a while before I can get around to solving this mystery for good--at this point I don't know when, or if, my basement will get back to normal.

Thanks to everyone for contributing. I really appreciated all of your thoughts.

 

[Babycat1]

I’ve heard carpet tiles for basements are an excellent choice. easy to remove& replace if some get damaged