Desperate...where do you feed your cats (if you have big dogs)

[ktgrok]

Right now they have their bowl on the dining room table. Which for obvious reasons is less than ideal. But my stupid big dog steals the darned cat food!  and it makes her sick.  So it has to be up high. But not so high the fat cat can't get up there, lol. 

 

Other high places are the kitchen table or kitchen counters, but those seem just as gross. If I put it on the breakfast bar no one uses, they have to jump onto the counter to get there, or at least will, I think. But at least then it doesn't look like I'm feeding them ON the kitchen counter. 

 

Tried child's dresser, and the dog would climb on the bed to get to the food on the dresser, and then spill canned cat food on the bed. So that didn't work. 

 

Husband won't agree to put cat door in bottom of a bedroom door to feed cats in the teen's room, and can't really work otherwise as he keeps his door closed most of the time to keep littles out of it. 

 

Hubby would HATE feeding them on our dresser. Or bathroom. 

 

So....I guess, which is least gross, dining room table we don't often eat at, but is in plain sight when you walk in, smaller kitchen table that is out of sight when you walk in, but that we eat at more often, kitchen counter, breakfast bar (narrow) that is in between kitchen and family room but that would require jumping on counter to get to it. 

 

Or some other bright idea. 

 

UPDATE: We moved the cat food to the top of the dyer, in the kitchen, and that seems to be working! No laundry room, but the dryer and washer have closet doors and are built into the kitchen. I'm just leaving one door open (bifold doors) and keeping the food up there. It's a bit of a jump for the cats, but the kitchen table and chairs are right there, so I have one chair turned so they can jump onto it then up onto the dryer. So far dog has ignored it :)

Edited November 7, 2016 by ktgrok

[VaKim]

We have a closed in porch at the front of our house. We keep a baby gate in the doorway and feed the cats out there. I have fed them on the washing machine before, but we have 7 cats now, so that does not work. 

 

Out of your choices, I'd do the kitchen table and just wipe it off before you use it, or put down a placemat or paper towel where you eat. Even though we don't feed our cats on our table, they still jump up there all the time and it has to be wiped off before eating there. No biggie. You just get used to it. 

[maize]

I'm the garage? The cats could ask to go in when they want to and the dog could be kept out?

[Guest]

We have a closed in porch at the front of our house. We keep a baby gate in the doorway and feed the cats out there. I have fed them on the washing machine before, but we have 7 cats now, so that does not work.

 

Out of your choices, I'd do the kitchen table and just wipe it off before you use it, or put down a placemat or paper towel where you eat. Even though we don't feed our cats on our table, they still jump up there all the time and it has to be wiped off before eating there. No biggie. You just get used to it.

I second baby gate. We put a baby gate across the laundry room door and fed the cats in there when we had indoor cats. I suspended it about 8 inches up because I had a cat that wouldn't jump over it. It kept a Pit Bull and Chesapeake Bay out because baby gates are magic and must not be crossed. :)

[zoobie]

In the laundry room on a shelving unit. We close the door to feed them.

[freesia]

My cousin feeds his on top of the refrigerator.

[Nan in Mass]

We have a long hook/eye on the bathroom door. It leaves the door open enough for the cat but not enough for the dog. It is called a catcankidcant, because originally it was to let the cat into the bathroom to get to her box but keep the toddlers out.

 

Nan

[ktgrok]

I second baby gate. We put a baby gate across the laundry room door and fed the cats in there when we had indoor cats. I suspended it about 8 inches up because I had a cat that wouldn't jump over it. It kept a Pit Bull and Chesapeake Bay out because baby gates are magic and must not be crossed. :)

 

The problem with this is that the only place to put the dog water bowl is in the kitchen. Which would be where I put the cat food. So the dogs wouldn't be able to get water. 

[ktgrok]

I'm the garage? The cats could ask to go in when they want to and the dog could be kept out?

 

Our garage is not pest proof, and we live in Florida. If we put food out there we'd have ants, roaches, etc in minutes. 

[ktgrok]

We don't have a laundry area, but on top of the dryer would work I think!!!!!!!!

 

Our laundry is in a closet with bifold doors in the kitchen. I could close the door that is in front of the dryer, with the food on there. The cats could jump up on the washer, then walk to the dryer, which would keep the dogs out, the food out of sight, and they could eat!!!

 

(Just have to be sure the washer lid stays closed, lol! That would be bad!)

[ktgrok]

Just moved the food there. You guys are geniuses!

 

Seriously, this has bugged me for YEARS! 

[Aura]

I don't leave food out for our cats. They get fed at night, and the dogs get put outside until the cats are finished. The cats get fed on the floor, and when the dogs come in, they can lick the bowls.

 

I could just as easily do it twice a day, but I only do it at night. One cat is overweight and only needs food once a day. The other cat used to be a stray and catches her own food frequently, so trying to feed her twice a day only results in food she doesn't eat.

 

Overweight cat gets canned food. Former stray refuses canned food and would rather eat dry dog food, so I've given up and she gets dry cat food (along with all the fresh kill she cares to catch--so I don't worry about her liquid intake too much). IOW, this method works for both dry and canned. 

 

Dogs and cats share a water dish.

[StephanieZ]

One cat eats on the counter in the laundry room.

 

Another cat eats on the powder room floor. (We close her in there while she's eating.) 

 

Previously, a pair of our cats ate on a bathroom counter.

 

Our new kittens eat on an upper level of their cat tree. (They can't quite climb to the highest dog-proof level, yet, but when they can, they'll be fed at a top level to make them dog-proof.)

 

One cat used to be fed at the top of the basement steps, on the landing. 

 

All our dogs will steal cat food if they get a chance. So will our big fat cat. So, most of our pets have to be fed in places where they can be protected from naughty dogs and the naughty cat. 

 

For cats, if they eat together and all you need to do is keep dogs away from their food, a tall cat tree is the best idea. They have trees as tall as 7' tall and you can even anchor them to the ceiling if you need to in order to prevent a really naughty dog from knocking the whole thing over! (Also, you can place a tree in a corner, making it much harder to knock over.) 

 

Alternately, you can just supervise their eating times. We generally feed 2x/day and it's a 10 min process of sticking various animals in various places and then supervising so Fat Cat doesn't steal anyone's food. The only hitch is that we have one skinny cat who really needs to eat as often as she likes. So, she's now fed in the powder room, and many times throughout the day, she fusses and is then shut up in there with her bowl of (dry) food that we stash in the vanity drawer when she's not eating it. She fusses again a few minutes to be let out, lol. And, now we have 2 kittens, who need to eat all day, so they are fed on the cat tree, and we refill as needed if Bad Dog knocks it off the tree and eats it all up. 

 

In general, I think laundry room counters or tall cat trees are generally good bets. As are meal times instead of free-feedings. 

 

Anyway, it's an arms race. Good luck!!

 

 

[Tanaqui]

Do you keep the cat food out all day? In your situation, I'd feed the cat two or three times a day and take the dog out for a walk during those times. The cat would adapt to eat meals instead of constant snacking.

[ktgrok]

Do you keep the cat food out all day? In your situation, I'd feed the cat two or three times a day and take the dog out for a walk during those times. The cat would adapt to eat meals instead of constant snacking.

 

the problem  with that is I have issues with remembering things...and would forget to feed them, lol. True story. Plus, cats biologically are snackers, not gorgers. When mine eat too much at once they barf. So I'd have to feed them at least 3 times a day, probably four, and would totally forget. 

 

They get canned 1-2 times a day (depending on if I rememember) and dry left out. 

 

But it's on top of the dryer now! Woohoo!

[Pawz4me]

One of the benefits of having a small picky eater dog -- absolutely no worries about him stealing the cat food!

 

When we had medium/large dogs and cats I kept the cats' dry food behind a baby gate. In one house an extra bedroom was the cats' room and in another house I kept our master bathroom gated off, which was a pain but necessary.

[mommytobees]

If you decide that the dry doesn't work, I'd get a cat tree at feed them at the top.

 

Good luck!

Kris

[anmom]

Ours is on top of the dryer. The dogs food is on the floor in the laundry room, but he eats it too. 

[JFSinIL]

I cut a cat-sized opening in a large plastic bin and put her dry food dish (this was for the all-day nibbler cat) at the far end of the bin.  Bin slide under a cabinet.  Lab could not get to the food.  For cat who ate different food, her food goes on a plate on the kitchen steps with a scary trash can and a SCARY evil BROOM leaning against it. Lab won't have anything to do with horrible scary broom.  I also have a kid's plastic safety gate leaning in a corner of the living room by Cat's favorite chair - her dry food is behind the gate, and she has to go under the chair to get to it. Lab is baffled again. Gate is held up by chair, small totem pole my grandfolks brought back from Alaska 70 years ago, and a footstool.

[Lanny]

Our cats eat in the laundry room.  Until a few months ago, we did have the problem you are having, because we had one dog (a young Rottweiler) who liked to go in there and eat the Cat food. As you know, per pound (or kilo) Cat    food is much more expensive than Dog food.  Sadly, the dog had a medical problem that was fatal and is no longer with us.  When he was alive, we would try to remember to close the door to the laundry room, when he was inside the house, but that was a problem for the cats getting in/out of there.    

 

[ktgrok]

I cut a cat-sized opening in a large plastic bin and put her dry food dish (this was for the all-day nibbler cat) at the far end of the bin.  Bin slide under a cabinet.  Lab could not get to the food.  For cat who ate different food, her food goes on a plate on the kitchen steps with a scary trash can and a SCARY evil BROOM leaning against it. Lab won't have anything to do with horrible scary broom.  I also have a kid's plastic safety gate leaning in a corner of the living room by Cat's favorite chair - her dry food is behind the gate, and she has to go under the chair to get to it. Lab is baffled again. Gate is held up by chair, small totem pole my grandfolks brought back from Alaska 70 years ago, and a footstool.

 

I think my dog is either smarter or hungrier than yours, lol. I tried blocking the food with the scary vacuum, and she just got less scared of the vacuum. Sigh. 

 

And she can open doors, etc so a gate leaning on stuff wouldn't stop her. 

 

but, she's leaving the food alone on the dryer. I wonder if all the other food smells in the kitchen are confusing her?

[NikiSC]

We placed the cat food in a Rubbermaid bin. DH cut a small opening and we push the bowl to the back. It works great! Now if we could figure out how to keep her from grazing in the litterbox😳.

[Bluegoat]

When I had cats, we put the food in an area the cat could enter but not the dog.  In one house, we cut a cat door into a large closet which also had the wood box and litter box.  In another we had an under-stair area wich we used an old window grate to block off.  Dogs could not get through the grate but cats could.

 

One of my dogs was pretty persistant, we had to surround the cat door with metal.  But it worked.

[TravelingChris]

OUr car eats in her cat condo in my daughter's room.  SHe eats canned food and normally eats most if not all of it at feeding time.  It is on the second level of her cat condo.  We don't lock her in normally with the food but the dog can't get in there.  

[Bensmom]

Our home had a small pet door already cut into the utility room door when we bought the house. Thought it would be perfect for the cat food and box. While we were out of the house the lab/shepherd must have got her head stuck in the pet door. She shattered all the surrounding door. Needless to say we didn't cut a cat door into the new replacement utility room door.

[Selkie]

Our four young cats eat in the mudroom, with a baby gate across the door.

 

Our old kitty likes to spend most of his time in our office, which is in the lower level of our house, so we feed him there.  We have a baby gate at the top of the steps to keep the dogs from going down there.  He has his food bowls (with his $$ prescription kidney diet food), litterbox and his very own big, puffy comforter to snuggle in.

[AK_Mom4]

Cats food is on top of the dryer. DH built a ramp for cat to walk up now that Mr Cat is older

[ktgrok]

I'm realizing part of my problem is the dumb, open concept style of house that predominates in florida. Or that my house is too small, lol. But no laundry room (just a closet sort of), no mudroom, no basement, etc. And Florida has a huge issue with bugs, so if the food is at floor level we will have ants, for sure. But...the dryer is working!

[Amy in NH]

Our cat dish & litter box are on opposite sides of the downstairs bathroom sink. We put a chain lock on the outside of the bathroom door about 2/3 of the way up. It was installed vertically so that the lock drops into it, and so that the bathroom door can be kept open enough for the cat to get through when it's latched, but the dog can't fit. It can also be easily unlocked with a hand stuck through from inside the bathroom by sliding the chain up - just in case someone accidentally gets locked in. I don't know if you get the gist from this convoluted description, but it works great and solves that problem as well as keeping the dog out of the litter box.

[ktgrok]

Our cat dish & litter box are on opposite sides of the downstairs bathroom sink. We put a chain lock on the outside of the bathroom door about 2/3 of the way up. It was installed vertically so that the lock drops into it, and so that the bathroom door can be kept open enough for the cat to get through when it's latched, but the dog can't fit. It can also be easily unlocked with a hand stuck through from inside the bathroom by sliding the chain up - just in case someone accidentally gets locked in. I don't know if you get the gist from this convoluted description, but it works great and solves that problem as well as keeping the dog out of the litter box.

 

Our guest bath doesn't have room for the food, the master bath does, but DH would have a fit. 

[Amy in NH]

Waaa

[BigMamaBird]

We have a built in desk in our kitchen.  We took a baby gate, fixed it across the opening and cut a cat sized opening in the plastic mesh. 

[Anne in CA]

The spare bathroom, and we keep the door closed most of the time, we let the cat in (before the cat died a few weeks ago, not because she didn't get enough to eat, she was 16 lol) and would let her eat a few times a day.

[Ausmumof3]

Does the cat need to have food available at all times or could someone out it out for her for about 10 minutes while the dog is elsewhere then take it up three times a day?

 

I totally get these kind of problems I seem to be forever trying to shuffle the pet logistics around. The worst was when we had baby chickens in one room, and orphaned magpie in the other and cat in the middle! My kids learnt to shut doors at least.

[Ellie]

I have resorted to feeding the cats at specific times instead of letting them free-feed. While they are eating, I guard the food to keep the dog from bothering the cats. Everyone has lived to tell about it. :-)

[mom@shiloh]

We have the opposite problem.  Our cats eat all the dog food and won't let the dog near it.  All of our animals are outdoor, so now we have to feed the dog in the chicken pen with the door closed.  He doesn't like it.   :thumbdown:

[MyLittleBears]

We have the cat food downstairs and dogs upstairs. We have caught the dogs going downstairs a couple of times but we discouraged it with a gate. Eventually they got the picture. :glare:

[gaillardia]

Mostly, cat is fed in the girls' room, since cat loves the girls. 

Dog, 40 lbs., used to try to eat cat's food, but not so much anymore. Ditto for cat on dog's food. They share the water bowl. ?

They are weird. Dog will not eat until late at night or early next morning, when she's sure we're not going to feed her other food.

[Splash]

We have a climbing post/tree and put their food at top.  Keeps it away from dogs.  Friend locks her cats in bathroom while they eat then lets them out when done.

 

[Guest]

We have a cat door in the room we feed them in, so we can close the door and leave food. Recently, my husband put a gate on the stairs to keep the dogs from going upstairs and so we have just started feeding them upstairs.

[Davysmom]

We have a cat door in the room we feed them in, so we can close the door and leave food.

This is what we do.