Ideas for keep dog out of cat's food?!?

[HillaryH]

I have an adorable 15 lb mutt with bionic legs & a 4 ft vertical jump. :eek: I have been trying all different things with the cat food but with little success. I saw a product in the Plow & Hearth catalog, a cat feeding station, that proports to keep the dog out but let the kitty in. Can’t seem to find it online or I’d post a link. It a wooden “box” wherein the cat climbs up some stairs and eats in a contained area & I guess the dog can’t fit through the opening. It’s pricey at $150 but I’m desperate.

Anyway, does have this product or something similar? Does it work? Other suggestions welcome!

[threedogpack]

feed your cat meals. If it’s not available 24/7, the dog will have no reason to look for the food.

[clint]

I have three dogs who adore cat food. I do two things: when I have foster kittens, who eat all the time, they are in a room and the doors are closed. My cats have a feeding station on top of a counter. They all know to go there to eat, and my disabled cat gets up there using a chair system. It works for me. However, if you find the cat feeding station catalog picture, please share it, because cat food isn’t good for dogs and since they do manage to get into it occasionally, I’m interested.

[Bicoastal]

Cardboard box

A little redneck but free! A sturdy cardboard box with all seams taped shut. Cut a cat-sized hole in or up near the roof. When it gets beat up by the dog’s attempts :lol:, recycle it and trash-pick a new one.

I’m guessing you’ve tried putting the cat food bowl up high but his spring-loaded legs can reach any height the cat can reach?

[Bacardi1]

Our house has a rather “open” floor plan, & there’s a large counter (not used for human food preparatin) that separates the kitchen from the dining/living area. That’s where the 24/7 dry cat food is situated. When I feed my cats their daily meal of canned food, the dogs are contained in the bedroom until they finish.

[wendy]

don’t leave cat food sitting out. It’s not healthy to feed cats dry food in the first place, and there’s no reason whatsoever to not feed them meals instead of just leaving the buffet open 24/7.
If you need to keep the dog away while the cat eats, I suggest feeding your dog in a crate while your cat eats her meal somewhere. You can feed cats in crates too. Mealtime should be over in 10 minutes or less so it’s also possible you could spend the time kitty is eating to run your dog through his obedience exercises or something.

[Bacardi1]

@wendy;6209418

don’t leave cat food sitting out. It’s not healthy to feed cats dry food in the first place, and there’s no reason whatsoever to not feed them meals instead of just leaving the buffet open 24/7.

Sorry - but not only is this thread NOT one of the usual “cat fights” re: what diet is best, but no one is qualified to make a blanket statement like that.

My vet - who I’ve trusted for 15 YEARS & who has seen all of my cats reach nearly 20 years of age before declining - has no problem with, & has actually encouraged - my allowing 24/7 access to quality dry food for my gang (two of which are currently well past the 15-year mark).

Everyone is entitled to their opinions re: “the perfect diet” for their animals. They’re NOT entitled to make that call for everyone else.

[wendy]

you do realize that vets get remarkably little nutrition training and most of that is sponsored by a certain company? people who rely on their vet for nutritional advice need a reality check.

Nutrition is a science. It’s not about opinion.

[Bacardi1]

Whatever floats your boat dear. My cats get annual exams which include bloodwork, have all been happy & healthy & have lived very long lives. And had 24/7 access to dry food. Sorry to disappoint or upset you, but in my (& my vet’s) book - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[vtdobes]

My cats (when I had them) were fed twice a day on the high windowsill. They would get their ration and hog it down and were done with it. My last cat was fed on the washing machine. She also got 2x a day and ate it right up. I fed them all at the same time so dogs & cats finished up pretty much at the same time so there was no one still eating when the others were finished.

[Louise]

I have four cats. Two are gobblers, and two are pickers. I feed them meals and I shut the two who suck their food right down and look for more in a room with a litter box and water for about an hour, twice a day. That way, the pickers have an hour to come and go, eating their little bit at a time portions each time.

The two cats who are shut in their room, by the way, don’t seem to suffer. I don’t have to put them there, they know that’s where their food is going and they go right in. Often, when I go to let them out, I will find both of them on the bed, snoozing.

[Blacklabs]

Mind have their own feeding station 24/7 and it’s a antique cabinet that sits 42" high. Just high enough so that my labs can’t get their food.

[alto]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6209485]
Whatever floats your boat dear. My cats get annual exams which include bloodwork, have all been happy & healthy & have lived very long lives. And had 24/7 access to dry food. Sorry to disappoint or upset you, but in my (& my vet’s) book - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.[/QUOTE]

Either your vet is unaware of new research in cat nutrition or like most vets, she is a realist with a sliding scale …

Client A has cats in apparant good health & strongly prefers to feed dry food with 24/7 access, client does annual bloodwork

• conclusion: Client A is a good cat owner.

[Bluey]

We always fed our cats and dogs twice a day, but the cats also had some free choice all day kibble.

The cat food was in a place off limits to dogs, the dogs knew it and were watched closely.
We had to keep the cat food accessible to the elderly cats, not on hard to reach places so the dog can’t get up there.

I don’t remember ever having a dog get into the cat food, but we did mix some of that cat food into our training dog treats and it was like candy to them.

I would consider working on your dog end, train and confine the dog so it doesn’t get into any cat food or litter pans.

A friend had a dog bigger than the cats and put an x-pen in such a way the cats could walk between it and the wall to the enclosure in the corner, but the dog didn’t fit thru there and around the bend and also taught the dogs to stay away from that part of the room.

Don’t know if that would work with your dog.

[Diamondindykin]

I free feed dry food to all 7 of my cats and the indoor cats food is on the counter in one of our bathrooms. We feed wet food twice a day and when they are done eating we pick those bowls up. The cat that lives in the shop also eats on a counter because our dogs are out with my husband in the shop all day. The two barn cats eat on the floor in the tackroom that has a man door with a small cat door. The dogs can’t fit through it.

[Mali]

I had a wooden box laying around the house that I wasn’t using for anything (imagine a small solid wooden crate type box). I had my dad make a lid for it out of wood, which he attached to the box with 2 hinges. Then he cut a hole in one of the short sides, just large enough for the cat to squeeze thru (but not the Lab head). Voila - cat feeding station for a whopping $10 or less. I just keep a pie pan inside of it filled with dry food, and set something heavy on top of the lid so smart pants Lab can’t open the lid.

[WarDance]

I have a cat that does 1/2 time between my house and the barn. In order to keep the dog out of it, I move the location of the food to various high locations in the house. My dog is really smart and I don’t like leaving it in one location for too long because I could totally see him coming up with a plan to get the kitty food.

I alternate between a high window sill, the washing machine and a closet. I keep the closet door open just enough for the cat to get in. I put something really heavy by the door so the dog can’t push it open. A heavy potted plant really works wonders if you put it right by the door.

The closet trick seems to be the best. However, my dog is 60 pounds and the cat is like 15 (maybe more, he’s a big kitty) so the size difference works out.

[Equibrit]

Feed the cat above the 4ft level.

[Romany]

[QUOTE=HillaryH;6209225]
I have an adorable 15 lb mutt with bionic legs & a 4 ft vertical jump. :eek: I have been trying all different things with the cat food but with little success. I saw a product in the Plow & Hearth catalog, a cat feeding station, that proports to keep the dog out but let the kitty in. Can’t seem to find it online or I’d post a link. It a wooden “box” wherein the cat climbs up some stairs and eats in a contained area & I guess the dog can’t fit through the opening. It’s pricey at $150 but I’m desperate.

Anyway, does have this product or something similar? Does it work? Other suggestions welcome![/QUOTE]

Found it, I think :eek:

http://www.plowhearth.com/Tiered-Wood-Cat-Feeding-Station-With-Two-Stainless-Bowls_p403153.html

We stopped our greedy bouncy dog from getting at the cat food on the kitchen counter by jamming a kiddie-gate in the kitchen doorway, but raising it enough from the floor that the dog could neither wiggle under nor squeeze over the gate, which worked relatively well.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=Romany;6209941]
Found it, I think :eek:

http://www.plowhearth.com/Tiered-Wood-Cat-Feeding-Station-With-Two-Stainless-Bowls_p403153.html

We stopped our greedy bouncy dog from getting at the cat food on the kitchen counter by jamming a kiddie-gate in the kitchen doorway, but raising it enough from the floor that the dog could neither wiggle under nor squeeze over the gate, which worked relatively well.[/QUOTE]

The idea of getting a very sturdy gate and raising it a bit is the best I have heard.
I hope your mutt is not so small that also won’t work, or learns to do the dance under the pole they do in the tropics.:lol:

I would not use that gate where humans have to walk thru very often, they could trip.
Maybe designate a small side room or closet for that.

Any pictures of that bionic mutt?:eek: