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Question
from Louise:
It's almost summer and with summer come bugs! How do I keep them away
from the cats' food? Do you have any other feeding advice?
Response from Meredith Weiss:
Typical bugs attracted to cat food are ants, flies and slugs. Ants
can be kept out of the food by building a small moat. Take a plastic tray
or Tupperware container -- something flat and fairly wide with raised sides --
and fill it with a quarter to a half inch of water. Then put the food in a
separate bowl and place that in the middle of the tray with the water. The
water will prevent the ants from reaching the food, while the cats can easily
lean over and eat.
Slugs - well, strange as it sounds the way I solved this problem was to
feed the slugs separately! Just take a little bit of dry or wet food and
put it on the ground near the slugs, at least several inches away from the cat
food bowls -- they'll be happy to not have to climb into the bowls.
Flies become a problem when the food is left out uneaten in warm
weather. They are more of a problem with canned food than with
dry. If your colony isn't trained to eat at a scheduled time, don't leave
out wet food on hot days. Feed in the evening or at night instead.
Or leave out dry food only.
In the case of a sudden rainstorm, it's recommended to have a
covered feeding station for your colony. If this isn't possible and you
have to put food out unprotected from the elements, you can try this method to
keep it dry: Again, take a Tupperware container, or a typical styrofoam
take-out container from a restaurant, usually about nine inches wide.
Fill it with dry food. Place the matching lid on the container upside
down so it is covering the food but not snapped on. Put a few pieces of
food on top of the turned-over lid. Even in this position, the lid will
keep the rain out. When the rains stops and the cats come out they'll
smell the food and flip the lid off to get it.
Both pigeons and raccoons love cat food! Hopefully in your area you
only have one or the other -- not both! If you have pigeons, feed after
dark when the pigeons are sleeping. With raccoons, just the opposite;
usually they rarely venture out during daylight hours. And if you do have
both in your neighborhood -- good luck! Leave out plenty of
food. Raccoons and cats can get along and eat together if there's
enough for everybody.
What to feed. Feed the best quality food you can comfortably
afford. If you have a colony of three you may be able to feed a higher
quality (more expensive) food than if you have a large colony. You may
find that if you switch from a low quality to a higher one you'll soon be
feeding a smaller quantity, so when you average out the cost, it may not be much
greater after all. And if you do switch, do it gradually, mixing in the
old with the new.
Generally, canned food is more nutritious than dry, but almost all feral
cats will have to be given dry food at least some times for a variety of
reasons. Check the ingredients on the label. If the first one is some kind
of grain, or byproducts, it's not the best food as it contains mostly that
ingredient. Remember, cats are carnivores and actually require no
carbohydrates at all.
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