I go to give him his morning refill and it looks like a Salvador Dali nightmare. So I mopped the floor with carbolic acid soap to break the pheromone trail, but I might have just as well mopped it with Mrs Butterworth’s for all the good it did. I’ve set out bait domes, but I haven’t seen any results.
He gets open feeding of dry food: I can’t expect to feed him single meals that he’ll eat, then wash the bowl. Do I need to kennel the cat while I fight the infestation?
Put your cats food bowl in the middle of a pan of water.
You’ll need the food bowl to weigh enough that it doesn’t float and the pan small enough that the cat can reach the bowl.
That ants can’t cross the water to get to the food.
Yep, a water moat is the way to go, either pre-made or a do-it-yourself deal.
If you use a DIY variety, check it frequently to make sure the bowl hasn’t been pushed over to the lip of the water container, the little bastids are really quick to find a bridge!
The ants generally come into my house and find the cats’ kibble in the kitchen around the middle of July. They come in from the garden and make exploratory forays across the living room until they locate the kitchen. Then I come downstairs one morning and the food bowl is crowded with them.
I tried the water thing a few years ago, but the moisture made the kibble less crisp and the cats didn’t like it. What I wound up doing is feeding the cats upstairs–this summer on the second-floor landing. The ants don’t find the food upstairs and their little scouts aren’t wandering around the kitchen anymore since I made sure the kibble container and any other food that might draw them has been sealed.
We put our cat’s food on a scratching post pedestal with positive results but I like the moat idea, especially as the cat gets older. The only thing is our cat now likes to pull food out of the dish so that could be a mess.
Get thee some Diatomaceous Earth.
True, it kills bedbugs.
But it will kill ants too.
And not hurt Kitty, you, nor anybody else, that has less than 6 legs.
If you can find where they’re getting into the house, you could dust the area with ground cinnamon, inside or out. The ones we had came through the corner of an outside door that didn’t seal tightly. If you can’t find the entrance, either dust the area around the dish, or raise the dish on a platform of cinnamon sticks. (Protecting the dish alone isn’t as good as doing the entrance; they might just spread out and find your food.)
I’ve used chalk with sucess. It has to be enough chalk. I use a chalk line, but you have to make it wide enough for all of the ant’s feet to get in it.
It’s a drying agent, like the Diatomaceous Earth that Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor suggested. Borax works too.