How to Keep Ants Out of Your Pet's Food

Those pesky little ants just love to gather in and around pet food that's left sitting out, but there are times when it's necessary to leave a food dish uncovered and out in the open. Like when the owner will be gone and the pet needs to have food available. Does that mean the ants win and can have free reign just because it's necessary to leave dog or cat food out in a dish where they can crawl all over it? No it does not. There is a very simple and easy way to keep ants out of your pet's food.

All you need to do is get a bowl that is deep enough for your pet's food bowl to fit down inside of and fill it with water. But you might need to do like I did and experiment with several different bowl type containers for both the food and the bottom portion before finding a good combination that works.

I initially tried putting the food in an empty plastic square bowl that lunch meat comes packaged in but it was too lightweight and floated around too much in the water. My pets wouldn't go near it because it moved around too much and I didn't like it because it tipped over. So I decreased the amount of water in the bottom holder but this didn't solve the problem because there wasn't enough water to keep the food bowl in the middle of the water ... so the ants were able to get in and have a grand time. I ended up using a heavy glass bowl to put the food in. The glass works quite well because it is heavy and does not float around in the water and it stays in place in the middle of the bottom holder.

Finding the bottom piece to hold the food bowl was easy. I used the flat bottom round piece of a ceramic planter. Just be sure the bottom piece isn't so large that it overpowers the food bowl. Your pet has to be able to reach their neck and mouth down inside to get the food. So just find a shallow dish that is slightly larger than the food bowl but will hold enough water on each side of the food so as to create a moat that the ants won't cross.
Once I found the right food bowl and holder, it was time to fill the bottom holder piece with water. The amount of water needed in the bottom bowl or container will vary depending on how big and tall the food bowl is. You don't want the water getting in the food itself, but there needs to be enough water to deter the ants from getting in the food. I always use two cups of water because this amount seems to be adequate enough to keeps the ants out of the food. Experiment until you find the right combination to meet your needs.

Don't forget to check the water level in the round planter bowl every day and refill it as needed and change it out every few days. There will most likely still be ants running around the rim of the bottom holder piece bowl, but the ants will not get into the pet's food.