How do I keep a mischevious toddler from getting to the cat's bowls?

[TwoBees]

DD will not leave the cat's bowls alone. I thought that if she put her hand into the wet food, she would not go back. But no, she wants to splash her hands in the water bowl or dump the wet or dry food on the ground. *sigh* Moving the bowls to another room isn't an option. Putting the bowls on a counter isn't an option. "No" isn't working and I am getting dizzy picking her up and turning her around every 30 seconds. Any ideas?

[WolfpackMom]

Cleaning wet cat food off a kids hand is so yucky, its also yucky when you turn around and see a big smile on the his face and realize he has eaten some cat food.....

Obvisouly I dont have an answer for you, lol. But I hope someone else has an idea. I suppose you could put the food up high where the cat can jump to, I personally don't have a free counter/area for that.

[dukie41181]

We have the same problem with my 22 month old! Luckily for us, the bowls are upstairs in the hallway and we only run into the problem around bathtime when the tub is filling. I think its a natural curiosity for toddlers and I don't know if there's any preventing it without completely bloxking the area which isn't an option for you. Good supervision (oy vey!) And time will probably do it. I would love it if someone else had a great solution cuz i'd use it too! Hopefully someone else will chime in with something more!

[TwoBees]

Originally Posted by WolfpackMom

Cleaning wet cat food off a kids hand is so yucky, its also yucky when you turn around and see a big smile on the his face and realize he has eaten some cat food......

I thought that if she ate some, she wouldn't go near it again (yes, I was willing to let her eat some if she stuck her hands in the bowl!) but she's too smart for that. She has no interest in touching the wet food. Just picking up the bowl, turning it upside down, and shaking it.

Originally Posted by WolfpackMom

Obvisouly I dont have an answer for you, lol. But I hope someone else has an idea. I suppose you could put the food up high where the cat can jump to, I personally don't have a free counter/area for that.

That's our problem too. We also don't want the cat to start thinking it's okay to be on the counters.

[m448]

The goal is to set yourself and your daughter up for success. In this case to stay out of the catfood. Since she's too immature to have any type of impulse control (and that's going to be so for years, not months) your only option is to move the food or gate it off. I know it's not convenient but really it's either that or spend all day telling her no and then getting frustrated when she inevitably makes it into the cat food.

[brittone2]

Going through this now with a crawling baby boy who will haul his tooshie at warp speed over to the dog bowls if they are out My other two did as well. Much easier to feed the pets in a different room or gate off their food than spend all day chasing kids out of pet bowls.

[Pear]

We finally gave up and cut a cat door in the wall next to
Our storage room. We keep the litter boxes on one end and the food on the other. The cat can get in and out, but not DD. Until then I was going crazy because she was convinced the food and water were there for her mixing pleasure.

[Thatchermom]

We bought a large bread box with a sliding cover and put it in there for the duration of the craziness. It was big enough for the cat to be partially inside while eating. I doubt it was the cat's favorite thing, but neither was an empty bowl all the time. Our thinking was that we could leave it closed when the cat wasn't around, but really that only lasted a short while. Once the food bowls were out of sight, DD stopped being interested in them and we didn't have to close it often. PITB to clean. DD is three and the box is gone now.

[writermama]

we moved the cat's food to the laundry room and used an inexpensive hook and eye fastener from a hardware store mounted high on the door to keep curious toddlers out and keep the door open.

[TwoBees]

Originally Posted by Thatchermom

We bought a large bread box with a sliding cover and put it in there for the duration of the craziness. It was big enough for the cat to be partially inside while eating. I doubt it was the cat's favorite thing, but neither was an empty bowl all the time. Our thinking was that we could leave it closed when the cat wasn't around, but really that only lasted a short while. Once the food bowls were out of sight, DD stopped being interested in them and we didn't have to close it often. PITB to clean. DD is three and the box is gone now.

That's an interesting idea. I had been thinking about a large dog crate. The bread box sounds less expensive.

I also found this and now I am trying to figure out how exactly I can work it in the kitchen.