Cat food placement

[bearkatjen]

I have an 18 month old son who would love nothing more than to eat cat food and play in the cats' water bowl. I currently keep the cat food in the foyer where my son doesn't have access, but I don't love having it there. We have a cat door in the door that leads to the garage. Our garage is just for storage (bikes, lawn mower, tools), and for the cats. We have a cat tree out there and their litter box. Would it be problematic to have their food out there too? Would I end up having a bug problem?

[cmeon]

Ideally, you wouldn't be free feeding her- 2 meals a day is better for monitoring her intake, for medicating with food (should she ever need that), but, it sure does make things easier around the house when you have little ones, too.

I would definitely try to find an indoor location for her food if it's possible- can you gate off a mudroom/laundryroom? You can get gates that have a little cat sized door. If you do need to move her food to the garage, you need to be on top of it, removing what's left in the bowl at the end of the day.

[awick14]

I wouldn't put the food outside in the garage. Here that would attrack mice.

[bearkatjen]

The laundry room doesn't have an area adequate for feeding them, plus I don't want the appliances to bother them. I guess I'll just stick with the foyer for awhile longer.

I kind of free feed. I give the cats a specific amount each day, but they are allowed to eat it when they want. I give enough for a 24 hour period. I'm a little afraid that if we broke their meals into two servicing times, then DH or I might forget their morning meal.

[Deleted]

If the cats already go there for litter, I don't see a problem with keeping food in the garage (I assume your garage doesn't get super cold in the winter?).

We have an unfinished basement that is used for storage and that's where we keep the cats' food, water, litter and an extra cat tree.

No judgment from me on free feeding. We have three cats who are fully free fed (we never let the bowls get empty) and they've maintained their same weights for years with no issues.