Mice can be a problem for cat owners. These disgusting uninvited guests are predominant in typical households.
A paper published by AP News revealed that every year almost 21 million houses suffer from rodent infestation.
They are attracted to cat food. Besides making the food unfit for cat consumption, they could potentially threaten your pet’s health.
How to keep mice away from cat food is a common problem for all cat owners. To find the best possible ways, keep reading.
Mice have a strong sense of smell and taste. This makes it easy for them to smell cat food and invade the bowl.
Their climbing skills are also an edge, as they can mount across wires and ropes. They can also jump around 13 inches above the floor. All of these add to their easy entry into cat food bowls.
Mice are dangerous for your cats as well as for you. This makes it necessary to ban their entry into your home and your cat’s bowl.
Altogether, limiting their entry is seemingly impossible. However, various methods could be practiced to repel mice.
These methods include:
- Changing the type of cat food and their eating patterns
- Applying natural remedies like spraying spice or apple cider solutions around food bowls
- Shifting the place of the cat food bowl
- Sealing mice entry point into the house
Read the full article for detailed information about how these strategies work and how you can apply them to get maximum results.
The article elaborates on the potential health risks to cats caused by mice and how to keep them away from cat food bowls. It also contains conclusive arguments and frequently asked questions about mice activity concerning cats.
How Are Mice Dangerous for Your Cats?
Mice are attracted to cats’ food because it has grains, meat parts, and other nutrients that rodents require.
But mice contact with cat food could have potential health risks for your pet.
Mice are not only annoying, but according to US National Pest Management Association, they could also be a source of 35 diseases.
Furthermore, they are liable for carrying multiple parasites, including fleas, mites, and roundworms. So it’s safe to keep them away for the better health of your pet.
6 Effective Measures To Keep Mice Out of Cat Food Bowls
It’s challenging to repel mice from your cat food bowl as they are small, quick, and multiply fast.
However, depending on their nature, some practices could yield effective results, and these include:
1. Use Herbs
Natural remedies like garlic or onion powder, chili powder, Tabasco sauce, and apple cider solution with water could effectively repel mice. Mice hate these spices, which do not affect cats.
However, apple cider solution is more recommended because some cats are reluctant to go in areas sprayed with spices.
These natural remedies are easy to apply and could help keep mice at bay. Just scatter them around the cat bowl, and they will show their results.
2. Change Cat Food Type
Wet cat foods have intense aromas that can attract rodents. They could be problematic, especially when you are trying to get rid of mice.
In contrast to wet food, dry foods have no appetizing odor for rodents.
So switching from wet cat food to dry food could be an effective strategy in repelling mice.
3. Set Meal Schedules for Your Cat
Your pet’s scheduled diet is the best solution to keep your cat’s food bowl safe from mice. Make a meal routine for your pet to finish whatever is in the bowl instead of leaving leftovers and attracting mice.
Clean the bowl after your cat finishes eating to ensure there is no tempting aroma to attract mice further.
4. Keep the Cat Bowl Away From Walls
Do you remember Jerry’s tiny home at the base of a wall in the Tom and Jerry cartoon?
Due to the small size of mice, they can easily fit into a very little space. The chance for their presence in your home walls is maximum.
Maintain a safe distance of at least 10 inches from walls to limit the chance of mice contact with your cat’s food bowl.
Mice are hesitant to light to prevent their exposure. Placing the cat food bowl in light could also be an effective measure to deter their entry into the cat food bowl.
5. Keep the Food Bowl Covered
Using a food bowl with lid effectively prevents the entry of mice and other insects into a cat food bowl.
Lids are also helpful in limiting the cat food aroma, since the lesser the aroma, the lower chances of mice attraction.
While opting for lids, it is recommended to use steel lids instead of plastic, as mice can chew the latter.
6. Seal Mice Entry Point Into the Home
Start feeding your cats inside the house and seal mice entry point to limit their attempt to go to the cat food bowl. This way, you are blocking their routes to the cat bowl.
You can use duct tape and steel wool to close the ducts. Steel wool is impossible for mice to chew.
However, this could be a bit expensive as it requires labor costs, but this strategy could be a long-term measure to protect your cats and children.
Besides the methods mentioned above, some approaches could be effective in repelling mice but have potential health risks for humans and pets. The approaches include:
- Mothballs and ammonia: effective against mice but could be harmful to children
- Cayenne-pepper products: could induce skin infections, burns, and irritation
- Lavender products: could stimulate allergic reactions in pets
Summary
The effort to keep mice away from the cat food bowl is real. Even though mice do not consume cat food much, they could cause various health risks to your pets.
Although repelling mice is an extra struggle for you, it is also helpful in keeping the other insects away.
We have enlisted the most effective and easy approaches for you. But any single measure could not be as effective as a combination of various practices.
So find the combinations that suit you most to keep the mice away from your cat food bowl.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Mice Eat Cat Food?
Mice have a strong metabolism. They can consume anything that provides nutrients and digest almost everything they eat.
Mice usually eat grains, fruits, and bugs. However, cat food is the perfect mixture of fats, proteins, and grains, so it appeals most to mice and is best for their consumption.
Will the Cat Litter Keep Mice Away?
Various approaches could be used to eliminate mice, but the use of cat litter is not one of them. The two reasons for this include the following:
- First, the smell of cat urine is not a deterrent, but instead an attraction for mice.
- Second, cat litter is not a strong barrier. Mice can easily cross it.
