Pets - Another Question

We got a kitten today (so much more manageable than a dog... what was I thinking considering that?!). I am so happy to have her... I had to put my beloved 18.5 year old cat, who I'd had since I was EIGHT years old, to sleep last September when the boys were 2.5 months old. I missed having a cat and am so glad to have this kitten. My family feels complete (for now)! She is so sweet & mellow-- we made a great choice!

My question, for those of you who have pets:

Where do you keep the food and cat litter so that the kids don't get into it during the toddler stage? Am I doomed on that one, or is there a smart alternative I'm missing?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

We use plastic pet food storage bins in a closet with a flip lock. We didn't have the lock until they dragged the food out and dumped water in the container ruining 30 pounds of kibble. :angry:

 

We have a finished gameroom with laundry room of it it. The litter box is in the corner of the laundry room. We keep their water in our kitchen and their food (I have two cats) in our gameroom. We used to keep all in our kitchen, but my cats like to play in their water, and would get all of their food wet and waste it, so we separated them.

The kids (twins)have never gotten into the food or litter.

 

I have 8 billion cats. OK really seven! I have the litterboxes in the utility room, with a pet door cut into the wall to the room. That way, I can keep the door closed and don't have to worry about the kids getting in there. The food is in a feeder in the corner of the family room, behind the Superyard I still have outstretched across the fireplace and TV. The water is in the kitchen. If I had a better place for it, I would put it somewhere else. It took a while before they would leave the water alone, and yes, they have eaten cat food.

 

Right now, food, water, and litterboxes are in our kitchen and entryway area, which we have gated off. We'll be moving in a month, though. The litterboxes are definitely going in the basement (we're putting a pet door in the basement door), and I'm thinking about keeping food/water down there too... Looking forward to reading more ideas!

 

Cat food, water and litter boxes are down in the basement. As much to keep the kiddos out of it as the dogs!

Dog food is in a closet on main floor and water is outside of the downstairs bathroom. This is gated off from the girls and the dogs hang out there during the day when there's only one adult to keep an eye on the two kiddos and two dogs.

 

We have a dog and keep her food in the kitchen next to the laundry room door. The girls would play in it from time to time, but I would just keep reminding them that the food was Minnie's and they couldn't play with it. Eventually they stopped and now don't even act as though it's around. I would definitely keep something like a litter box gated off where they couldn't get into it.

 

We have 2 cats and we moved in to this house 2 months ago their was a small pet door in the laundry room. We decided to put the litter boxes and food in there. It is great because we have the food in a pet storage container to keep it fresh and we have that area sealed off with a gate so they cant' even get to the door.

 

I'm so glad to have this thread because we have 2 cats. One is very big and the other is very small. We have a cat litter which always has been down in the basement (it is unfinished basement). The basement door always been crack open for them to go and come out. And before we had our twins the cats food and water were underneath the desk area in the kitchen.

We had to move our cat food down to the basement. Apparently, we didn't think of purchasing a cat door for them to come and go when they need potty or food. We just recently purchased the cat door but both of my cats won't go through the flip flap. We have been training them for about 2 weeks now. They don't "get" it how to come out either. Any advice?

In the begining we did had it in our master bathroom (bowl of water/food) last year and all of the suddenly they both stop coming downstairs when the twins were in crawling stage. My oldest cat got lazy and pee onto our towels (my DH doesn't pick up his clothes) but it is his own fault. So we make sure NO clothes on floor anywhere! Also we kept all bedroom door close because I am afraid it'll pee onto our bed and etc.

Anyhow, we still have our kitchen area off limit for our twins. So my little cat can jump over to get her bowl of water. My oldest cat sit there and wait for us to open the gate. It is hard to keep "track" w/water bowl if we had left it in the basement.

It still drive us nut that they can't figure out the pet door leading to the basement yet. I guess, we just have to be more patience!

D w, Rianna and Justin (20 mos)

 

We had the furry kids way before the twins. We keep kitty's box and food in the laundry room with a cat door. The dogs food is stored there but, the bowl is in the kitchen.