How to Keep Ants Out of Dog Food Dishes

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There's nothing sadder than seeing your dog staring forlornly at a food dish. Is it empty? You go over to investigate.

The bowl is filled with ants, crawling all over the food!

Solving this problem has two parts.

Keep the ants out of the food

Getting rid of ants the right way can take a couple of weeks, but keeping the ants out of a pet food bowl can be much quicker.

What didn't work

I've tried several different methods. I tried the internet "hack" of spreading petroleum jelly on the outside of the bowl, so that the ants couldn't climb it. Guess what? The petroleum jelly got hairy super fast, and attracted every piece of dust, dirt, and food in the area. Ants can't climb the jelly, but they can climb the stuff stuck to the jelly pretty easily!

Plus, it was just gross.

I also tried another "hack" of putting the food dish in a tray of water, since ants can't swim. Guess what else can't swim? Pet food! It soaked up water and turned into a slimy mess, and this gross food-water would get on the floor. I was changing the water in the tray several times a day.

The winner!

Then, I found out about ant-proof bowls. The design is so simple, and it works! Ants can't climb into the bowl, so they'll go look for food somewhere else.

I have these, and I absolutely love them.

Get rid of the ants

Of course, once you get the ants to leave the pet food alone, you probably don't want them taking over the rest of your backyard or house.

I use these outdoors, and these inside.

If I set up the outdoor ones in early spring, and again at the beginning of summer, I don't really need the indoor ones. If I'm lazy or forget, then I set up both kinds.

They take a week or two to work, and you might see more ants at first, because they love the bait. But as they bring it back to their colony, and the other ants eat it, they all die.

There you go, two easy steps for keeping your pet's food (and your food!) ant-free!