Cat lovers who feed wet cat food to their cats mostly start their quest to find out how to keep flies away from cat food. Wet food contains higher levels of moisture than dry food and this causes flies to gather and feast on cat food. Cats are picky and even a few flies around cat food will repel your cat and affect its feeding habits.
How To Keep Flies Away From Cat Food
With 100 hours of research, we have identified the 7 best ways to keep flies away from cat food. They are as follows:
Feeding cat food indoors
Since it is easier for flies to be attracted to cat food in the outer environment, it is better to feed cats inside the home. Try training your cat to eat inside your house. Initially, cats might find it difficult to adapt and feed inside the house but proper training can change the behaviour of most of the cats.
Select Cool Shady Place
Cat food gets affected by heat and sunlight. Wet cat food is prone to more spoilage than dry cat food. Moreover, flies get attracted to spoilt food rather than fresh food to feast and lay eggs. So, it is wise to select a cool shady place for your kitty in your home to feed cat food rather than a bright place which has direct sunlight.
Cover Cat Food Post Meal Session
For cat lovers who wonder how to keep flies away from cat food outside, this is one of the best options. When a cat is done feeding a portion of wet food, you can seal the cat food and refrigerate it till you feed it the next time. Open-exposed cat food is prone to decay and bacteria will start growing on the same. It will also be an attractive destination for flies.
Also, every cat food manufacturer mentions how many hours a food can be used after being opened. Please ensure those guidelines are followed as it will prevent feeding spoilt food to cats. Usually, the time will be an hour or two for wet cat food though it might vary among manufacturers.
Maintain Clean Environment
If an environment is dirty, flies are attracted easily. To prevent such a situation, it is always better to keep the house and garden clean. If there is moisture on the ground or food spillage, always try to clean them with disinfectant quickly to prevent bad odour and signalling to flies.
Essential Oils and Plants
There are certain essential oils and pet-safe plants which repel flies. You can explore the usage of such oils near the cat food areas and growing such plants to prevent flies. Certain essential oils are toxic to cats and so you must be careful to select the right essential oil by having a thorough discussion with an expert.
Pest Control
When your neighbourhood is a breeding ground for flies or if your home has a lot of flies, it is usually better to take the help of a professional pest controller. While the above methods work in a clean environment, special infected environments need special attention from pest control services.
Fly Traps
You can also use fly traps as a deterrent for flies from reaching cat food. Place a few fly traps at a certain distance from cat food but not too close so that cat doesn’t walk on them. These fly traps will attract and trap flies even before flies make it to cat food.
Now having looked at multiple ways of keeping flies away from cat food, let’s look at the most asked questions on this topic.
FAQs
1. How to dispose of cat food when flies are found on them?
It is best to throw the cat food on the dustbin outside the house rather than inside the house. This is because flies normally lay eggs on cat food and there are chances for new flies to emerge from spoilt cat food and we don’t want them to fly inside our house.
2. What types of diseases are caused by flies and is it harmful if my cat swallows a fly?
Flies usually carry bacteria or parasites with them. However, if a cat swallows a single fly, the immune system of a cat can fight against small negative effects caused by the bacteria or parasites of that fly.
However, there are cases where cats get infected and may experience vomiting, diarrhoea or lethargy. In such cases, quickly consult a vet and act accordingly.
Conclusion
Cat lovers like us as well as cats hate flies and it is not a good thing to see cat food being covered by flies. To prevent such circumstances, precautionary measures such as feeding cats indoors, keeping the place tidy, covering the food and pest control must be followed. Also, measures such as fly traps can minimize the number of flies getting attracted to cat food.
Explore the above measures and find out the one that works best for you and your kitty. All the best!
