Friday, August 15, 2008

Baby Proofing question

I have a question for my fellow moms, and I don't want to post it on one of those motherhood message boards because every answer, no matter what the question, always involves breastfeeding.



So, my question: Does anyone know how to keep a kid out of the pet food bowls? I've babyproofed everything, but can't figure out how to keep the cat food bowls accessible to the cats but inaccessible to Tater. And he seems drawn to it every time we are in the kitchen.



Any ideas? And I am not accepting the answer "if you still breastfed him, he wouldn't be interested in cat food." Nor will I accept anyone saying "just put him in the pet crate," and by "anyone," I mean Big Guy.

15 comments:

the mama said...

yes, i think the lack of breastfeeding is directly responsible for this problem. i am a champion extended BFer, and still think those folks are wack!

anyway, how agile are these cats? can they jump a baby gate? maybe put their food on the floor in the downstairs bathroom behind a baby gate. or up high on a shelf or some place they can jump. if they are non-jumping, you may have to just pick up the bowls when you guys are in the kitchen for a while. eventually he will get over the obsession! now my kids want to hand feed the animals from their bowls! oh, and occasionally find a snack for themselves when i have told them it is too close to supper. yum.

Rob said...

You are cute.

KJ Druyvesteyn said...

Oh yes! I know the answer...it is simple, really.

Get rid of the cats.

Anonymous said...

Put some chicken cordon black in the bowl - I bet that would solve your problem. :) xoxo! Alissa

Sarah said...

You know what? I've just let Margaret eat the dog food. She has had about five or so pieces...and her skin is great and she has a shiney coat. For reals. We would just distract her from the bowls and the intrest eventually went away. She'll occasionally get a handful and take it to the dog...but usually she doesn't even care about it. And, she never got sick from eating it...she eventually learned that it tasted gross and quite.

Aren't a good mom?

Sarah said...

I cannot believe my two mis-spellings. My brain is not functioning at full speed.
shiney = shiny
and
quite = quit

UGH

SpecialK said...

OUTSIDE kitty-cats! But seriously we kept Sadie's food and litter box in the garage. She would stand at the door and meow to go out when she needed to "go" or a nibble. Might just try it!
A.K.

pink is the new black said...

1st: KJ's right, cats need to go to cat hell with Bekah's cat, Millie.
2nd: Rob is very very cute calling YOU cute...I like that and he's redeeming himself with me more and more.
3rd: Sarah, seriously??? Margs is way better than Graelyn then...Graelyn's obsessed with it...we just put the bowls up on the counter until Graelyn goes into the other room and then let Patch eat...she's had several tastes of the dog food and I have to say, I think she likes it. BUUUTTT, we havne't actually moved the food in several days...she might be losing interest too...who knows...but yeah, we just move it, tell her "no touch" (thank you Ms. Kathy) and after a couple of times of us saying that firmly, she's good.
4th: we never really "baby proofed" stuff...just let them know what's ok and what's not ok to touch...hence the Ms. Kathy "no touch" I love Ms. Kathy.

The Robertson Family said...

OK, as cousin Em suggests, I'm gonna try putting the bowls on the counter. I just hope my Mom doesn't read this. She freaks out when she sees the cats on our counter. And if one rubs up against her leg (as cats are wont to do), she freezes up like a wasp is flying around her and says "It. Is. Touching. Me."

So KJ, you and my Mom would get along.

And after looking at my cats today, I decided that Aunt Kathy's idea of putting the food in the garage may not be such a bad idea..they really don't need to eat much more.

Sarah -- you just seem to be "e" happey todaye. Nothing wrong with that.

Angie -- Rob may be redeeming himself until you read my comment on KJ's blog about his incident with the cell phone and the golf course.

Finally, I'd like to welcome Alissa to the world of commenting on blogs. She is a co-worker and friend who happens to know that my cooking is so bad (hence the "chicken cordon black" reference instead of "chicken cordon bleu") that the best solution all around is for me to just stay out of the kitchen.

Rebekah said...

"as cats are wont to do"

I need to read more, and not US Weekly, so I would actually know the word "wont" and not have to deduce its meaning from the context of the sentence.

Oh, and Angie's right. It's better when the cat makes its way to kitty heaven---even when it's pushed there a little faster than nature intended.

Jennifer said...

I have a bumper sticker in my closet (because I don't publicly endorse anything on my vehicle) that says, "Lost your cat? Try looking under my tires." So I would have to agree that the cats should go. Let me know if you need my help with that.

Karsen had a fleeing interest in the dog food. Griffin could care less about the food but loves to "wash" things in the water bowl. We're working on it...

KJ Druyvesteyn said...

Well, Jenny, one day I was at my former church and the pastor told us this (which I think you will find very enlightening).

It is the little known story of Adam naming the animals...

So, Adam was given the task of naming all of the animals. He started off doing well as the animals were brought in 1 by 1. He looked at the first animal and said "Tiger." The next animal he named "Leopard." On and on he named the animals...by afternoon, he named one "Hippopotamus" which was quite creative, to say the least. God was very impressed with his creative man. The next name was just as creative with "Platypus." Finally, by evening, Adam was getting tired and running out of names...so he named the next one "Dog." Adam thought he was done but then the angels brought ONE more in. Adam looked at it and name it "Cat". God, shocked, said "WAIT a minute...I didn't make that."

jpage217 said...

I am amazed at how many negative responses towards cats, oh well.

With no kids of my own and a sister with four kids, I managed to have only one of my nieces eat cat food-so far. When the kids are around, I put the food bowls on top of the washing machine(not running of course), which is better than the counter and I don’t encourage more bad habits (either the cats or kids).
Good luck!

Keep Your Eyes on the Stars said...

We are having the same problem. The dog eats her food at one time, but we LOVE to play in the water bowl!

SpecialK said...

Ouch! Hit a feline nerve. OK - enough kitty bashing. Onward to something much more effective, such as OBAMA bashing!!! Oh, sorry JJ. We just can't win here!