Fruit Flies all over cat food suddenly. (kitten, eating, belly) Near Me | Near Me Direct

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October 21, 2024

Fruit Flies all over cat food suddenly. (kitten, eating, belly)

08-23-2021, 08:35 AM

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I have never had a problem like this in the 6 years I have had my cats.

For the last 10 days there are a bunch of fruit flies all over their food. I feed them both dry and canned food. I put two cans of cat food on paper plates around dinner time. I have been using the same food the whole time. They usually eat the whole thing by late night. I usually toss the plates when bringing down the next meal. I keep their food and litter in the basement, which is clean and neat.

I called an exterminator and they will not come for fruit flies. They said to get rid of the source. Which I thought would be the garbage pail. So now I have removed it and throw plates in the upstairs garbage instead, (which gets taken outside more often).

I feel like putting a halt to wet food and just sticking with the dry food. Anyone else ever deal with this?

08-23-2021, 09:36 AM

Location: Texas Hill Country

23,656 posts, read 13,964,967 times

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You might look for what else they could be eating.

About two weeks ago, I found a bin of rolled oats in one cabinet. There were a few fruit flies around it. Opened it up and found a ball of rolled oats. No need to look further (and I didn't). Just put the lid on it, into the garbage bin out in the garage, and 409's down where it was sitting.

Whenever I see fruit flies around a food location that I don't know about, such as where the pets eat, I get "worried". Potatoes are a good source for them. Have picked up many a potato only to feel it slimy.....and I know what has happened. As it is, now as a Type II, I don't buy them any more and I really should get rid of what is left. Fruit is another possibility and again, Type II concerns have reduced those odds.

On cat food, well, that is a complex answer. I sent a lot of wet cat food down the disposal and the cans go into recycling. Washed food isn't too much a problem if the sink is clear to the disposal; it's when it is not, that the food is "trapped", that the fruit flies have a place to be ........ and lay eggs.

Recycling may be part of the problem. There is usually something left over for the flies to use. If you have an outside bin, I would say use that immediately and let the pesky little things live there. Me, I don't, recycling has to be loaded up and driven into town, so AT BEST, it is box it up, put it into the truck bed in the garage, and let it sit there for the weeks it takes to make a haul.

One thing I have found is that they love the open, covered cans the best. If you walk by and smell a sickly, non rotten smell, the maggots are hard at work on something.

Finally, an alternate approach? Get a recently emptied wine bottles with just a little residue in that and use it as a trap? They will certainly go for it and with the narrow neck, have a hard time to get out. The question is will it be enough for all of them?

Remember the immortal words of Trance Gemini! You know, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Although, I don't know why you'd want to catch flies. They're actually quite dirty little things.

08-23-2021, 11:49 AM

Location: Washington, DC

56 posts, read 30,297 times

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Get an old medicine bottle and drill some holes in the cap, or you could use cling wrap with a rubber band and poke small holes in it. Fill the bottle with an inch of apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap and swirl it around to mix. Close the bottle and set it out where your cats can't tip it over. In a few days the fruit flies will be caught and dead in the solution.

08-23-2021, 01:33 PM

Location: near bears but at least no snakes

26,656 posts, read 28,654,132 times

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Quote:

Originally Posted by loz64

Just what I was going to say. I learned it recently by trying to keep bananas. The fruit flies might be attracted to some kind of fruit or vegetable in the food but with me, ever since they discovered the bananas, they're coming for a few bread crumbs or just about anything they can find. A wide mouthed jar with plastic wrap that has a pencil sized hole in the middle is working. They go after the apple cider vinegar and get stuck in the dish soap.

08-23-2021, 02:52 PM

11,276 posts, read 19,556,099 times

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Quote:

I have never had a problem like this in the 6 years I have had my cats.

Yes I have had trouble with fruit flies this year, never having had trouble before, even though I don't leave food out. I do have a yuck bucket, which is a (washed and dried first) cardboard milk carton where I put coffee grounds and anything from the drain trap. I never had fruit flies in the yuck bucket before this summer. But I am in a new to me house so I wasn't sure if it was normal for this area.

They do make fruit fly traps or you can make your own. You''ll find instructions searching google.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYTom

I feel like putting a halt to wet food and just sticking with the dry food. Anyone else ever deal with this?

That would be a great detriment to your cats' health. And kibble sitting out quickly becomes rancid and covered in mold and bacteria. You won't see the mold but it's there Read about aflatoxins.

Are your cats micro-chipped? Get microchip feeders. This will keep the food enclosed except when they are eating.

I never leave food sitting out. I feed them and they eat. If they leave any I pick it up and put it in the refrigerator until the next meal.

08-23-2021, 04:04 PM

5,509 posts, read 7,102,385 times

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Quote:

Originally Posted by catsmom21

I never leave food sitting out. I feed them and they eat. If they leave any I pick it up and put it in the refrigerator until the next meal.

That is what I was thinking, bringing their food up to the kitchen, and not leaving it out all night...

08-23-2021, 04:25 PM

Location: Texas Hill Country

23,656 posts, read 13,964,967 times

Reputation: 18855

Quote:

Originally Posted by catsmom21 .......Are your cats micro-chipped? Get microchip feeders. This will keep the food enclosed except when they are eating.

I never leave food sitting out. I feed them and they eat. If they leave any I pick it up and put it in the refrigerator until the next meal.

Oh, to have such cooperative children!

Around my place, it goes something like this: We have to feed Melas first for if we don't feed Melas first, she'll eat everyone elses food!

The truth of the matter is by feeding Melas first, she gets some of her special food in her belly before she eats everyone elses food.

THEN, there are the dishes for Blake and Arthur, pate for they will eat that more than the others.....though after they are done, Melas goes after it.

Then Kara gets hers, half of shreds, in her own room so Arthur doesn't muscle in on her. Bond gets the other half of the can but when I put that down, Blake usually switches to it for she is the one who will eat everyone's food.

Dirk is not really interested in canned food....at least not when I am watching.

Finally, there is Izzy, the Queen and she gets her senior consult food in her own room. When she is done, the door is open and Blake, Bond, and Arthur will move in to give it their licks.

If I give everyone their own can, it will usually go to waste but dividing the servings by half cans into the dishes, it gets pretty well consumed.

A thing I have found about putting unused stuff in the fridge is that it has to warm up to room temperature before they will eat it and it has to do it naturally. They will try to bury microwaved food.

With kibble, Dirk, Melas, Arthur, and Blake are the main consumers. A curious thing is that the senior consult kibble tends not to be eaten by any.....except Blake.

My main problem with kibble (5 dishes out in two locations) are ants......and I pay ABC a pretty penny to keep an insecticide barrier outside my house. The other problem are treats.

Before with the treats, I was such a pushover. Izzy demanded them often, I figure she was an old cat, indulge her as she wanted. Well, two things. First, treats are expensive and we were really going through them but also, they weren't eating their special Purina Lion Chow, so I had to play the meanie and hold back, use treats only for special times like leaving the house, coming home, and when we go to bed. Among other things, it is a way to do a kitten check on everyone before I open external doors.

Finally........all kitten names mentioned here are Internet Code names.

08-23-2021, 04:36 PM

11,276 posts, read 19,556,099 times

Reputation: 24269

Quote:

Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah Oh, to have such cooperative children!

Around my place, it goes something like this: We have to feed Melas first for if we don't feed Melas first, she'll eat everyone elses food!

I only have two now, but even when I had four, they were all on different diets and they (every cat I've ever had) are trained to eat at meal time and trained to eat in their own meal spot. The current two are no exception, they are on different diets. Both are custom made raw diets, but not the same meats. One eats in the bathroom (her choice) and the other eats on the kitchen table. They are fed 6 times a day.

Yes I did at one time have one who would gobble, then barge into everyone else's. She was always fed first, and watched carefully, but did learn to not barge another cat away. However if a cat left food in the dish it was fair game unless I was watching and swooped in.

I don't warm food in the microwave. I warm it by placing the dish in another dish of hot water and stirring until it warms up. I used to add the water to it hot to hurry it along, but now I use a faucet filter, so the water is tepid, not hot when I add it. So they sit in a hot water bath until they are warm.

There is no kibble in this house. Ever.

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