The 3-in-1 Ant Free Pet Dish

I am a cat mom of three and SO happy that I found these bowls. Ants decided to invade my cat food bowls this year out of nowhere. I've never had an ant problem and tried fixing it without spending money. First, I tried putting the cat bowls up on a higher surface. That kept the ants away for about a day longer than usual, but did not work. Then, I decided to make my own moat using a smaller Tupperware container inside a slightly bigger one. The smaller one kept getting pushed to the side and ants would get in. The last thing I tried was a cake pan filled with water with a smaller bowl inside. This did in fact keep the ants out, but was disgusting and vomit inducing to clean and had to be done daily. After a full day it would be filled with 20+ dead ants and the rotting cat food that fell in the water and was creating a nasty film over the water. I actually did this for about a month until deciding I'd had enough, and the money spent on these bowls was so worth it. WHY I CHOSE THIS SPECIFIC ANTI WANT BOWL: I decided to go with this bowl over the ones that had just a little 1/4 inch moat around them because sometimes the ants can float across a very small space of water and still make it up into the cat food. This happened a few times when I used the small tupperware in a slightly bigger one. This particular bowl has a larger space of water that they will not make it across (photo included.) EXPERIENCE USING IT SO FAR: I've been using them for a little over a week now and haven't had a single ant in either bowl. I don't fill the actual water bowl, only the bowl under the food, because the cats prefer to drink out of the dog bowl/bathroom faucet anyway and I hate dealing with food that spills into the water bowl. It obviously depends on the climate you live in (I'm in Wisconsin and it's been chilly lately) but the water under the food can last up to a week before I have to refill it. It slides on and off with ease and isn't hard to do at all. Very simple. CONS: The only downside to this bowl is how much food it can hold. It can fit 2/3 cup of food at a time. I have three cats, so I fill them at least twice a day. I ordered a third bowl anyway so that I can start feeding them more wet food again, so not a huge deal. It's cheap enough that I don't mind getting one for each cat. Seems like a pretty good quality bowl so I probably won't need to replace them for a long time. So yeah. This bowl is totally worth it and assuming you don't have huge ants, should keep them out.

Our house is situated on an antropolis, so any food can trigger a storm of ants into the house. We have 2 cats, 1 is a grazer, so we needed something to deter the tiny black ants from her bowl. These bowls have actually worked! We’ve had them for over 2 years (blue) and just purchased more (red). They are slightly raised, which helps for both cats’ eating/digestion. We have also been using them outside for the feral cats, with no ants in the food bowls. None of the cats use the water dish section, wish they made it without that extra bowl and not in plastic. But genuinely impressed they have worked for us so far.

The bowl absolutely solved my ant problem. I use it indoors for 2 dogs and I have had an ongoing battle with ants. The ants used to get into the dog food even if I moved it every day. Basically, if there was dry food in the bowl in one place for more than an hour, the ants would find it and swarm. This bowl totally fixed the problem for me - I keep the bowl filled all the time with food because my dogs are grazers and won't eat all at one time, and this has been perfect. I can tell it works because if the dogs let a piece of kibble fall to the floor right next to the bowl and don't eat it, the kibble will be ant-ified in no time. Pros: It keeps ants out of the food bowl flawlessly. You don't have to keep both compartments full of water to keep ants out- just the one underneath the food bowl, which the dogs can't really get to, so I don't agree that you have to refill it with water all time, at least if it's inside. Cons: Ants DO get in the water part of the bowl (which is kind of the point, I guess.) I use a separate, larger water bowl because this water compartment is SMALL. The food part of the bowl is also fairly small. The plastic is also very light and when it's nearly empty it scoots and sloshes on the floor pretty easily if the dog is overzealous. Overall, I'm very pleased that it works for my purposes. One star deducted because of the size of the water bowl, which makes me need to use a separate bowl for water.

As a person who feeds feral and stray cats, summer means ants. I have purchased other ant-deterrent bowls so that if a cat is late (usually due to the heat), their food won't be crawling with ants. This bowl has worked great. There is a hidden reservoir for water that sits under the food bowl and keeps the ants out of the food bowl that sits on a pedestal in the water. Because the water reservoir is shaded by the food bowl, it doesn't evaporate as fast as the other ant bowls do. There is also a regular bowl for drinking water. Added bonus: the food bowl is elevated and a lot of cats love the elevated bowl! Worth the money, folks!

We regularly feed two semi-feral outdoor cats, and in the summer we routinely have to deal with ants in the food bowls which translates to ants in the house--it only takes missing one ant when bringing the bowls in for cleaning. I purchased two of these, and they work great. I see ants on the outer base bowl but not on the feeding dish. The food dish has four short tubes underneath that sit on four posts in the water reservoir. You line up the indents on the side edges and place the food bowl on the posts. The water in the reservoir keeps ants away from the food. The food dish slips off easily for cleaning so you don't have to worry about splashing water. My cats eat both wet and dry food. They prefer these bowls much better to plates with water and their food dishes in the middle. Using that homemade remedy, the cats would scoot the bowl while eating until it fell off the plate (or reached the edge which resulted in ants). I'm not sure how long the water lasts before evaporating, but since I refill and clean the dishes daily, I just add water when necessary.

This is, in theory, a great design. Unfortunately, we have tenacious ants that have now learned to form small rafts with their own bodies and ferry themselves across the moat to the center post so they can get into the cat's food. I am not giving up and have filled the moat with a water-vinegar mixture, so we'll see if a more caustic moat keeps them from attempting the crossing. I want to give this more stars, because it really should work (unlike other devices I have tried), but have to take a few off for the fact that it is not absolutely, completely, 100% ant-proof if you happen to have devious and determined little bugs. Otherwise, it is compact and easy to clean and use. I note that some people got a 4-post version, but ours has one large center post and it's very easy to get the bowl off and on. I'm not sure what size small is like (must be tiny), but size large is a nice size for a cat or small to medium dog.

I bought these bowls because we were being taken over by little sugar ants. My poor cats could barely get through a meal without the ants insinuating themselves upon them. Bottom line - they work. I have not seen one ant in their food since then. I have seen dead ones in the bottom water bowl but that's ok by me (sorry ants). My cats also appreciate their food being up higher. I can understand why the bowls may not have worked for people who feed outside or have bigger ants. My advice - if you can, feed inside. Otherwise, you need a bowl with a bigger gap. Or an exterminator. Brilliant design. My cats and I are very happy with this purchase. The only thing I wish is that there were bowls with more neutral colors or attractive patterns, but I am not going to let that detract from my five-star rating. If you have sugar ants, buy this bowl. You and your cats/chihuahuas will be glad you did.

I like the compact design. Clean up would be easier if it were dishwasher-safe, but hand-wash-only is not a deal-breaker. Setting the food bowl on the 4 support posts is a bit tricky, but not so difficult as to be a problem. I ordered the small size. I definitely don't need the larger size, but wish the capacity of the food bowl on the small version were just a BIT larger. Our cat is a messy eater, and some of his wet food and dry food inevitably wind up in the water below. I suppose that is unavoidable given the relative positions of the bowls. That being said, the relative position of the bowls allows the compact footprint and keeps the ants out of the food! That was my main reason for buying this pet dish, and it absolutely lives up to its promise. I also like the fact that this product is made in the USA, and the price was extremely reasonable! All in all, I am very satisfied with my purchase, and can definitely recommend this product to other cat owners who have a problem with ants getting in the cat food.