# Food dropping off from mouth



## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

For a long time, I didn't understand why there are always trails of ants in ET's room when I am already using anti-ant tray for his food. Firstly, I know whenever I see ants, I will certainly find things like dead lizards or cockroaches. But when I don't find any of these, I am just puzzled.

I started observing and found out why. Now, I have to stay till ET finishes his food, before I leave cos I have to pick up the bits and pieces of wet food and kibbles dropping off from ET's mouth. Anytime, while eating, if ever his lifts his head or pause, the food will drop off, sometimes back into the bowl, if he looked away, the food will be on the floor. After eating, he walked away to clean himself, there will still be some food in his mouth that will drop off onto the floor. Its quite funny, especially when kibbles drop off and you hear that 'clink' sound when it landed on his ceramic bowl.


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## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

One of my cats can be messy when she eats and sometimes drops bits of food from her mouth to the floor. Thankfully she hasn't attracted ants yet (though it's winter here now, I wonder what will happen in warmer weather). A few times, I have caught her wiping off her mouth on the other cat like he's her napkin!


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

CatMonkeys said:


> A few times, I have caught her wiping off her mouth on the other cat like he's her napkin!


Wow! that's sweet.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

CatMonkeys said:


> A few times, I have caught her wiping off her mouth on the other cat like he's her napkin!


LOL. 

you say you would find cockroaches along with dead lizards when you see ants? i get that cockroaches will come after cat food but why dead lizards?

my cats aren't super messy but i put a wee-wee pad under their dishes (cotton one side and plastic on the bottom) and just throw it away every 3-4 days to keep it off the carpet. i guess it would be more eco-friendly for me to buy a litter catcher and just shake it over the toilet. (believe or not, i just thought of that this very instant lol.) actually the cotton soaks up when they spill water because they do that a lot so i don't know.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

cinderflower said:


> you say you would find cockroaches along with dead lizards when you see ants? i get that cockroaches will come after cat food but why dead lizards?


Cockroaches or lizards (_mostly baby lizards_) invaded ET's room, got killed by ET, their carcasses attracted the ants that feeds off these carcasses. If I picked up the carcasses and the tail is somewhere else which I missed, it will also attract ants. I just need to follow the ants' trail to find something like that. If it is food, it will be harder to locate, cos the ants can easily move the bits of food away pretty fast, but the smell of the food stain on the floor would still probably attract these ants. I also noticed, if ET swings his head, the food will swing off elsewhere, not where he usually eats and cleans himself up. So I need to stay watch, to see where the food landed, then clean up immediately. Its really funny seeing food falling off each time, he's got holes in his mouth, lol. ET isn't messy when he eats, its just that food just drop off from his mouth.


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## artiesmom (Jul 4, 2012)

I think cats are all kind of messy eaters. 
I put a plastic place mat under his food dish to catch the 'drips', 'sprays'.
I just pick it up, dump the crumbs in the waste basket and either wash it in the sink or wipe it down with a clorox wipe, every day.
I also wipe down the food area, and sweep...


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## rightsaidfed (May 31, 2012)

Mine likes to drag placemats around. More often that not, this ends up in tipped bowls. When it doesn't though, I sort of imagine him as a magician in a tiny top hat pulled the tablecloth out from under the place setting. 

Anyway, I've quit with placing down a barrier and just clean the area when he's done eating. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

That's a good point Snowy, I've never thought of that. The wall behind Murphy's food is always splattered with hard chunks of dried canned food, which must be from his moving his head around and flying out of his mouth. How appetizing!

The ants are really a problem in my house, although it doesn't start until April or so.


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

Lol, you'd be a messy eater too if you had to pick food up with your teeth and then toss it back into your throat and chew before it fell back out again.

My eldest cat always makes a mess when he eats, and we have had issues with ants, spiders, and those horrible walking eyelash millipedes because of it--the ants are the only recurring problem. We sweep the floor in the furnace room (where the cats eat) pretty much daily because we're worried about the cats getting bitten by spiders or millipedes, especially mister messy, as he's the cat with all of the allergies.


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