Have you given any thought to the type of material used in your cat’s food bowl and food storage container? Well, I recently learned a little about this topic when faced with Mackenzie’s breakout of kitty acne (see photo below – it’s not pretty.) This is really a two-part issue:
1) Plastic pet food dishes and containers can trap bacteria that causes kitty acne. What is kitty acne? It looks like little black flakes usually found on the chin and around the mouth. Not all cats are prone to acne, but when they do get a bad case, like Mackenzie did, it can lead to open sores and infection. I treated Mackenzie with antibiotics and “kitty facials” with a cleanser followed by Neutrogena On-the-Spot acne treatment, as prescribed by my vet. He’s all better now, but I also switched all the food and water dishes to porcelain*. Stainless steel, ceramic*, glass, and stoneware* are all excellent options, too, because they are not porous like plastic, which can trap oily food particles and harbor bacteria. It’s also very important to thoroughly clean and dry all food and water dishes daily and food storage containers weekly.
* With any glazed material, make sure that the glaze is food grade, it should not be marked “for decoration only.”
And as if that wasn’t bad enough…
2) Some plastics can contain chemicals that may leach into your cat’s food and water, possibly causing other health issues. This is a controversial issue which has been in the media quite a bit over the past year, specifically regarding Bisphenol-A (BpA) in water bottles and children’s products, as well as phthalates in other plastic products. Apparently not all plastics are bad, but since we really don’t know much about the long-term effects of eating and drinking out of plastic, I’m choosing to avoid it whenever possible, for both me and my cats (which is proving to be MUCH easier to do for the cats than it is for me!) Research done by Environmental Working Group has shown that pets have much higher levels of chemical contamination than humans, some up to 23 times the levels. The study points out that “with their compressed lifespans, developing and aging seven or more times faster than children, pets also develop health problems from exposures much more rapidly.” This is a complicated study that looks into chemical contaminants from multiple sources, but if eliminating plastic food containers might help just a little, it’s an easy change to make.
There are lots of beautiful and functional non-plastic pet food bowls available. If you haven’t already, please consider making this change.
BONUS GIVEAWAY!
And to help you make a change with your cat food storage, the folks at Stor-in-Style are offering one lucky winner a designer metal food storage container. The metal canister has a durable, non-toxic powder-coated finish and comes with six graphic decals and a metal scoop. To enter, please leave a comment on this post telling us what you currently use to store your cat food. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on April 24.
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
We use a big plastic container, and the overflow stays in the bag.
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I sore it in the bag, but I know that it does not stay as fresh. I buy them nice organic food, so this would be ideal for us.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
never heard of kitty acne – guess I’ll have to stop using the lplastic
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I just leave my catfood in the bag. Now I am sure that they are deprived. I would love to store in a snazzy kitty food container
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 am
i have ben storing it in its bag
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:50 am
I currently have a huge tupperware bowl on my counter where I store the cat food once the bag is open and I have a scoop inside in order to dispense it. Thanks for the opportunity to win such a great prize! We feed some outside barn cats (along with our 3 indoor cats) and a metal container like this would be awesome!
susan dot lockhart at gmail dot com
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 am
Like a lot of other people the food is left in the bag it came in.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 am
I story my cat food in a recycled metal popcorn container.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 am
I just leave it in the bag from the store!
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 am
Currently, my little Snicker’s food is kept in the original bag. This would be great! Thanks!
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
Thank you for such timely info! I have been concerned about the little black bits on the chin of one of my kitties for several weeks now and I am so relieved to finally know what it is. (It didn’t seem bad enough to ask the vet.) I hope I win but even if I don’t, I’m definitely switching from the plastic container that I have been using. Thanks!
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 am
The food is stored in a plastic container, so this would be very nice to have.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
I leave the food in the bag. At the rate my fat kitties eat it doesn’t last very long. But a nice storage tub would allow me to buy larger quantities and store it attractively.
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:22 am
I store my food in a plastic bin that was a promotional item from a pet food company. It doesn’t look the best sitting out in the open because it’s branded all over, but it works. Would love this metal number. Thanks for the chance!
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
We just use the bags or boxes they come in but this would be swell to have insteead of doing it that way. wombatspurple at yahoo dot com
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Yup! Another person who leaves the food in da bag…
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I keep the cat food in the bag because I do not have a storage container for it.. And I use plastic bowls for there water and food and you know after seeing that poor cat with the infection one of my three cats had that. Thank God it didn’t get worse but I really would love the change that you are offering it would help alot for my babies.
Thankyou for the chance to get this..
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I use a clip to keep the bag it came in closed.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I have to admit I use a very large Tuperware bowl with a lid.
Their food is in large tuperware plastic pie container bottom & their water is in one of those water bottle/bowls from walmart.
I did not know the dangers!
I would love to win this & have a healthier way to store theri food!
zestywonderland@gmail.com
mom to 3 cats!
see my blog for pics!
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
MY CAT GETS INTO HER FOOD BAG
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Currently I just leave the food in the bag until used.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
We currently use a plastic bowl, thanks so much for the chance.
I`ll keep my fingers crossed!!!!
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I currently use a plastic bin.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I use a big ugly white bucket to store their food.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I leave it in the bag. Is that good?
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
It just stays in the bag under the counter.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
My cat would love this!
April 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I currently use a ceramic jar
April 24th, 2009 at 11:48 am
i keep the cat food in an old plastic cat food jug we got waay back when we first got Mo – i just refill it w/ new bags every other week
April 24th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I’m new in the cats world, so I`m still learning. I keep the food in the bag that it came in. is it a problem? or this plastic bag is ok?
thanks, love the blog!
April 25th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
We store the food right now in a plastic cereal dispenser, since we have three cats and they are all big eaters and we don’t want to haul out the 20-pound bag every time we refill the bowl! The bowl is ceramic, though, which we switched to after Yukon Cornelius developed acne and rodent ulcers (which have thankfully not bothered him since).
May 4th, 2009 at 8:16 am
love that design! and my 4 cats would ove it, too!!!
May 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am
omg… I’m glad I keep my cats food in the bag.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Ha! I have no container for our cat food other than the brightly colored bag it comes in. I wish I had a bucket or something similar to more aesthetically store his kibbles!
May 5th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Plasic, unfortunately. Looks like I’ll be rethinking that now.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I use glass cereal bowls. Plastic allergy is quite common in cats.
May 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I try to use glass or stainless steal dishes for my cats but,use a plastic storage container I think a metal one is a great idea. My younger cat gets terribel kitty acne on her face when our neighbors treat there lawn an yards with pestisides/herbisides she also gets sever alergy reactions inclueding asthma atacks.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Wow, what a nice container!
I stare my kitties’ food in a plastic container… I had never seen any other option as far as materials, for larger food bags.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Well. Okay, so I store the food in the bag inside one of those big rubbermaid tubs. It seems to make the food stay fresher for longer if I keep it in the bag in there instead of dumping it into the tub and throwing the bag in the recycler. I don’t know why. The cats like it better. Who knows though. NOW I wonder if it’s more about it lying around in the plastic. I can’t stand eating off of plastic, using plastic utensils, drinking from plastic cups. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that my pets might not like it either.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I put my food in a big glass jar with a scoop
February 21st, 2010 at 9:59 pm
My sweet calico cat has developed a severe case of chin acne. I’ve changed her bowls to ceramic, but hadn’t thought about the large storage unit used for kibbles from Container Store. Guess I’ll need to change that as well, and winning this would be fantastic!
June 7th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
NEVER plastic. Those poor kitties! Thanks for this blog!