How to Keep Possums Away From Cat Food: 10 Fool-Proof Tips

Sometimes, if you live in a wooded area or feed your pet outdoors, you may notice their food levels are dwindling quicker than usual. A few animals go out at night and look for scraps to munch on, and they won’t say no to pet food, either!

Don’t fret—if you notice a sneaky possum getting greedy and stealing your cat’s food, there are several ways to keep them away.

The 10 Ways to Keep Possums Away From Cat Food

1. Keep Cat Food Indoors

If you have an outdoor cat who likes being fed on the back porch, the food may attract possums or raccoons. If you notice your cat is asking for more food after mealtimes, or if they devour the entire bowl in one sitting, keep an eye out for possums and bring their food bowl inside.

2. Keep Food Away from Exits

If you bring your cat’s food bowl indoors but still notice that something is getting into it, you may want to move it somewhere else in your home. For example, if their food bowl is by a window or backdoor, possums may be crawling in and stealing their food on a regular basis. 

3. Keep Their Food Elevated

Another great way to prevent possums from getting into your cat’s food is to make it inaccessible. You can keep the food bowl on a high surface your cat can reach, but a possum cannot. Keep the bowl elevated up on a shelf, a cabinet they can hop on, or something in a closed-off room that only your cat can access. Possums will more likely look for food elsewhere rather than prance through an entire home with the fear of being caught.

4. Fence the Area Around Food Bowls

If you are a pet owner with an outdoor cat or feed a neighbor’s cat occasionally and notice possums stealing their food, you can build a fence around their feeding area. This will make the process of stealing their food much harder and maybe even keep them out for good.

5. Watch Your Cat While They Eat

Watch over your cat while they eat, and remove the leftovers when they’re finished. This will keep the pests away and make them search for food elsewhere.

6. Trim Back Foliage in Your Yard

Possums live near wooded areas where they can build nests. This could be why they are attracted to your home and stealing your cat’s food! If you can, trim the plants and trees around the perimeter of your home regularly so that possums have nowhere to hide and no desire to hang around for long periods. If the environment is less comfortable for them, they will seek safer areas to find food.

7. Set Up Possum Traps

If the possum is returning, no matter what you do, you can set up humane traps, try to catch it, and relocate it to a preferable environment. Several humane traps are available, and you can ask for assistance from animal wildlife experts in your area.

8. Avoid Feeding at Night

You can also feed your cat when possums are not active. This can apply to any nighttime creatures that steal pet food. It’s difficult to catch them when they are more active at a time when everyone is asleep, so it can become very frustrating when you can’t figure out who keeps stealing your cat food!

Start feeding them earlier in the day when there are fewer nocturnal animals out hunting for food, and they’ll have nothing to steal.

9. Clean Up Other Food

Possums and other animals will eat human food as well as pet food. A great way to keep them from stealing your cat’s food is to make sure your garbage cans are secure and covered.

You can attach wires or straps on top of your garbage bins to make it impossible for possums to get in. If they see there is no accessible food for them, they will stop coming.

10. Install a Noise Maker or Sprinkler

This last tip for keeping possums out of your cat food is to install a motion-activated noise maker or sprinkler that will either scare them away or, at the very least, alert you to their movements around your home. You can even add a motion-sensing camera in your yard to see where they’re coming from and when they decide to pounce!

Conclusion

You can use several methods to keep possums and other night creatures away from your cat’s food. Whether you get advice from wildlife experts to set up an ethical trap and relocate them, change your cat’s feeding time and location, or build an enclosed area to eat, you will notice the possums will change their tune eventually.

Featured Image Credit: Scottslm, Pixabay