I hope you don't mind me chiming in and asking a related question while people come to help you, because it sounds like you might have the same issue...

Does anyone have a good answer to keeping the dogs out of the cats' bowls? Something that allows the cats access, but not the dogs?

Our Lab is getting fat, and the kitties are getting angry... ;-)

Ok rhome410. As long as you're going there. lol. How do you handle litter box issues?

Oh, dear...Not sure you want to know, because I'm not altogether happy with it. In our last house, the kitties we had went outside, so we didn't have to deal with it. I'm hoping we get to that point again with our new kitties (the older one still goes only outside). Right now the litter box is in our back hallway...Right behind my desk, so it's sometimes a bit...uh...unpleasant. My dd scoops it daily, or more, to keep it bearable. I sure wish I had planned for it when designing the house...Some kind of little cubby or something to keep the litter that gets thrown out better contained.

So the point is, I could use suggestions about that issue, too!

Is there some place you can put the cat's bowl(s) that the dog can't get to it? Maybe on the washer or dryer of your laundry room? Or a basement counter top? OR even in the basement (or any room with a door) outfitted with a small cat door? Just think about some place that is too high or too small for Sir Doggie! ;o)

Re: the litter box, how about a covered one? Helps contain the litter and the odor. (Although honestly, I scoop our litter once or twice a day and use name brand unscented clumping litter and really have no problem with odor. Maybe change your litter brand?)

Hope this helps!

The cat box odor is really only a problem at the moment it's being used or just after. But the dogs have been known to get into it, too. Yuck.

No basement, we have top loading laundry machines, and no available high spots that I've figured out so far... :-)

Thanks

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner...but I'm doing another baking marathon for our Church's Strawberry Festival tomorrow...the same thing I did a year ago to christen my new kitchen!

That's a pretty big dog & cat (don't know if that's big...is it?) I hope they get along! But, all your DF's cat has to do is give your dog a swipe on the nose & your dog will know who's boss! :-)

Our Pet Center is really just a place to store all the misc things associated with our dogs...we have 2 standard poodles (40 lbs & 50 lbs). We store dog food in a 6-1/2 gallon can that originally held popcorn from The Popcorn Factory (great popcorn, btw!) We store treats in a 3-gallon can from them as well.

We have a 27" wide cabinet right next to where we feed our dogs that holds food, treats, and miscellaneous other things (leashes, etc.)

It's a "big" deal only b/c of what we did to do it and where it's located. Our dogs' "home base" is in the Foyer. They're fed there and, since it's a Foyer, there's really no place for their food & things.

Our kitchen has a doorway directly to the Foyer. There's a little "alcove" right against the kitchen wall on the Foyer side and that's where we put the dogs' dishes.

Our kitchen is a modified "U" with the long base against the wall shared w/the Foyer. The two short legs of the "U" are both open...one to the DR and the other right next to the Foyer doorway.

We have a corner prep sink on the DR leg. Originally, I was going to put in a super susan in the opposite corner where I had intended to store all my small appliances. But, one day I casually mentioned to my DH that I wondered how a "Pet Center" there instead would work...he was hooked! I immediately lost my super susan!!!

What we did was take a standard 27" wide base cabinet and turn it 90o. This way, the doors/drawer open facing out...in our case facing the Foyer doorway. We got a regular base w/the shallow drawer on top and two roll-out trays in the bottom (full-extension...very important!). [We made it 27" so it would act as the needed filler on the kitchen side so drawers on both sides would clear each others handles: 24" + 3".]

I put the bottom shelf as low as I could and lined it with inexpensive cushion-y shelf liner. I put the 6-1/2-gallon & 3-gallon cans on it. (The shelf liner helps keep the roll-out tray clean.)

We put the top roll-out tray as far up as we could and put things like their leashes, extra collars, pet medicines, etc. in it.

The top drawer holds our flashlights & batteries...also handy in that location if we want to walk the dogs at night (we have an electric fence around our entire 3-acre yard, so we rarely walk them). It's also a good location if the power goes out...easy to get to & no obstacles.

What would I do differently? A couple of things:

(1) It turned out we we needed almost 6" b/c we put the warming drawer next to the leg & with its handle it sticks out almost 6". If I had realized that, I would have made the Pet cabinet 30" wide instead of 27". We now have about 2-1/2" of real filler on the leg. Oh well.

(2) We got standard base cabinets with 2 doors. Both doors have to be opened before we can pull out the shelf w/the dog food (and the roll-out tray has to be all the way in b/f I can close the doors...and we have soft-close drawers/roll-out trays). What I should have done is gotten 1 door the full width and then attached the bottom roll-out tray to it...then I could just pull it open with one action. The top roll-out tray could still be where it is. This would have been like a trash pullout.

Now, what you need to know if you turn a cabinet around for whatever reason...

* The cabinet that you turn around will have to have a toe kick built into the back of it since the back wall of cabinet is generally flush to the floor w/the back of the cabinet carcass.

* Either the cabinet(s) next to it on the leg will also have to have toe kicks built into them to match the cabinet turned around.
...Or, have the turned around cabinet built w/o a toe kick on the front.

* The back of the cabinet turned around will also need to be finished to match the fronts.

* The toe kick & finishing on the back of the cabinet turned around need to be done b/c the 3" (or more) that will "show" on the inside of the "U" will need to match the cabinets inside the "U"...finish & toe kick.

Oh, and you will need filler b/w the back of that cabinet & the first cabinet in the base of the "U" to allow the drawers to clear the handles of the cabinets on the leg.

And, of course, the obligatory pictures!

BTW...we put the top shelf back in (this pic says we took it out)

If you have a mudroom or a laundry, could you put a cat door into the interior door? I doubt that a lab could get through a cat door.

When I was little we solved the feeding problem by putting the cat's and dog's bowls in different rooms. The cat was the neighborhood champ, but understood that we didn't want him demolishing the puppy. It didn't take much to train the dog to stay out of the cat bowl--we just gave him his own bowl of cat kibble. But then he knew better than to try to go after food the cat was actually eating (the wet stuff). The cat didn't need to actually hurt him to scare him off.

But if you don't mind your cats climbing you can put a cat walk and feeding station up by the ceiling... I had a friend who did that.

Wasn't there a kitchen here (or was it a magazine) that had pet bowls on a pullout shelf in a cabinet, and a whole cupboard with partially cut away doors and a dog bed inside? That was pretty cool.

Cocaty, have the cat and dog met each other? Is there any way to give them each their own spaces? (As in reprimand them if they encroach, etc.)

One of the saddest things I ever read was an essay by a woman who loved her cat, but when she got married and had a baby she seemed always to be saying no to the cat and putting all her attention on her chores and the baby. And the poor kitty seemed to die of a broken heart.

If both of you lavish love on both creatures and make them both feel secure you should be able to combine households with a certain amount of harmony--if the quadrupeds haven't taken each other into antipathy.

plllog, they have "seen" each other when "Tara" and I were forced into "Miss Kitty's" basement for a few days during a midwest ice storm. We just put a gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep dog downstairs and Miss Kitty occasionally ventured to the stair rails to peer down. Tara loves everybody. Miss Kitty not so much. lol. We must make this work because DF and I are both very attached to the critters. Litterbox and cat food are already in master bath so we may just make that off limits for dog. And, we think if they can gaze at each other from afar, hopefully one day they can meet. In the meantime, DS's bedroom will be downstairs with Tara - and big screen TV - so there should be plenty of action down there too. And, sometimes Miss Kitty will need to be behind closed door while Tara is upstairs. So no bad experiences, just not as much exposure as we would like. DF just fenced his backyard for Tara Cotta so now she can be there more. With kitchen remodel, marriage, and seven children between us (though youngest are 18), we will have to make sure they are each appropriately lavished. :-)

Found a couple of threads that might be useful...

Thread: storage of 50lb bags of dog food
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg041934197386.html

Thread: Where do your pets eat? Do they eat 'in style'?
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg111356157826.html