Hi coffeehaus,

Congrats on your new home! I know how it is to want everything to be just so.

WE just have one pet, a small Pug dog. I buy the 15 lb bag of kibble, and dump it into a large latch & lock container. I'm not sure what the size of the container is, but it holds almost all of the bag. Then I slide the container under the laundry tub in the laundry room. I keep a scoop in the container & I feed him right in front of the laundry tub on a small pet place mat. It's really easy, as the food is right there...the water is right there..it works out good for us. I especially like the idea of transfering the kibble to another container, then find a place to store it.

Enjoy your new home!

Hi coffeehaus,
I'm in the exact same situation as you! I am currently building a house and getting ready to plan exactly where and how we will store everything. It's really overwhelming but exciting.

CURRENTLY, we store our pet food in snap-top plastic containers (eg. Rubbermaid) just outside the back door on the deck. We have a larger one that holds 50 pounds of dog food and a smaller one for 25 pounds of cat food. This serves as a central point for dispensing the food. We carry the dog dish out there and fill it from the container. The cat dishes are filled and placed in a variety of locations, including a nearby shelf that the dogs can't get to. We definitely could not manage without a good, secure container to work from.

Here's a link to a nice one for your situation. You can leave food in the bag if you want to. It's designed for that. XL holds 22 lbs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pet food storage container

We store dry cat food (Proplan's biggest bags as we have 8 cats) in the bag inside a large 30-40 gallon galvanized garbage can in the wood storage room. (We have to keep it in a metal can to avoid attracting varmints.) From that we decant about 5 lbs into a smaller container from which we measure the stuff out with a small scoop at feeding time. With so many cats of different eating temperaments it doesn't work to just leave bowls down. We feed three times per day with a specially adjusted portion for each in a separate bowl.

BTW we keep at least two big bags (22lbs each?), and part of a third on hand at all times since pet food is something we would need to have if we had some emergency that forced us to leave the house with the cats. It's a big part of our emergency plan. That amount is at least 6 weeks of food for the cats.

Now for the bunnies, I have a smaller set-up since there are only two who get about three tablespoons apiece per day, but they also need fresh hay. I try to keep a six week supply of that on hand in large cardboard boxes, but I'm not as rigid with the hay supply as with the cat food, since during some seasons I could find greass for the bunnies if I had to. But I keep two months, or more, of their pellets on hand.

The biggest pet storage issue besides food is cat litter as we use a ton of it (literaly, I think) every year. I try to keep 6 weeks of that on hand, too. And sometimes more if I happen upon a good sale.

Molly~

Thanks for all of the great ideas! My current storage is a white plastic 5 gallon bucket with a lid that doesn't fit, in the dining room...for the cats dining pleasure. This will NOT continue in the new digs, so that's why I'm keen on finding an alternative.
Arizonarose...good approach with the food/water source close together. I will have a small laundry/mud room so I may see if that will work for a spot.
Owl-at-home...you're absolutely right about the overwhelming aspect of this project! I'm trying to focus more on the exciting part, with mixed success.
Housekeeping...we have the same problem with varmints. I left a bowl of dry food outside one night and heard a ruckus on the front porch. Mama raccoon and 2 kids were feasting on Little Friskies. Cute, but too close for comfort.
Pinktoes, the link for the storage containers won't work for me. Can you post the URL? Thanks!

Here it is. Or go directly to Drs. Foster Smith website, drill down to dog supplies, then feeders.

http://dogs.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=dogs&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.activek9.com%2Fdog-food-storage-bins1.html

Thanks, pinktoes! Excellent solution. After looking at Drs. F & S website, I found a very similar bin on wheels at the PetSmart website. Next time I'm at my local big box shopping center, I'll see if they carry them locally.

Here's mine. I've posted this on the Kitchen forum too many times now, but here it is again. I wanted it accessible, yet out of the way. The other other problem for me was tripping over the dog food bowl, so my dog is ''served'' when she eats. (It's one up from the bottom of the drawer stack.) When she's done I just close the drawer and meal time is over. Because I pour tomato juice on her her food, I wanted a place to put it that was easy to get to, so I just put it in her food drawer. (Tomato juice changes the pH in her urine, so we don't have brown spots in the lawn. It works.) Both trash bins will hold a 40 lb. bag of dry dog food. Obviously, I can't keep her water in the drawer, so I moved it to the front hall foyer which has a tile floor. She doesn't care that it isn't with her food.

I use one of those plastic garbage cans that the lid slides back. IT works great.Very easy to access

I drop the whole giant bag into this laundry hamper and slit the top. Flip the lid and scoop some out into the bowl sitting on the pantry floor under a shelf nearby.

Claire your pull out feeding center is cool. May just top the outlet-in-a-drawer for creativity!

I have never seen a dog eat out of a draw. Although it sounds odd, I bet it is good for the dog to have his food elevated as many dogs as they get older have problems bending down to eat.

I don't store any dog food except for treats and cookies. I prepare my dog's food and he eats human food so it is stored with my food. I do store cat food. I have a plastic container that I put the dry food into and it is small enough for me to store in a kitchen cabinet along with some cat food cans. My pets eat in the kitchen with the family. I wouldn't like the idea of storing their food outside or in a garage or other place like that.

LOL Celticmoon I also keep my kitty food in a laundry hamper and since I feed them in the laundry room up on the dryer it is a handy place and cute item for the space.

The dogs get their own large size of those One Drawer plastic drawers.All self contained in their own plastic sleeve. It will almost hold a 40 pound bag filled to the brim. I think there is about 4 bowls worth of food left in the bag and that goes quick with two border collies. I tuck the drawer in under the bottom shelf of our small pantry. I just started doing this about 6 months ago and it works great!!!

Chris

We use a Vittles Vault container in our utility room undersink cabinet. Having the lid at an angle makes it more accessible if in a cabinet. The lid spins on & off, & has a seal that makes it very secure. You can position the container more than one way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vittles Vault

I bought a bunch of those stainless steel doggie treat canisters from the local pet food stores. I decant all the cat food into those when I open the big bag. I keep one canister near their food bowls; the rest stay in the pantry. I twist-tie a "Last One" label onto the raised handle on the last canister of decanted food for each cat, so I'll buy more before they run out. (They eat different foods; one is on a medical diet food from the vet.)

The canisters are smaller and easier for me to handle; they look okay out in the kitchen. They're sanitary, don't absorb odors/stain like plastic does. We like this system.

I twist-tie a "Last One" label onto the raised handle on the last canister of decanted food for each cat,

ooh, ooh, ooh!

Clever Trick Alert!

Did you all spot that? That's cool!

I am going to use the hamper idea to store huge bags of cat litter. I have to keep two pans in the hallway because one kitty is 17 and doesn't want to climb stairs all the time for potty. I change out the pans daily and sweep and mop so everything is decent, but hated the bags sitting around the corner in the bedroom. I have two unused padded hampers in the basement and am going to bring them up and put them to use.
Great idea. Why don't I ever think of things like this? :-)

What catches my attention in this thread is the trouble we go to for our pets. We have one dog and one cat at the moment (we've had more). The cat has to eat on the counter in the utility room where the dog can't get to her food. We keep both cat and dog food on a shelf in there. I need to start buying larger containers of dog food but I don't know where I'd keep it since there's no more space in the utility room. Maybe something like celticmoon's hamper would look OK in the corner of the breakfast room.