Spiders will eat wet cat food if there are no other food options available. They will often eat the insects that are attracted to cat food including mosquitoes, flies, fleas, and even cockroaches.
When spiders are in search of food or shelter, they will enter your home to look for those two things. Once in your home they can search out and eat pet food. Spiders are more likely to eat wet cat food as their mouth parts do not allow them to bite off pieces of hard food.
Why Are Spiders Attracted to Cat Food?
Spiders are generally not attracted to either people or pet food, but they will follow the insects that try to eat those types of foods just to eat the insects instead.
Once they follow insects to any type of food, spiders will naturally try the people or pet food, too, mostly because they are hungry or they are curious about the food.
Cat food provides nutrition and a way to get full, especially for something as small as a spider, so they will munch on it until they no longer feel like eating anything else.
Five Ways to Keep Spiders Out of Your Cat’s Food
Some of the ways to keep spiders away from pet or human food include:
1. Keep the Area Clean
Once spiders are inside, they’ll start looking for food, and if the food is easily accessible and in plain view, they’ll naturally head towards it to eat it.
If you pick up stray pieces of cat food off the floor and place them in your garbage can, then make sure the lid of the trash can is closed tightly, the spiders won’t have a way to get to the food.
2. Keep Your Cat
Cats love eating spiders! The truth is, with a cat or two in your home, you simply won’t have nearly as many spiders trying to get at the pet food in your house.
3. Seal the Cracks in Your Home
Most of the spiders that get in your home are tiny spiders, which means they are getting into your home through tiny cracks in windows, doors and baseboards. If you seal up as many cracks as you can in your home, very few spiders will be able to get inside.
4. Use a Vinegar Solution
There are certain smells that spiders and other insects hate, and vinegar is one of them. Mix up a solution of half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and spray it wherever you’ve seen spiders in the past.
Be especially generous on your kitchen cabinets and any holes in baseboards and the corners of kitchen cabinets.
5. Use Essential Oils
Certain essential oils can be used to repel spiders because of their scents. You can sprinkle a few drops of the oil on cotton balls and place them strategically around your home, or you can put about 10-15 drops of the oil in a spray bottle filled with water and spray
Some of the smells spiders hate the most include citrus, lemon, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and peppermint.
Will Spiders Come in the House to Eat Cat Food?
Spiders do not come into your house specifically to eat cat food, but they do come inside because they’re hungry. Once inside, they seek out insects first but if they don’t find them, they’ll seek out different types of food.
Some cat food is easy for them to eat and others aren’t, and sometimes they’re aiming for the insects that are eating the cat food then decide to go after the cat food itself.
While spiders don’t enter your home looking for cat or pet food, they will come in looking for food. If your cat food is convenient to them, they will try to eat it.
Do Spiders Eat Wet and Dry Cat Food?
Spiders have no teeth and therefore eat their food very differently from the way humans do. It would be very difficult for spiders to eat dry cat food because of this, but wet cat food is different.
Spiders find wet cat food simple to eat because it is so soft, and many experts believe that it is very possible for spiders to find wet cat food tasty. So while spiders do not seek out pet foods and are not even attracted to them, this doesn’t mean that they won’t eat it if they get the chance.
Conclusion
Spiders don’t seek out either human or pet food of any type, but they enter homes to find either food or shelter, and if food is easy to get to, they will eat it. Keeping your pet food area as clean as possible is a good way to keep spiders away.
I am an accredited practicing dietitian, experienced gardener and a dedicated cook. I love writing and sharing my experience so you can learn from my successes and mistakes.