How to separate dry pet food kibble from "dust" that accumulates?
May 9, 2019 11:12 AM   Subscribe

Dry cat food bags start to get a collection of "dusty" scrapings from the kibble on the bottom of the package (just from kibble bits rubbing against each other during normal handling). My cats are really bothered by it and won't eat the last 1/10 of the bag. Is there an easy way to separate the junk out (like wheat from chaff?)
posted by Jon44 to Pets & Animals (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just use a colander and give it a shake.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 11:12 AM on May 9, 2019 [12 favorites]


Have you tried dumping the lot of it into a colander and shaking it? Depending on the size of the cat food you might need a different sized strainer, starting with a woven wire strainer, and going up to a plastic one with large apertures.
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:14 AM on May 9, 2019


Also came in to say colander. I've done this with my pets' food several times.
posted by anderjen at 11:15 AM on May 9, 2019


I mix the dog food powder into scrambled eggs.
posted by theora55 at 11:15 AM on May 9, 2019 [3 favorites]


You could literally winnow it, like wheat and chaff. Which would give you tons of style points in my book, but a colander is probably easier unless you have a dozen or so cats.
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:16 AM on May 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


Colander, strainer, screen, thing with small holes.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:16 AM on May 9, 2019


Could you just turn the bag upside down every week and redistribute it?
posted by tilde at 11:38 AM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Could you scoop it with a non-solid bottomed cup?

Maybe not the same one you use in their litter?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:49 AM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


I put my cats' crunchy food into a clear lidded container that fits nicer into my cabinets and lets me see how much I have left. One of my cats totally does the disdain thing when I get down to the dusty bits - I can't tell if it's the dustiness or if it's gotten stale. It never occurred to me to colander out the dusty bits. Instead what I do is buy new food a bit before we reach the staleness rejection stage. I dump the old food out into a bowl, pour in the new bag, and pop the older stuff on top, give it a couple stirs to distribute the older crunchies into the top chunk of the new crunchies. That seems to work perfectly well.
posted by Mizu at 12:00 PM on May 9, 2019 [3 favorites]


Just use a colander and give it a shake.

I do this with my own human breakfast cereal.
posted by Melismata at 12:16 PM on May 9, 2019 [4 favorites]


i do it with cashews so they aren't so salty
posted by rhizome at 12:29 PM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


I mix the dog food powder into scrambled eggs.

I uh, hope you mean scrambled eggs for the dogs. Not for you.
posted by notsnot at 12:35 PM on May 9, 2019 [12 favorites]


I was also going to suggest a slotted spoon or a litter scoop that you just keep with the food bag.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:37 PM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Yeah, a litter scoop is perfect for this.
posted by advicepig at 2:20 PM on May 9, 2019


This is Granular convection aka "the Brazil nut effect". You could keep it in a taller and narrower container. Ideally you'd want a container that has a funnel like base so that all of the powder eventually migrates to that very narrow section at the bottom. To do this with a bag or box just shake and store it at a 45° angle so things settle into one corner.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:58 PM on May 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


Tall, narrow plastic bins with lids prevent crushing and keep the food from getting stale. You have to scoop the food out rather than tipping it into their bowls tho (pouring jostles the kibble and makes it crumble). So get one wide enough to scoop from.

The last little crushed bits get mixed with tuna juice or broth for a special treat :)
posted by ananci at 6:09 PM on May 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


Would you even need a colander? Seems like just shaking up the container would migrate all the whole kibble to the top by the Brazil Nut Effect. Then you can just scoop it up and serve into the bowl with a fork or slotted spoon.
posted by ctmf at 7:21 PM on May 9, 2019


Best answer: If the dust is fine enough that the above suggestions aren't sufficient to remove it, try blowing it away with a hair dryer. (Used this tactic to remove peanut dust in an ice cream restaurant...)

And you might make sure by sealing the kibble in smaller bags after purchase that it's the dust and not staleness or some end of bag equivalent that is keeping them from eating it...
posted by stormyteal at 9:51 PM on May 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


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