Hi Heatherhock
Unfortunately cats are a perennial problem eating the hog food – usually other people’s cats!
You will find loads of mentions of various schemes to keep cats from the food.
One simple way that works with some cats and still enables you to see the hogs is to use a fairly large sheet of perspex type material on top of bricks, or earth filled flower pots (weighed down by bricks or more pots). It can easily be cleared during the day. You might need to adjust the height. I use a variety of 3 litre and 2 litre pots.
Sadly some cats still manage to get under, but not all. But you can make it more difficult by putting obstacles opposite the spaces the hogs can through. Hogs can get through tighter turns, being that much shorter. But cats can get through much smaller gaps than most people imagine. i.e one cat here crawls right on its belly, grabs a mouthful of food and then exits to eat it! (seen on camera) Not all cats are quite so enterprising so it’s worth a try.
Alternatively if you have a hog box, you could put bricks in the ‘corridors’ to lower the height – based on the principle that it’s harder for cats to turn and flatten themselves downwards at the same time. Some cats can get into most commercial boxes I’ve seen.
Good luck. I hope you find something that works.
