Ants in food- please answer quickly!

The ants have just found the half-full bag of Cat Chow.

Last night I noticed them in the room where the cat food is stored, so I put a bait in the room. The ants go into the bait, eat poison, and bring some of the poison back to the colony.

Today, as I went to give the cats their 2/3 cup of food for dinner, I found 1 ant in the scoop of food.

Should I throw the bag away? I'd rather not throw away half a bag over one little ant, but I'm worried that the ants will track the poison from the bait into the cat food. The cats have no other food in the house, and it might be a few hours before I can get them new food. (Edit: I do have a bowl of non-ant-infested food in my bedroom, plus some food samples. They'll be ok for the night.) What should I do?

Also, has anyone tried storing the food in a big Rubbermaid storage container? I'm thinking of trying that to keep the ants out. (Oh, and if the food is unsuitable for cats, could I feed it to "our" raccoons, who are used to eating food with ants?)

I buy the 6 pound or smaller bags and store the food, bag and all, in a plastic food container, with the bag clipped shut. So far, no pests and I have had the odd ant in the kitchen and bedrooms.

Honestly, I'm terribly chicken - I'd toss the food and start over. I'm not even sure I'd feed it to the racoons...I suppose if it's only an ant or two with the poison, it's probably nothing the racoons havent encountered before, but....

if you can still feed them today, I wouldn't worry too much about a few hours' wait (these are adults, right?) - after all, when they go for dental cleanings, they fast (my vet does an 8 hour minimum fast).

So, yesterday, I threw away the ant-infested food. I bought the cats another big bag of Cat Chow, and threw away the receipt. I shopped in vain for a big plastic container to store the food in but did find a couple of small storage containers.

When I returned from the store, I was happy to have some safe cat food with no ant poison. I opened the new bag and poured the cats some. Being the perfectionist I am, I looked over the food before giving it to the cats. One piece of kibble was glistening. It contained a very small, millimeter-sized piece of metal. So much for "safe."

I couldn't find any other metal in the food, but there's no way I would risk feeding it. So, I went back to the store and bought them some Healthful Life...still made by Purina, unfortunately, but it isn't Cat Chow and is the only other dry food I knew all four cats would eat. Hopefully the abrupt food change doesn't upset their stomachs too much.

I'm rather angry now. With no receipt, I couldn't take the Cat Chow back to the store. I did save the piece of metal though...Purina will definitely hear about this. As soon as I find a non-Purina food that everyone will eat, I'll start switching them off the Healthful Life.

Sorry for ranting, but I'm just disgusted with all this cat food drama.

It always seems everything happens at once, and always when you don't have the receipt handy. I've started throwing receipts in a big envelope and just sorting it out every few months.

Definitely call Purina and hang on to the bar code sections, as well as the metal.

And your kitties have such a good mommy!