If you have pets, you know how difficult it can be to keep their bowls tidy, especially if you have young, playful ones and a tiled floor, as you can end up finding the bowls on the opposite side of the room.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a game of treasure hunt, but not at 6:30 in the morning, before the mad rush to get my boys to school. And especially trying to find them whilst the cats get in between your feet begging for food. I decided it was time to buy some pet food trays, but realistically, it would have cost me a small fortune, so I decided to make my own.

I searched on Pinterest for ideas, and although there were many great ones, they did not fit my needs, even because I have five cats. So, I decided to design my own, using a pallet we had in the garage. And it turned out pretty good.

It was a relatively simple DIY job, so if you want to make one for your pets, you can find the instructions below

Materials needed:

• pet food bowls (as many as you need )
• pallet of the right dimensions for the number of bowls you want to fit
• a piece of cardboard as big as the bowl to draw the template on
• jigsaw
• hammer and a few nails to elevate the bowl stand
• sander (optional)
• paint/varnish (optional)

Steps:

• First, find a pallet big enough to fit all the food bowls you intend to use.

• Take a piece of cardboard, put one of the bowls upside down on top of it and draw around it with a pencil or marker pen. Cut the shape out and draw a second circle inside the first as wide as the rim of the bowl so that you can make sure it will fit in nicely.

• Once you have the template, use it to draw on the pallet where you want to position the bowls. I first traced the outline of the bowl. After a few trials, I found the exact position for the bowls. Then, I drew the inside line, which I would cut out.

• When happy with the position, you can start cutting using the jigsaw. First, all the semi-circles (after the first one, it is a good idea to check that the bowl fits in perfectly. If not, make all the adjustments and change all the other templates accordingly so that you don’t have to correct them all at the end) and then the sides to get the whole row free from the pallet.

• At this point, you should check if the stand is the right height. To make it right, I had to add some blocks of wood that I cut out from the pallet.

• You can now finish it the way you want. I sanded it down and then used some leftover varnish that I found in the garage. Of course, I tried it right away, and it has made a huge difference.

And the cats like it too!!!