Shield for animal food container

A combination of a container configured to hold animal food material and a separate shroud therefor, comprising:

• an upright cup-shaped thin walled thermoplastic container having a bottom wall and an upstanding sidewall integrally formed with said bottom wall, an upper edge of said sidewall terminating in an annular rim structure defining the perimeter limits of an opening into an interior region of said container, said annular rim structure being configured to have a thin material foil cover adhesively secured thereto to form a sealed closure for the animal food contents of said container;
• and
• an inverted metal cup-shaped shroud having a top wall with an opening therethrough and an annular skirt depending downwardly from an outer perimeter of said top wall to encircle an outside facing surface of said upstanding sidewall of said container, said shroud being configured to fit over the open top of said container and rest entirely on said rim structure to thereby provide a protective shield preventing animals from gaining access to said thermoplastic material of said rim structure of said container and to thereby prevent the animal from chewing on said material at said rim, said opening in said top wall being configured to allow an animal to gain access to any contents in said interior region of said container with the metal material of said shroud preventing animals from damaging a perimeter of said opening by chewing thereon, said top wall of said shroud being in a form of an inverted cone with said through opening being located at an apex of the cone, and wherein an upwardly facing surface of said top wall is scored for the purpose of providing additional surface area that the animal can grip.