cats vs robot feeder: what's the next step?
May 2, 2020 10:37 AM Subscribe
We got an automated feeder to stop the cats from waking us for breakfast. Things have gotten progressively more absurd since then.
We don't free-feed the cats. One of them is chonky in a way the vet has discouraged. As a consequence, they bug us a lot for food, beginning around sunrise, and alas, they have figured out that while my bf won't wake up and accede to their demands, I do wake up and am too addled to remember to resist. Because they're not best pals, we had to order a laser printed nozzle thingy to split the cat food into two bowls.
At some point, Cat A (the alpha, who will bully Cat B out of food) realized she could tug at the nozzle and get the machine to shake out a little more food or a little in advance. Eventually this, beyond defeating some of the point of the feeder, meant she would detach the nozzle trying to get an appetizer course and there would be food on the floor when the feeder actually went off.
Sooooo I moved the feeder into the pantry, whereof the door doesn't close 100% and the feeder would go off around 6:30, and the cats would go into a frenzy and I'd come out and pour the food from the bowl in the pantry into their separate bowls, muttering "yes, it was a good harvest" or something. Not ideal but whatever; we live in a fallen world.
Cat A has finally figured out she can nose her way into the pantry and poke at the feeder. I am defeated. I feel like a reality show producer who keeps trying to come up with something new! But it's a boring reality show about hungry cats.
I feel like maybe the options are 1) move the feeder into my bathroom, whereof the door does latch or 2) just go back to pouring food for them because at this point I'm getting up early anyway. But like....maybe there's a better plan? Or is there a way to turn down cats' "HELP I HAVE NEVER BEEN FED" melodrama more generally?
(They're not as bad about the midday feeding. They get canned food at night which they are pretty pesty about--I swear they have actually learned to recognize end credits from Netflix shows because that's usually when they're going to get fed, and they start meowing like little maniacs. Ok yes it is cute at the same time as being aggravating.)
We don't free-feed the cats. One of them is chonky in a way the vet has discouraged. As a consequence, they bug us a lot for food, beginning around sunrise, and alas, they have figured out that while my bf won't wake up and accede to their demands, I do wake up and am too addled to remember to resist. Because they're not best pals, we had to order a laser printed nozzle thingy to split the cat food into two bowls.
At some point, Cat A (the alpha, who will bully Cat B out of food) realized she could tug at the nozzle and get the machine to shake out a little more food or a little in advance. Eventually this, beyond defeating some of the point of the feeder, meant she would detach the nozzle trying to get an appetizer course and there would be food on the floor when the feeder actually went off.
Sooooo I moved the feeder into the pantry, whereof the door doesn't close 100% and the feeder would go off around 6:30, and the cats would go into a frenzy and I'd come out and pour the food from the bowl in the pantry into their separate bowls, muttering "yes, it was a good harvest" or something. Not ideal but whatever; we live in a fallen world.
Cat A has finally figured out she can nose her way into the pantry and poke at the feeder. I am defeated. I feel like a reality show producer who keeps trying to come up with something new! But it's a boring reality show about hungry cats.
I feel like maybe the options are 1) move the feeder into my bathroom, whereof the door does latch or 2) just go back to pouring food for them because at this point I'm getting up early anyway. But like....maybe there's a better plan? Or is there a way to turn down cats' "HELP I HAVE NEVER BEEN FED" melodrama more generally?
(They're not as bad about the midday feeding. They get canned food at night which they are pretty pesty about--I swear they have actually learned to recognize end credits from Netflix shows because that's usually when they're going to get fed, and they start meowing like little maniacs. Ok yes it is cute at the same time as being aggravating.)
We got a feeder that does not allow the cats to break in, though they do try. They can reach in and get a few more pieces after the main serving falls, but they cant get more. I think you just need a better feeder. Ours is called Dr. Feeder and is available online. Read the reviews for the model you get to see how easy it is for them break in.
posted by soelo at 10:47 AM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by soelo at 10:47 AM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Or is there a way to turn down cats' "HELP I HAVE NEVER BEEN FED" melodrama more generally?
So while I used to be skeptical about this sort of thing, I have since come around on prescription Vet food for chonky cats. My cat's vet put him on Satiety Control food and gave me a feeding plan that was to be followed to the gram (I had to use my weed scale for this). Surprisingly, after about a week, I started to notice I was getting harassed for food MUCH less frequently. My boi has since lost over a kilogram of body mass. It's been about 3-4 months now. It may be worth talking to your vet or a vet-nutritionist about this type of thing if it's in your budget.
posted by some loser at 10:48 AM on May 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
So while I used to be skeptical about this sort of thing, I have since come around on prescription Vet food for chonky cats. My cat's vet put him on Satiety Control food and gave me a feeding plan that was to be followed to the gram (I had to use my weed scale for this). Surprisingly, after about a week, I started to notice I was getting harassed for food MUCH less frequently. My boi has since lost over a kilogram of body mass. It's been about 3-4 months now. It may be worth talking to your vet or a vet-nutritionist about this type of thing if it's in your budget.
posted by some loser at 10:48 AM on May 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
I think you should armor plate your feeder
posted by chuntered inelegantly from a sedentary position at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2020 [17 favorites]
posted by chuntered inelegantly from a sedentary position at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2020 [17 favorites]
The only thing that worked for us and our food-obsessed cat was to eliminate the morning feeding entirely.
posted by saladin at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by saladin at 10:51 AM on May 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
We moved our cat’s feeding time from when we wake up to when we leave the house, and he stopped waking us up. Truly life changing.
(This was back when we left the house and when that cat was still with us. RIP.)
posted by Xalf at 11:07 AM on May 2, 2020 [12 favorites]
(This was back when we left the house and when that cat was still with us. RIP.)
posted by Xalf at 11:07 AM on May 2, 2020 [12 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh god. Moving feeding time would be a long, VERY meowy process. Cat A is (we think) a Bombay Cat and they are...verbose.
posted by less of course at 11:10 AM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by less of course at 11:10 AM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Our cats bug us a lot less in the morning since we changed the routine from feeding them upon waking to feeding after we’ve showered and eaten breakfast. PS you forgot to pay the cat tax (cat photos).
posted by matildaben at 11:43 AM on May 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by matildaben at 11:43 AM on May 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
Our cats get fed to an alarm twice a day, so they care more about the alarm sound than if anyone is up. Also we feed them Science Diet weight control (for our fatty) or mature cat 7+ (for the rest of them) and it's helped a ton. The 7+ diet takes almost a whole cup to maintain a 12lb cat, and they don't normally eat all of what we give them in a day.
posted by fiercekitten at 12:24 PM on May 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by fiercekitten at 12:24 PM on May 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
At one point I moved my feeder up on to a shelf that the cat couldn’t get to and built a cardboard chute for the kibbles to fall down into a bowl.
posted by tangaroo at 1:16 PM on May 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by tangaroo at 1:16 PM on May 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
I have successfully eliminated feeding time drama. I will tell you how.
But first - if you're willing to make a small screw hole in the pantry door, you can get an inexpensive metal latch hook that will improve that part of your system. If that won't work, you can find another way to keep that door securely closed. If you get stuck, just use your second AskMe question. You should be able to solve this problem :)
If you can't, well, it doesn't sound like you're getting a ton of help from the robot. Would it be just as easy to store the food in an air-tight container and serve whenever you feel like it?
Now - here's how I got my round little foster cat to stop harassing us for food:
I convinced her that I was not responsible for deciding when to feed her. I had an old phone with a distinctive, not-unpleasant alarm sound (harp glissando), set the alarm for her feeding times, and made a huge show about hearing the alarm sound, running over to it (to shut it off), and feeding her exactly then. It was clear that I was controlled by the harp sound. She made the connection very quickly, and would go sit and watch the sound/alarm system when it was close to meal times. My life improved. Safety improved (no cat weaving around my ankles). My estimation of my own cleverness improved also :)
posted by amtho at 1:53 PM on May 2, 2020 [54 favorites]
But first - if you're willing to make a small screw hole in the pantry door, you can get an inexpensive metal latch hook that will improve that part of your system. If that won't work, you can find another way to keep that door securely closed. If you get stuck, just use your second AskMe question. You should be able to solve this problem :)
If you can't, well, it doesn't sound like you're getting a ton of help from the robot. Would it be just as easy to store the food in an air-tight container and serve whenever you feel like it?
Now - here's how I got my round little foster cat to stop harassing us for food:
I convinced her that I was not responsible for deciding when to feed her. I had an old phone with a distinctive, not-unpleasant alarm sound (harp glissando), set the alarm for her feeding times, and made a huge show about hearing the alarm sound, running over to it (to shut it off), and feeding her exactly then. It was clear that I was controlled by the harp sound. She made the connection very quickly, and would go sit and watch the sound/alarm system when it was close to meal times. My life improved. Safety improved (no cat weaving around my ankles). My estimation of my own cleverness improved also :)
posted by amtho at 1:53 PM on May 2, 2020 [54 favorites]
Oh- I also made no exceptions; if I needed to feed her at a different time, I would configure the alarm to go off maybe 1 minute after I set it, walk away, then feed her when the alarm went off.
Sticking to regular times helps a lot, but if your schedule changes, you can still make the alarm precede the feeding.
posted by amtho at 1:55 PM on May 2, 2020 [10 favorites]
Sticking to regular times helps a lot, but if your schedule changes, you can still make the alarm precede the feeding.
posted by amtho at 1:55 PM on May 2, 2020 [10 favorites]
I think the simplest solution would be to get the pantry door to shut/lock. If it has double doors with any kind of handles, a simple rubber band or hair tie around both handles will do it. If it's a single door, you can get child proofing kits that are basically a stick on thing that goes next to the cupboard, with a loop over it that you stretch over the handle of the cupboard itself
posted by lollusc at 9:38 PM on May 2, 2020
posted by lollusc at 9:38 PM on May 2, 2020
We have 2 fat cats (gobblers) and 2 thin cats (grazers) and are using 4 x microchip feeders (definitely get the back shield pieces tho!) and it works great for everyone. These are not timed feeders just access-control ones.
posted by meepmeow at 11:37 AM on May 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by meepmeow at 11:37 AM on May 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Second robot feeder, in different location, instead of the splitter.
Personally, as someone who has a problem sleeping through alarms, I've chosen to view my cats' persistence in getting us up in the morning as a feature not a bug.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:23 PM on May 3, 2020
Personally, as someone who has a problem sleeping through alarms, I've chosen to view my cats' persistence in getting us up in the morning as a feature not a bug.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:23 PM on May 3, 2020
Have you tried this style of feeder?
https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-eatwell-5-meal-automatic-pet/dp/48080
Downsides: It has to be manually refilled more frequently and takes giant batteries instead of plugging into the wall. Upsides: it's pretty hard to break into (so I hear; I have a Really Dumb Cat when it comes to food, so while I own this feeder model myself, I can't personally vouch for its safety vs. Smart Cats).
posted by serelliya at 3:01 PM on May 4, 2020
https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-eatwell-5-meal-automatic-pet/dp/48080
Downsides: It has to be manually refilled more frequently and takes giant batteries instead of plugging into the wall. Upsides: it's pretty hard to break into (so I hear; I have a Really Dumb Cat when it comes to food, so while I own this feeder model myself, I can't personally vouch for its safety vs. Smart Cats).
posted by serelliya at 3:01 PM on May 4, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by janell at 10:47 AM on May 2, 2020