Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine • Hacker News Board

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#241

Post by silencio » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:45 AM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #240

silencio wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long is "eventually"? My cat is almost 5 years old. She is the type to overeat to obesity, probably because she was abandoned at ~1yr by her previous owner. For half her life my partner and I have been feeding her like clockwork 3 times a day, minus all of 2-3 weeks of vacations where our roommate took over. I have to exert a constant effort to maintain our bedroom door and the rubber that I lined on the jamb to…

My cat was on a "diet" similar to yours. I just ended up giving in and letting him eat all the food he wanted, which ended up being less than expected. He just freaked out at having an empty bowl. He's a very big strong boy now (20ish pounds) and is just very happy. My thinking was that he's a cat and what's the point of a cat being unhappy for his whole life.

It's possible 20lbs is closer to your cat's ideal weight, since some breeds tend to run large. Mine only hit 18+lbs while we freefed her. Now she's around 12lbs, in good body condition (just a little more abdominal fat she could stand to lose).

We really had to push the weight loss because it was clear she wasn't meant to be so big. Her asthma was significantly worse when she weighed more (multiple attacks a week vs now I don't even remember the last one within the past year), and there were huge patches of her body covered in greasy dandruff because she couldn't groom herself. It would have eventually led to a lot of problems. Better for us to put up with her antics than to watch a painful death, really.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#242

Post by scott_karana » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:49 AM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #28

Compare to cows, who after being trained by real cattle guards, won't step on painted lines that simulate them.

Admittedly, cattle have been selectively bred for compliance for millennia, whereas I kind of suspect that humans encourage cats' hunting behaviour.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#243

Post by JoeSloth » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:51 AM UTC

After reading, I can't help but think that the problem is that the cat knows there is food inside.. is there a leak where the scent gets out?

I would try sealant around all the seams And revert back to so lesser security measures to test it.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#244

Post by firebones » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:53 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #220

jevinskie wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the feeder holds a single meal and is designed for access control (multiple pets) and not really automatic/timed feeding. A feeder with a sort of food hopper isn't too useful to me since I alternate dry/wet food for breakfast/dinner. A lockout timer would be though!

Only feed them dry for breakfast using the machine; do wet manually at night.

This.

Dry before work.

Wet when someone gets home. A little dry later. (Which they don't touch right away because they're satiated.)

Wet right before bed. They don't get ticked off unless you sleep in late because the late wet food is so good.

Cured the cat clawing at the door all night because we were trying to put them on a human food schedule for the wet stuff.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#245

Post by silencio » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:57 AM UTC

peatmoss wrote: post #231

matt_kantor wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try an automatic feeder. I have the one mentioned in the article and didn't need to do any extra hardening to protect it from our two cats. Even though we kept a tight feeding schedule, our cats used to start meowing and pestering us an hour before dinner time. Now, they just sit quietly and stare at the automatic feeder until it dispenses their food.

Second this. Our cat was clearly able to outlast my patience. At one point early-ish into our cat's tenure in our home, during a particularly persistent meowing session I said to my wife (jokingly!), "holy shit I'm going to kill this cat." To which I quickly had the sad realization that some people probably do abuse or kill their pets. So I decided to check for advice from the ASPCA. All the kitty guides on webbernet…

Fine, fine, I just ordered the Petnet feeder :) Not my first pick, but it supports the 1/16 cup portions I would need to maintain my cat's weight on the dry food that she likes most. I shall see on Christmas Day if she'll tolerate it :D

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#246

Post by dang » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 7:28 AM UTC

oniMaker wrote: post #42

The fact that you're downvoted for common sense is alarming. HN is supposed to be a place for smart people.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13231515 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#247

Post by dang » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 7:30 AM UTC

pinkrooftop wrote: post #237

throwanem wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm about to flag your comment not because it suggests the quality of discourse on HN has declined, but because it makes a net negative contribution to the quality of discourse on HN. In other words, you seem to be being the problem you perceive. Perhaps you might do otherwise.

Ok u win at hacker news I guess gotta be someone

You've been posting a lot of unsubstantive comments to HN, and not just in this thread. Please don't do that from now on.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#248

Post by arethuza » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 8:35 AM UTC

robhu wrote: post #208

derekp7 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats have been known to modify their purring sounds, to include a sub-carrier that is remarkably similar to an infant crying. That in turn triggers an instinctive response in humans which cause them to subconsciously rise out of bed and apply food to the source of that sound. Source: a documentary on Netflix "The Lion in your Living room".

I thought it was that modern house cats have evolved to have their purring contain that similar sound, rather than that they selectively enable a sub-carrier.

One of our cats has managed to perfect saying something that sounds awfully like a distressed young child crying "mum" - I'm immune to this but it upsets my wife!

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#249

Post by nullc » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 9:05 AM UTC

rhaps0dy wrote: post #82

This is an excellent example of why AI safety can never work by listing bad outcomes. And the cat is not even superintelligent.

The cat also has fairly easily understood goals.

If, instead, the cat were trying to turn everything into paperclips it might be harder to combat its efforts because you'd never figure out what it was trying to do beyond causing chaos.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#250

Post by funnyfacts365 » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 9:06 AM UTC

2016122 wrote: post #172

quanticle wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but with kids, you can at least have the hope that they'll eventually learn to know better. With cats... not so much.

Yes it gets better. My 4 year old tidies up after her 2 year old sister. She even get's angry that she is making a mess.

So now the 2year old will learn that she can do all the mess she wants because she has her own cleaning maid... Just wait for it.