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Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

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Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#271

Post by Sander_Marechal »

astral303 wrote: post #26
jevinskie wrote: post #4

I recently got a SureFeed RFID feeder. It can read your cat's microchip or an RFID collar tag. When an authorized kitty approaches, a flap raises and lets the cat eat. I got it to prevent other family pets from stealing my cat's food. It works well for that purpose and seems well designed. The feeder has clear side "walls" and the flap itself acts as a wall on the rear of the feeder, helping prevent food theft during…

Don't feed your cat until 7am no matter what. Ignore all foot rubs and meows. He'll eventually learn and give up. Operant conditioning. Watch out though for that extra-hard last ditch effort he will put out before giving up. Stay strong.

7am? I tried that, and they would still wake me up. I switched to evening feedings instead. My cats get fed at 9pm sharp. They only get one feeding per day and they usually make it last. That means there's still food in their bowls in the morning. It took them a few weeks to get used to it, but now we don't get woken up by the cats anymore. Well, they still jump on the bed and want a cuddle, but no more annoying crying for food.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#272

Post by tlrobinson »

shagie wrote: post #226
tlrobinson wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wired up my Super Feeder ( http://www.super-feeder.com/ ) to a relay and C.H.I.P. ( https://getchip.com/ ). I wish I had multiple animals so I had an excuse to RFID it. So far these are the triggers: 1. I put a hall effect sensor and another C.H.I.P. on his exercise wheel ( https://onefastcat.com/ ) so it feeds him every few revolutions he runs (not sure if he's associated the two yet) 2. Alexa skill. 3. Daily 5am…

Rather than the hacked amazon dash button, have you seen the AWS IoT Button? https://aws.amazon.com/iotbutton/ That might be easier to work into the system on a future refactoring of the system.

Yeah, but the Dash buttons are $5, or free with the $5 credit towards the first purchase...

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#273

Post by stuaxo »

silencio wrote: post #136
astral303 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't feed your cat until 7am no matter what. Ignore all foot rubs and meows. He'll eventually learn and give up. Operant conditioning. Watch out though for that extra-hard last ditch effort he will put out before giving up. Stay strong.

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…

Citronella sprayed near the bottom of the door, after a couple of days they stop as it probably tastes / smells horrible to them.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#274

Post by convolvatron »

alphanumeric0 wrote: post #213

I'm not much of a hardware hacker but it'd be interesting to work on a wet food cat feeding machine.

i was always a big bowl of dry food pet owner, but when my cat got older and couldn't keep her weight up, i had to get her on wet food.

i don't think it would be hard to dispense from the puck cans, or extrude out of a plastic sack.

but it seems like portioning would be hard with the cans.

i can't imagine how it would clean itself though. even if you were wasteful enough to use disposable feeding dishes you'd be functioning as much as a bio reactor for flies and bacteria as much as a feeding station.

incineration? alcohol? steam cleaning and a sewer hookup?

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#275

Post by blacksmith_tb »

silencio wrote: post #241
paulcole wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Extra abdominal fat in felines is a feature, not a bug - the 'primordial pouch'[1] which provides some extra protection in fights, and allows for a longer stride (with all four legs spread out more when running). But you know your cat best.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_anatomy#Skin

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#276

Post by lostlogin »

astral303 wrote: post #26
jevinskie wrote: post #4

I recently got a SureFeed RFID feeder. It can read your cat's microchip or an RFID collar tag. When an authorized kitty approaches, a flap raises and lets the cat eat. I got it to prevent other family pets from stealing my cat's food. It works well for that purpose and seems well designed. The feeder has clear side "walls" and the flap itself acts as a wall on the rear of the feeder, helping prevent food theft during…

Don't feed your cat until 7am no matter what. Ignore all foot rubs and meows. He'll eventually learn and give up. Operant conditioning. Watch out though for that extra-hard last ditch effort he will put out before giving up. Stay strong.

We are 12 years in and the cat is howling away. Same feed time everyday.

She is evil. If her dinner is felt to be sub par she goes into the sleeping child and claws the kid. She has come very close to a final vet visit with this behaviour.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#277

Post by lostlogin »

arethuza wrote: post #248
robhu wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Any chance of you recording this (the cat, not the distressed wife)?

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#278

Post by logicfiction »

lg wrote: post #181
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…

for our cat it was two simple solutions: 1, feed her about 1/3 of her daily food right before I go to bed; the later she eats the later she gets hungry. 2, when she cries for food before feeding time, I chase her around the apartment with a spray bottle spraying the shit out of her. over time it has gotten much better, not perfect but she definitely learned that crying for food = getting unpleasantly wet.

If spraying works for you that's good. In general it is not recommended to spray because cats generally don't associate punishment well with actions. They are more likely to develop fear of you and/or the object than discouragement for the related concept or activity the punishment is being doled out for.

It was certainly this way with my cat. I really regret the months of different punishments we tried on him to discourage his bad behaviors as it changed his personality.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#279

Post by arethuza »

lostlogin wrote: post #277
arethuza wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Any chance of you recording this (the cat, not the distressed wife)?

He doesn't do it that often and usually at odd times (i.e. middle of the night) but I will give it a go!

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#280

Post by tripzilch »

JupiterMoon wrote: post #256
tripzilch wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in all fairness, waking up a human everyday hours before feeding time and all the other things I'm reading in this thread, the cruelty goes both ways. now the human has responsibility because they started it when they brought the cat in. though the cat doesn't seem to mind because hey free food and they get to act however the way they want and the human will think it's adorable. it is so weird. even though as a human…

It is an admirable quality to recognize that you are not an appropriate owner for an animal.

haha thanks I guess :) interesting way of looking at it. Not sure why you chose to generalise it over all animals. The strange one-sided adversarial relationship I sketched is quite particular to cats and cat owners. I just don't see myself willingly entering that role.

But the relationship between dogs and humans seems a lot less alien to me. I might one day, I could use the company. But it's a lot of responsibility.

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