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Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

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Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#281

Post by user837387 »

wyager wrote: post #270
Asooka wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a level of wanton cruelty I wouldn't expect a dog to exhibit.

Badly trained and feral dogs definitely love to kill smaller animals. I've lost chickens to a neighbor's dog and at least one cat to the feral dog packs that roam San Antonio. There are certain social groups there who don't exercise good pet ownership and see releasing unwanted puppies onto the street as a preferable alternative to spaying and neutering. Standard operating procedure on rural ranch land is to shoot an…

I lived in the country side for a long time. It was a small farming town of no more than 1000 people surrounded by farming and grazing land. I don't remember dogs attacking anything other then themselves. They were never a problem with livestock, chickens, etc. They did sometimes bite a human, most cases it was the human's fault. Kids sometimes had a habit of tormenting dogs by throwing rocks at them so it was no surprise that some of them would turn on you.

>>Either way, it poses a serious risk to your livestock; such dogs frequently kill small animals (chickens, rabbits, barn cats, etc.) in bulk (they don't even bother pausing before going to the

I've never actually seen this nor heard anybody in the town mention this as a problem. I still have family there that farms and raises livestock and to this day I've never heard something like this mentioned.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#282

Post by krallja »

rhaps0dy wrote: post #269
nullc wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wait, I fail to see how "converting everything into paperclips" is a more complex and hard to understand goal than "getting food"

Imagine what a cat _trying_ to turn everything into paper clips would look like.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#284

Post by wyager »

user837387 wrote: post #281
wyager wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Badly trained and feral dogs definitely love to kill smaller animals. I've lost chickens to a neighbor's dog and at least one cat to the feral dog packs that roam San Antonio. There are certain social groups there who don't exercise good pet ownership and see releasing unwanted puppies onto the street as a preferable alternative to spaying and neutering. Standard operating procedure on rural ranch land is to shoot an…

I lived in the country side for a long time. It was a small farming town of no more than 1000 people surrounded by farming and grazing land. I don't remember dogs attacking anything other then themselves. They were never a problem with livestock, chickens, etc. They did sometimes bite a human, most cases it was the human's fault. Kids sometimes had a habit of tormenting dogs by throwing rocks at them so it was no sur…

I don't know what to say; what I said applied in both rural Idaho and Texas. People don't exactly bring it up in conversation, as it's kind of unfortunate. Dogs aren't nearly as much of a problem as hogs here in TX, but people do have to deal with them occasionally. It's usually not an issue because farmers know to keep their dogs chained/fenced up or to train them not to wander around.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#285

Post by executesorder66 »

ianai wrote: post #239
fellellor wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe a bunch of dogs will entertain themselves by killing the cat.

I wanted to downvote you, but this is part of why letting cats out is cruel. They're best off living a life of leisure indoors. Make sure it's a good life by entertaining and caring for them. That's what pets are supposed to experience in the modern era.

No. Not letting cats out is cruel. They are outdoor animals by nature. They enjoy exploring the neighborhood(how much varies from cat to cat). And they have instincts to deal with whatever might be out there.

If you live in an area that really is too dangerous to let the cat out, then you were being cruel by getting a cat in the first place.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#287

Post by lloeki »

eric_h wrote: post #211
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used something similar to teach a kitten I had to not step on keyboards. Just pick them up and drop them on the floor every time they touch the keyboard - they learn that that touching keyboards is How You Fall Off The Desk.

Ages ago, when I was still living with my parents, we had an indoor/outdoor cat that had a habit of going to various high shelves in the house and accidentally knocking things off them. To curb this behavior, one of us would grab him off the shelf and literally throw him outside (onto grass, maybe 6' in the air), thinking that he would associate the unpleasantness of being thrown with his unwanted behavior. He did. H…

> murderous relationship between cats and local bird populations.

That line instantly made me recall this comic: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#288

Post by JupiterMoon »

tripzilch wrote: post #280
JupiterMoon wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sorry I wasn't intending to generalise in that sense.

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#289

Post by chris_st »

funnyfacts365 wrote: post #250
2016122 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well, you've got to get some benefit out of older siblings...

Re: Cat-proofing a cat feeding machine

#290

Post by shagie »

tlrobinson wrote: post #272
shagie wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

> Buy this AWS IoT Button for $19.95 and receive a $20.00 credit in your AWS account within 24 hours of your first press.

If you are paying for any AWS, it's free too.

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