Question About Auto Feeder - Update

Status
Not open for further replies.
Angela & Blackie & 3 Others

Angela & Blackie & 3 Others

Member Since 2010
I have 2 of the 2 compartment auto feeders, and just now tested one of them on Blackie to see what she actually does. In recent trials with this thing when we went out for a few hours in the evening, I'd come home with them both and the trays inside strewn all over the bedroom. The test was a tiny smidgen of Evo in one of the trays, and I timed it for about 1 hour (or less) to see what she did. She beat it practically to death, I tell you, trying to crack it open. She headbutted it to the point of it almost tipping over. Thankfully, I didn't put any water in it, which would normally be the case if it were her actual portion, and the smidgen actually stayed in place despite the rambunctious kitty attacking it.

Question: Is there a way that we can secure them in place, without her headbutting them into submission?

We're due to go out this evening, but after seeing her in action, I'm not sure if that's a good idea until I can secure them, and weigh them down somehow.

Thank you in advance. :)
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

Oh, sorry Angela, I can't stop laughing, I just keep picturing Blackie doing ths :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I know it seems like a big problem, so sorry for laughing. How about taping it on the bottom with some strong tape so the dish part doesn't come out… I can't think of anything else.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

No, it's the whole unit that she can move before it's opened. And yes, it is extremely funny to watch, actually. :lol: :lol: I truly feel sorry for any inanimate object that has food in it, I tell you. :lol:
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

I don't have any advice but I'm thinking you really need to get a video of that. :lol:
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

I am thinking about getting a couple of these feeders for my cats and was afraid they will do something like that too. In one review I read about them, the person drilled holes in the feeder to attach it to the floor so his cat couldn't move it. That sounds pretty extreme to me. I wonder if using duct tape to attach it to the floor would work?
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

:lol: go blackie, you little devil! :lol:

yes, i'd love the video too.

i have a couple of thoughts. for whatever reason, this sort of challenge totally appeals to me. :lol: i'm warped.

~ how about weighing down the second side with rocks?

~ perhaps taking a random board (if you need one, my husband has 3,215 in our downstairs shop) and fastening the perimeter of the timed feeder to the board. you could nail in at an angle so the the top of the nail is over the feeder base and the bottom of the nail goes into the board. do that along each side and it oughta hold it.

~ same idea with random board, but what if you screwed cup hooks in on each side - if the cup hook is turned so that it's perpendicular to the feeder, it would be partially over the bottom so it would serve as a lock. but if you turned the cup hook another 1/2 turn so that it was parallel to the feeder base, you could (in theory) lift the feeder out off the board to be able to fill it, wash it, etc.

~ same idea with random board, but what if you took webbing (you can buy at any general fabric type of store) or rope and tied it. or duct tape the feeder down.

~ no board? how about any kitchen tray or large baking sheet? fasten the feeder to the tray/sheet and then weigh the outside of the sheet down with rocks, bricks or your penny collection around the feeder.

on the other hand, i bought the 5 compartment PetSafe and despite punkin's uh, "love" of food, it's a big enough base and it weighs enough that there's no way he could get it tipped over. i'm really liking it.

if you can't get your feeder worked in time for tonight, do you have enough time to freeze some low carb food pucks and leave one out underneath the regular food? as it thaws it'll keep the regular one cold and then when it's thawed Blackie could eat it.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

oh yeah, i wouldn't fasten it to your floor cuz it will wreck your floor. that would be a great big no good here.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

The room where I leave both 2 compartment feeders in is carpeted. Rocks in 1 feeder would be ok as I don't need the other compartment, but with the other unit, I DO need both compartments.

Thank you for the suggestions, ladies. I'll pass them on to DH when he gets home this afternoon. IMO, he's got 2 hours to figure something out. :lol:
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

I want a video too! :lol: :lol: :lol:

How about just attaching it to a piece of plywood? No damage to the floor, too heavy for Blackie to move but you could easily do so. Or does she get it open? I've heard the 2 compartment are pretty easy to open. There is supposed to be one is a lot harder for cats to get into, I think it may be this one http://www.qpets.com/product_detail_75.htm. i'd check in health too
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

the one i have is similar in idea to the one ann just posted. although i can't leave a recorded message for punkin with mine! :lol:

the idea with these is that the food platter rotates around underneath the opening, so one compartment at a time is exposed and when the timer goes, the compartment platter all rotates to a new opening.

i think some cats could probably break into anything out there, of course. cats are sneaky little buggers. especially when food is in the picture.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

OMG! It talks? :shock: That would totally scare the bejeebus out of Ruby and Midgie!
Now that I think about it, based on how they behaved when I had the volume turned up on the iPad during the "Games for Cats" sessions, it would probably make them even more determined to flip it over.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

Does your feeder have the removable dishes for the food and an empty space below? If so, get something flat and heavy to put in the bottom part of the compartment. While neither Gabby nor Gizmo beat their feeder into submission, I have a couple of chunks of granite from when I was counter shopping that could easily go in there. (These samples weigh a lot for a 4 x 4 piece of stone.)

CD had the same problem with her 2-compartment feeder. She ended up using the 5-compartment model because Big Mac couldn't torture it to death.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

Attaching it to something big and flat so she can't move it (she would walk onto a board and stand on it while trying to move the feeding attached to it) would work I think, if you had the stuff and talents to do such a thing. Another idea is to put it inside something that she can't easily move or can't get the feeder moved enough to flip it? A box of some sort. Mine were easily defeated just by pushing it up against a wall and then laying something weighted in front so they couldn't pull it away from the wall to get it moving.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

the museum putty is an interesting idea! how about hot gluing the feeder to a board or an old cookie sheet? it'd take a more-than-the-average-talent cat to flip over a feeder glued onto a cookie sheet. especially if they were, as melanie pointed out, standing on the cookie sheet!
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

The Cat Mate C 20, two compartment auto feeder has holes pre-drilled so that you can, if need be, attach it to a board or piece of plywood. I like this feeder a lot because it comes with a freezer block to keep wet food cool (fits beneath the trays). Rusty eats all of his meals from it, since I use it--with the compartment lids open--as a "table". So when we go out and need to use it as a timed feeder, all we do is set the timers and close the lids. He has never attempted to pry it open. (such a gentleman!)
It's on sale at a good price here: http://www.petmountain.com/product/...0-automatic-pet-feeder.html#product_tab_stage

Ella & Rusty

p.s. an added bonus: it is made in England!
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

The Cat Mate C20 will let you set it to open both bowls at the same time in order to feed more than one cat. That's great. All of the others I have looked at will not let you do that. This may be what I have been looking for. Thanks for posting the link to it.
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder - Update :)

When DH came home last night, I told him the dilemma. He thought for a moment, and before I could even mention any suggestions that you all provided, he immediately went, got some wood, some screws, and his cordless drill, and attached them both to wood. It was heavy enough that she couldn't move it (much), or tip it over. Got it prepared last night, and came home to find only the trays strewn all over the bedroom floor. The feeders were, of course, still attached to the wood, but the whole thing was slightly moved towards the door. I tell ya... I tell ya... One needs to keep at least 3 steps ahead of one's fur babies. :lol:

Thank you all for your suggestions. The wood DOES work. The heavier the wood, the better. Our babies may be "delicate" to a degree, but they ARE strong. :lol:
 
Re: Question About Auto Feeder

julie & punkin said:
........

~ perhaps taking a random board (if you need one, my husband has 3,215 in our downstairs shop) ......
Click to expand...


Julie? Your husband building a log cabin or something?
 
I have this mental image of everyone's cats beating up the feeders - my sides hurt from laughing.

When I 'lock' Scruffy in his room for the night, I put a paint bucket in front of the covered cat door (no 'real' door..yet..). He knows he has to move the wood off the opening to get out but SITS on the paint bucket to do it. Can't make it!
 
hahaha cathy! i think he has a bit of a wood obsession. but i say nothing because i have as much fabric and he never complains about it.

ok, i do say something when he piles it in the front of the house. "hello, do you see any other houses in the neighborhood 'decorating' the fronts of their garages with clutter?" :lol:

angela, they are conniving little ones. cats are smart. i've heard people say dogs are smarter, but anyone who lives with a cat knows that cats are far more conniving and brilliant.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top