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Cure for the hungry cat

Lack of sleep is forcing me to succumb to yuppie impulses: I'm going to get an automatic pet food dispenser. Every morning at 4:30, Hazel begins her nuzzle/noise onslaught and doesn't give up until my alarm goes off, an hour and a half later, when I give her a dainty scoop of food. She licks my chin and tries to pry my eyelids open with her paws. She steps on the pedal of the trashcan that contains the kibble. (A heavy plant on top keeps it closed.) She clangs her ID tag against the ceramic bowl. She bats at the blinds. The spray bottle doesn't reach her across the apartment, and after more than six months of torture, I'm convinced her schedule isn't going to change.

I'm thinking about the following options:

  • Building one myself, perhaps out of Lego Mindstorms.
  • Ergo Autopetfeeder. Very expensive, but otherwise perfect. The company provides the manual online and a video of the dispenser working. Too bad I don't trust the shoddily-designed site enough to provide my credit card number.
  • Automatic cat feeder. Only dispenses five meals, and is designed more for wet food. But I can get it from a company I trust (PetSmart), so this will probably be the one I choose.
December 30, 2004 : 6:42 PM
: link

Comments

Don't shell out the money for the upright feeders... the cats figure them out quickily and have free access to as much food as they like. Opt for the cheaper 8 Day AutoPetFeeder instead... but you will have to by it from a distributor because the company always seems to be out of it.
posted by Anonymous Anonymous : June 18, 2005 11:34 PM : link to this comment  
I used to have a similar problem with my cat. However, a more experienced cat owner told me the cat associated waking me up with getting fed, so the cure was to make sure not to feed the cat first thing when I got up. So, I changed my routine and refused to feed the cat till after I'd showered (which is about 45 minutes after I get up). Within a few weeks the cat associated my entry into the bathroom as the indicator it was feeding time, so stopped trying to wake me before the alarm.
posted by Anonymous Anonymous : September 22, 2005 6:04 PM : link to this comment  
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Moira Burke

Psst! This is the blog of Moira Burke, a Ph.D. student in the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rife with derivative pop culture blather, this site occasionally features thoughts on social psychology, usability, aesthetics, and the general meanderings of someone figuring out the meaning of life. Won't you help me find it?

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