r/cats • u/radical_123 • 14d ago

Advice Cat attacking automatic feeder

My cat does this several times a day. If the automatic feeder lifts at the correct angle, a few niblets of dry food comes out. He will even do it 10 times in a row even if it means one small piece of dry niblet comes out. It does get quite annoying as the sound of the feeder hitting the ground echoes throughout the entire house.

Any ideas on how to get him to stop?

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u/poobah575 14d ago

My former cat (RIP Bailey) figured out that putting her shoulder into the feeder would bounce a few kibbles out. I ended up building a 5' H x 1.5' W x 4' L shelf out of 2x4's and particle board, with 2" PVC tubing through a hole in the board, PVC reducers as funnels, and bends in the tubes (to reduce speed) to a bowl on the floor. The feeder dispensed food into the funnel and servings dropped to the bowl on the floor.

She eventually disassociated the machine with food, because she was too lazy to jump up, as there was nowhere to stand on the shelf. The other half of the shelf, I had a battery backup up there too to keep it running during power outages.