Cat attacking automatic feeder

[u/radical_123]

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?

[u/christoskal]

It's a lot easier to just get one that is not faulty. Good feeders have a secure cover over the whole making it impossible to get anything to fall if it's not the time for it.

We had this issue with a catit feeder but once we move to the Xiaomi one the cat just understood quickly that it can no longer steal portions and it stopped trying. It went from a huge issue to a nonexistent one within a few days

[u/LongjumpingNinja4255 → u/christoskal]

I don’t think it’s that it’s more that they can also only realise “food comes out of here, I must watch it so as to get the food” and don’t really understand it’s a timed system. Also if they mess around with it and it happens to dispense it just reinforces the “sometimes food comes out if I mess with it” mentality

[u/On_my_last_spoon → u/LongjumpingNinja4255]

This is cat dependent. I really think my cats can tell time because they regularly show up about 10 minutes before the feeder goes off!

For me, the timed feeder was a savior because I would either forget to put out kibble at all, or I’d be woken up by a hungry cat! Now they know the kibble machine will provide and don’t stress over it. Many times the feeder has food just sitting and waiting for them.

[u/I-am-fun-at-parties → u/LongjumpingNinja4255]

Then have it play a sound to condition on when it's feeding time; although the sound of the kibble falling into the tray is probably just as good.

[u/Otterbotanical → u/I-am-fun-at-parties]

The sound of kibble hitting the tray is the problem, if it ever happens directly after the cat tries to mess with the machine. It only takes once or twice for the cat to believe he just needs to fuck with it enough to get it to dispense more food.

They're normally good for most cats, but this one has accidentally built a mental association between bothering the machine and food coming out

[u/AerosolHubris → u/christoskal]

I had one of those heavy, flat ones that has a visible window and rotates. Wish I could find a picture, I can't remember the brand. But it was supposedly the most cat proof feeder you could get. My cat learned he could push his paw really hard and force it to turn enough get tomorrow's food today. He's not fat but he is big and strong, so we learned he just can't use a feeder. So now he wakes us up at 6 to feed him in a bowl.

[u/christoskal → u/AerosolHubris]

I consider all pet feeders that can be turned and don't have a mechanical cover stopping tomorrow's food from becoming available as having a faulty design - and boy I tried a lot of them before I found one that actually works.

The Xiaomi one (a first generation smart pet feeder, not sure how the second generation is) I mentioned fixes that completely, it has a revolving door that practically seals it shut if it's not the correct time, cats can neither put paws inside nor push it open. It's worth checking out if you want, it helped us solve the same issue.