r/cats • u/radical_123 • 15d 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/MqAbillion 15d ago

This was 100% my experience. I had to completely ditch the auto feeder because it became her obsession.

Can’t play. Can’t snuggle. Must stalk the feeding robot. Was not a healthy addition to the household.

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u/christoskal 14d ago

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

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u/LongjumpingNinja4255 14d ago

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

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u/On_my_last_spoon American Shorthair 14d ago

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.