You know the saying: “Dogs have people, cats have servants.” This is especially true when your feline overlord loses track of time and insists on being fed at oh-dark-thirty. You’re tempted to stay in bed feigning death, but that’s a tall order with the cat sitting on your chest and staring into your soul.
An automatic cat feeder would be nice at moments like these, but off-the-shelf units are pricey. [Mom Will Be Proud] decided to roll his own cat feeder, and the results are pretty impressive for what amounts to a trash can build. Two old food cans form the body — a Pringles can on top to hold the food and a nut can below for the servo. The metal ends of the cans nest together nicely, and with a large section removed from each, an aperture opens every time the hopper rotates, dropping food down a chute. A BeagleBone Black controls the servo, but anything with PWM outputs should do the trick. We’d lean toward the ESP8266 ecosystem for WiFi support for remotely controlling feedings, and we’d probably beef up the structure with PVC tube to prevent unauthorized access. But it’s a simple concept, and simple is a good place to start.
You shall not want for pet feeder builds around these parts. Take your pick — snazzy Steampunk, super cheap, or with an Archimedean twist.
I like the cubical cat house. But the hole looks small for the cat.
the cat will soon be thin enough to get in and out easy with as little catfood as that thing is dumping :P
He can dispense as much as he wants. But the included metal shavings, cutoff wheel, and EPS dust might take their toll!
The red looks like treats and the foot pedal dispenses food from the other. There was a link to a “Play with this feeder” so I’d imagine that hole will be a little tight till the internet gets bored and they don’t get their treats
Given that this is not cat food, but high-calorie treats, my guess is that this won’t be a problem.
Lol He’s set up a ‘SuperChat'(?) donations button that triggers the treats. If I did that one of my cats would be waddling from her bed to the bowl for everyone’s amusement.
Agreed, this is the better story! Internet of Usless Thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V7L9D9fyVA
Nice built. However never got this type of dry food feeders. You can dump 1kg in a bowl and refill once evety 2 months.. more looking for a wet food dispenser
Depends on the cat, some cats overeat when there is unlimited dry-food available.
Not to mention the insects it attracts.
That’s exactly what I do and I my cat is not overweight at all, nor do I ever have an insect problem. I feed him wet food 2 times/day but he has the dry food available to him 24/7 in a very large dish. Wet food dispensing would be very messy no? I think it would be great if there was one though.
Same here. That’s how my grandmother did it my entire life and none of her animals (cats and dogs) were even remotely fat. Except the dog she fed people food..he looked like a barrel with legs.
Best wet food device is a spoon. ????
LOVE IT! Gotta build several ( I have multiple cats, they don’t like to share ).
oh my gosh! I have so many empty cans of pringles. I was addicted. I’ve kicked the chips but I haven’t kicked the cans!!! I might have to try that!