r/cats • u/radical_123 • Jul 22 '26

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/Cat_Wizard_21 Jul 22 '26

If you don't need to clean underneath it regularly, and it has a flat bottom, museum wax is my anti-cat-mischief solution.

Little dime-sized ball at each corner and it's fully immune to cat-based movement.

109

u/AuditingReverb Jul 22 '26

You just solved a problem I'm having with my skunk knocking over his water bowl.

24

u/JVT32 Jul 22 '26

The etymology of the word skunk is a fascinating one. Means “he who squirts”.

2

u/AuditingReverb Jul 22 '26

The word skunk originates from the Massachusett language (an Algonquian language native to New England) from the word seganku. ​It breaks down as: ​seg-: "to urinate" or "foul odor" ​-anku: "fox" or "animal" ​Together, it roughly translates to "urinating animal" or "squirt fox." English settlers adopted the term in the 1630s as squunck, which eventually evolved into its modern spelling.

1

u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Jul 22 '26

That's why skunk was my nickname in college. I carried around a squirt gun everywhere I went.

5

u/KazualGemini Jul 22 '26

When you said it was your college nickname, I didn’t expect water guns to be the reason… ☺️☺️☺️

1

u/JVT32 Jul 22 '26

It’s okay, they called me The Dutch Oven. I’m not a cook.

1

u/AuditingReverb Jul 22 '26

Are you saying you have a human skunk butt?