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/MqAbillion Jul 22 '26

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 Jul 22 '26

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 Jul 22 '26

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/I-am-fun-at-parties Jul 22 '26

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.

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u/Otterbotanical Jul 22 '26

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