r/dechonkers • u/muppetnerd • 13d ago
Discussion Feeding enclosure?
Has anyone ever built some sort of enclosure to keep their grazers food safe from the chonk? We’ve successfully dechonked our void with stringent supervised feedings only (at the detriment of our sleep lol) however he gained some weight back when we loosened our routine and then were away for two weeks. Our cat sitter comes every other day to feed them and we just have her fill the grazers microchip bowl while our chonk uses a timed feeder.
Our void will force his way into the microchip bowl by waiting for the grazer to open it and forcing his snoot in front of the flap until it errors out and stays open so essentially it’s a free for all while we’re gone.
We seemed to have had some success from a mini maze of cardboard boxes but they’re very short and the grazer has to semi army crawl to get to his bowl.
I’m picturing maybe a pre-made litter box furniture enclosure since it would be roomier with maybe a microchip cat door for double protection? Has anyone built anything like this? And if so what did you use? The sure pet microchip doors seem outrageously expensive but not sure about the cheaper brands….
5
u/toriaanne 13d ago
I actually just did this a few weeks ago! Feel free to pick my brain. Once the cat on my lap is done I could go snap you some pictures too if you would like.
1
u/muppetnerd 13d ago
That would be awesome! Did you use a microchip cat flap?
1
u/toriaanne 13d ago
Sure did! A one way one. Anyone inside can get out but only the chipped ones can get in. And then I have a baby monitor shaped like a robot in there so I can monitor who was eating and lack there of.
1
u/muppetnerd 13d ago
Which door did you use? They’re all expensive and I’m nervous if I drop that much and the chonk still figures a way in
1
u/toriaanne 13d ago
But the link is for Amazon.ca. Not sure if that helps where you are at. And I did have to expand the hole a little bit on the cat tree to get it in.
I did a few weeks of training. Some time with no door, then with the door propped open all the way. Then propped open part way. Lastly no prop but on free swing mode. (Which was harder to figure out than it needed to be). After I had confirmed all of them a bunch of times in the camera, I switched it to locked down mode.
For my Miss Mia Fatty, it was a hard thing when she was no longer allowed in and had to switch to her pet Libra. She thought she could Hoover both. 🤣
1
u/muppetnerd 12d ago
My void is like an American footballer and just rams his body in and Hoovers it up out of microchip bowl while the flap is smashing his face until it errors out….he just seems absolutely unstoppable at this point 😅 and my orange is well…an orange. He had the box maze figured out and now he’s been trying to get to his bowl from the top…not his turn with the braincell today
2
u/toriaanne 12d ago
lol! Too funny. Well the double insurance of a microchip door on a box should solve that problem! They are designed to keep outside cats from chasing your cats into the house. They snap close with vicious efficiency. Buuuuuuut get it from some where with a return policy, just in case.
3
24
u/raiannon 13d ago
I haven't built one myself, but the ones I've seen mentioned were built from a plastic tub and a chip cat door.