Sunday, April 8, 2012

Gatefeeder


Now this is fascinating!  I have to say it is about time, I also have to whine that it is a little expensive. 

Back when Em was alive, before she was officially diagnosed with cancer, I wanted a way to feed her more food with out the Garbage Disposal and the DishWasher eating it all before she got hungry again.  So we bought a magnetic cat door with a magnetic key and put the door in the bathroom door and the key on Em.  It was a wonderful idea in theory.  In practice Em was too slow to walk through the door before the rest of the cats heard the door unlock (from the far reaches of the house) came running and would sneak in behind her by nosing their way in before the door had a chance to latch because of her tail. The day I had EVERY SINGLE CAT in that room with her I knew that it was hopeless, but it gave her some food, because they respected her enough to let her eat, so we kept putting food in there for her.

but this.. this is cool.  Only one cat in at a time, the cat's body blocks entrance to the food while the door is open.. I have to wonder if a clever kitty could get in next to another, but I'm sure some cat dynamics would prevent that.  Another thing I have to wonder is what would happen if the cat with the chip was sitting on top of or right next to the food box..   Also, would all cats take to eating with something on their head??   *shrug*  so if not would it be returnable??


I am also not thrilled that they advertise you can put a weeks worth of food in it.  Not really a good idea in my book.  Discounting the fact that it is dry food, how would ants and other bugs be kept out?  not to mention it would be sitting out for a week.. the fats they have to spray on the food to make it palatable would most likely go rancid.. but hey, it is their product they can advertise it however they want. 

6 comments:

  1. Interesting product, to say the least, but it doesn't address your questions which are good ones.

    Have a happy Easter, Connie!! :)

    Tom, Mom Julie & the crew xx

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  2. Hmmm. *I* know *I* would nefur go into such a crazy contraption with a freaking DOOR on my head! Ha ha meow!

    But then, the Human says I am the Most Cowardly Kitty in America so I am not the best judge of such things. I don't think that's very nice of her to say, do you? Ha ha meow!

    Hoppy Easter! ;-)

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  3. I wonder if this would help keep Binga from stealing my dinner! But it is awfully expensive - my human could buy me a new cat tree for as much as it costs.

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  4. I guess its a good idea, but you are right about all the bugs and ants. We can't leave food out too long for strays before its swarming with ants. Happy Easter to all!

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  5. Do you know there are no cat flaps in Malaysia? Weird huh?

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  6. HI, I'm philip the inventor and I'd like to say, thanks for the comments and .... Good questions. Perhaps I can clear a few things up.

    The door is shielded on the outside so cats sitting on top or next to the feeder, won't open the door.

    The door actually sits on the shoulders and because it's food, the cats are very motivated and thus far we've never had a failure. Not to say there isn't a break in period, sometimes there is but 100% success so far even with a few skittish feral cats.

    Actually we said, UP TO a WEEKENDS worth of food in a pinch. I agree that it's not good to leave that much food out and personally I clean the bowls daily. That's also why I made stainless steel bowls instead of plastic. It would have been much cheaper but I just don't think plastic bowls are a good container for food.

    As for squeezing in the sides, frankly I had the same issues with cats sneaking in when I was doing prototypes, that's why it ended up being a recessed opening. I can't say it is not possible to sneak in but we've done a lot of testing to figure out how large and how deep to make our door and so far, it's working really well.

    As for pricing, well, I hoped for a lower number also but getting things manufactured with custom RFID componants and making a solid, reliable, quality product (something I would want for myself) unfortunately, is not cheap. I am not a big corporation with scale and volume, I'm just a guy who had an idea. But just for a frame of reference, my kitty's visit to the dentist for a cleaning costs US$175 each time, each cat.. Yes, I know it sounds crazy to me every time I have to pay for it as well.

    but I agree that it is unfortunate that this won't be affordable for everyone.

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