Muffins the cat was fat. Like many cats, he liked to eat. Regardless of caloric intake, satiation never seemed to come. If food was available, it would be gone shortly. If none was to be found, he would yowl at the nearest available human until it appeared in his dish once again.
One day, a strange machine was sitting next to Muffins' food dish, which had a few tasty bites in it. This was soon devoured, but it was hardly a meal. Just as he was about to yowl in protest, he heard a soft plink. The machine had dispensed a single kibble of food. This was quickly consumed as well, but now all attention was on the machine: it must be the source of food.
The machine stood unyielding to Muffins' batting, but steadily released a food pellet every minute or two. Soon he resigned himself to perching by the bowl and pouncing on every new morsel as it appeared. He remained in this cycle all day, before eventually falling asleep.
Morning greeted Muffins with a fresh supply of sustenance, which didn't last long. He continued to sit by the food dish for the next couple of days, but eventually his curious kitty instincts drew his attention away. Upon returning, Muffins finally made the connection: an unwatched bowl fills itself.
Over time, Muffins learned to pace his eating habits and stopped yowling. The humans were no longer responsible for the appearance of food, and the machine did not respond to anguished cries, no matter how pitiful. He even started to lose weight. The mental reward cycle of food was broken!-- Aq_Bi, Oct 31 2015 Marble maze toys http://www.amazon.c...tag=duckduckgo-d-20Just for fun have that pet kibble roll around a bit to for fun and entertainment. [travbm, Oct 31 2015] Cat food in a tube, Cat_20food_20in_20a_20tube_2eCombine with this for true continuous feed. [Aq_Bi, Oct 31 2015] Brilliant. One kibble at a time feeder. I'd buy it for my overeating, lazy, fat boy Frisco. Yes...-- blissmiss, Oct 31 2015 #include <EOSSACR.H>-- 8th of 7, Oct 31 2015 Maybe you could make it like one of those marble drops where round pet food goes down a maze and spiral loops to finally end up in the pets food dish?-- travbm, Oct 31 2015 This is discrete, not continuous.-- pocmloc, Oct 31 2015 If the kibble were extruded one after another, it would be continuous. It only drops down into the bowl when it fully exits the machine.-- Aq_Bi, Oct 31 2015 Better, shirley, to have a set of scales under the platform in front of the dispenser, so that it adjusts the feeding rate depending on the current weight of the cat.
Incidentally, a quick calculation shows that a typical 4kg cat, 25cm tall has a body mass index of about 60, which is morbidly obese.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 31 2015 I was asked to feed a cat with past obesity problems. The first morning I instituted a feeding regime such as this one was fraught with cat indignation. Such a machine might minimize the postprandial yowls, but I too am plagued with doubts that it will reduce your cat's total eating length.-- 4and20, Nov 01 2015 Is there a KFC version for fat humans?-- xenzag, Nov 01 2015 Actually, given that catfood comes as discreet units (pieces of kibble; small birds; tins; pounches), perhaps it would be simpler to use the machine to dispense the cat in a continuous manner.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 01 2015 [+] need. There's a reason one of the cats' nickname is "Sweatervest".-- FlyingToaster, Nov 01 2015 Extruded? Are you sure?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 01 2015 Well, technically it might be continuous casting.
// use the machine to dispense the cat in a continuous manner. //
Continuously cast cats. Whatever next.
How about adapting one of those ball-bearing counting clocks? That would be excellent, because ball bearings aren't very nutritious, and the cat would either starve or be pinned to the floor by the weight if ingested ball berings.
Add electromagnet for additional feline am7-- 8th of 7, Nov 01 2015 xenzag made a zinger...hahaha-- blissmiss, Nov 01 2015 random, halfbakery