Automatic Pet Feeders - Anyone Use One?

wayoflife

wayoflife

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In an effort to keep the furry critters at bay, Cindy and I have been wanting a barn cat for a while now but didn't really know the best way to go about having one, especially being that we're not around as much as we'd like to be. As luck would have it, we spotted a feral cat on our security cam last night and saw it again this morning and if at all possible, we'd like to make it to want to stay. Doing some quick research, I found that providing it with some food and shelter will help and while the later was already taken care of by the previous owner, I wasn't really sure how to handle feeding it. Certainly, I don't want to put out a pile of food as that would just attract other critters like skunks or racoons. So, I've been looking at automatic feeders with wifi capabilities so that I can better control when and how much to dispense. Needless to say, there are tons of them out there and was wondering if any of you have experiences with one and or have a recommendation that you can make. Thanks!
 
Catch it in a trap when you are around and put it inside your barn for a week with food and water. Then let it go and it will stay. It'll only eat what it wants as they are not like many dogs who will just eat to eat. Get whatever feeder you want and refill it as needed. You guys are around enough that it won't go weeks and weeks without seeing you.
 
OverlanderJK said:
Catch it in a trap when you are around and put it inside your barn for a week with food and water. Then let it go and it will stay. It'll only eat what it wants as they are not like many dogs who will just eat to eat. Get whatever feeder you want and refill it as needed. You guys are around enough that it won't go weeks and weeks without seeing you.
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This is similar to what we did when we first had our cat. We picked ours up from a shelter but we didn’t want it in our house.
 
OverlanderJK said:
Catch it in a trap when you are around and put it inside your barn for a week with food and water. Then let it go and it will stay. It'll only eat what it wants as they are not like many dogs who will just eat to eat. Get whatever feeder you want and refill it as needed. You guys are around enough that it won't go weeks and weeks without seeing you.
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LOL - really? That's it?? Not really a cat guy so I don't know these things ☺️
 
One thing to consider if it hangs around is catching it & having it spayed/neutered. Fertile females will attract tomcats & they can have 3 litters a year. We've had barn cats forever and we've rarely needed to take in any from anyone - they always find their way to you, especially if you have one or a couple already there. Once you start with the food they'll stay around. Ours won't do anything with Coons & Opossums - they just site there like idiots & watch them eat their damn food. But rodents are kept under control. It's rare to see a mouse.
 
Ddays said:
One thing to consider if it hangs around is catching it & having it spayed/neutered. Fertile females will attract tomcats & they can have 3 litters a year. We've had barn cats forever and we've rarely needed to take in any from anyone - they always find their way to you, especially if you have one or a couple already there. Once you start with the food they'll stay around. Ours won't do anything with Coons & Opossums - they just site there like idiots & watch them eat their damn food. But rodents are kept under control. It's rare to see a mouse.
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Yup. The neighbors had two cats (one disappeared recently) that we watch when they go out of town. They had a coon one time trying to get to the cat food and we hardly saw the cats for days. I caught the coin and shot it and then the cats came back around.
 
wayoflife said:
In an effort to keep the furry critters at bay, Cindy and I have been wanting a barn cat for a while now but didn't really know the best way to go about having one, especially being that we're not around as much as we'd like to be. As luck would have it, we spotted a feral cat on our security cam last night and saw it again this morning and if at all possible, we'd like to make it to want to stay. Doing some quick research, I found that providing it with some food and shelter will help and while the later was already taken care of by the previous owner, I wasn't really sure how to handle feeding it. Certainly, I don't want to put out a pile of food as that would just attract other critters like skunks or racoons. So, I've been looking at automatic feeders with wifi capabilities so that I can better control when and how much to dispense. Needless to say, there are tons of them out there and was wondering if any of you have experiences with one and or have a recommendation that you can make. Thanks!
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My daughter uses this one for her cat and it works well. There is a WiFi version. Determining the frequency and amount is hit/miss initially but should limit food going to other animals. The cat learns the schedule and comes running when it dispenses. Cats are grazers so smaller amounts multiple times per day seems to work good.

 
wayoflife said:
In an effort to keep the furry critters at bay, Cindy and I have been wanting a barn cat for a while now but didn't really know the best way to go about having one, especially being that we're not around as much as we'd like to be. As luck would have it, we spotted a feral cat on our security cam last night and saw it again this morning and if at all possible, we'd like to make it to want to stay. Doing some quick research, I found that providing it with some food and shelter will help and while the later was already taken care of by the previous owner, I wasn't really sure how to handle feeding it. Certainly, I don't want to put out a pile of food as that would just attract other critters like skunks or racoons. So, I've been looking at automatic feeders with wifi capabilities so that I can better control when and how much to dispense. Needless to say, there are tons of them out there and was wondering if any of you have experiences with one and or have a recommendation that you can make. Thanks!
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I'll overnight you this fucker. He is going after big game now.

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WJCO said:
I'll overnight you this fucker. He is going after big game now.

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squirrel?

EDIT: posted before refresh, that cat is awesome! lol cats around here are too well fed and have become lazy fucks for the most part. thankfully they still keep the mice/rats away, but they just leave them laying around, no consumption.
 
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We got our cat and just leave a pile of food in a big bowl in the garage. Doing this we aquired a second cat. The two hate each other though. You said you wouldn't want to do that so maybe try what overlander suggested. Though we have plenty of food for them my cat still kills rodents. Fucker brought a live mouse into the house last week. He let it go and I had to wait for him to catch it again to throw them both back outside. He hardly comes in the house during the warmer months and prefers sleeping under my garage shelving or on top of the jeeps. Now that it's been getting cold he'll come in at night.
 
wayoflife said:
In an effort to keep the furry critters at bay, Cindy and I have been wanting a barn cat for a while now but didn't really know the best way to go about having one, especially being that we're not around as much as we'd like to be. As luck would have it, we spotted a feral cat on our security cam last night and saw it again this morning and if at all possible, we'd like to make it to want to stay. Doing some quick research, I found that providing it with some food and shelter will help and while the later was already taken care of by the previous owner, I wasn't really sure how to handle feeding it. Certainly, I don't want to put out a pile of food as that would just attract other critters like skunks or racoons. So, I've been looking at automatic feeders with wifi capabilities so that I can better control when and how much to dispense. Needless to say, there are tons of them out there and was wondering if any of you have experiences with one and or have a recommendation that you can make. Thanks!
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If that cat is already coming around why would you need to feed it and make it dependent on you? Feed him and you’ll get more and or other critters eating your cat chow. He’s coming around hunting now unless your going to have bags of feed around there will be very few rodents so let the feral cats take care of the few that are there.
 
NPC 6060⁸42 said:
If that cat is already coming around why would you need to feed it and make it dependent on you? Feed him and you’ll get more and or other critters eating your cat chow. He’s coming around hunting now unless your going to have bags of feed around there will be very few rodents so let the feral cats take care of the few that are there.
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You could be right. This is the first time we've seen it around and our closest neighbor is at least a mile away. Not sure what brought him in but I was kind of hoping he'd stick around, this as opposed to moving on to the next farm. Started doing some reading about keeping a barn cat and providing some food, water and shelter were a few of the things that was recommended. Even if this one doesn't stick around, our local animal control offers spayed/neutered barn cats for adoption. They even come with trimmed ear tips that help identify them and we may pick one up if this one goes.
 
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