I’m lucky enough to have two cats. The first I had since she left her mother, the second a couple months since she left her mother.
The first, named Mohkno started out as a hero. She used to eat half her food and leave the rest for the second cat, Shadoe.
However, feeling that Shadoe had gained enough weight and settled down, she began getting designs on Shadoe’s breakfast.
Shadoe is kinda useless, because she hears any sound and she runs away and so Mohkno has a free run at her food.
Yesterday I thought I’d finally fix it, because short of watching them eat, there has to be a better way
alias: Alert feeding problem
description: ""
trigger:
- type: motion
platform: device
device_id: stairs_motion
entity_id: ce1e3a9c8fdf74534d3fb0cbbd155f64
domain: binary_sensor
condition:
- type: is_occupied
condition: device
device_id: kitchen_presence
entity_id: e28cd1385692e6d3044f87a813f7e238
domain: binary_sensor
- condition: time
after: "09:00:00"
before: "10:00:00"
weekday:
- mon
- tue
- wed
- thu
- fri
- sat
- sun
action:
- service: notify.notify
metadata: {}
data:
message: "Mohkno is trying to steal food again! "
mode: single
Needless to say, I caught Mohkno trying to sneak back downstairs four times to pilfer Shadoe’s breakfast. The funny thing is, every time I would get the notification, I would catch her sneaking downstairs while staring at the kitchen door, so she knows she’s misbehaving.
Anyway, it’s stupid, but thought I’d share.
This is exactly the kind of semi-ridiculous thing I like about home automations: the power to answer one’s most trivial curiosities.
I’d probably add a logger, so I could follow the history of Mohkno’s food thievery, then try different techniques to discourage her. Have ha also play a recording of you saying ‘Mohkno, no!’ Some activity to distract her during the critical food-stealing window. Or go all-in and get those microchip-reading pet feeders.
This reply genuinely brought me joy. Thank you!
Oh no… my brain just went haywire.
Setup a edge device with tinyml in target area. Condig a infrared or thermal camera point at the target area. Config tinyML with the camera to recognize subject. Config squirt gun with water. Hooked up to 2 motors with tinyml for targeting.
Calibrate X and Y positioning of squirter to match target area coordinates.
Initiate negative reinforcement as needed…
Cool
What a nice automation. I have a cat that also gets spooked by any sound. Often times I have to bring breakfast to him because he gets spooked and will abandon his food to his sister.
Why do they just abandon the food? And it’s every day too!
Huge hugs because you know my pain 😂