sixtyPercent: Cochlear Implants, Aviation, Technlology, and Philosophy 2006/02/04
My Cat: Bringer of Joy
Show below (figure 1) is a picture of my cat, Beethoven. He looks so cute, doesn't he? Please don't be fooled by his cuteness. This is not another "my cat is the demon spawn of the devil" kinds of article, because he's not. He is not evil or cunning or conniving. He is however 13 pounds of very smart Main Coon (plus another 3+ pounds of something else) who figured out that waking me up earlier and earlier in the morning was the secret to happiness (his not mine of course). Shedding some of these pounds was not going to be an easy task for any of us.
On the suggestion of a friend, I started using this Automatic Pet Feeder. The theory was that Beethoven would transfer the "feed me now" thoughts from me to the machine. And for the first few weeks that's exactly what happened. Every time he begged me for a bit of food, I'd give him a shrug and say -- "hey man, it's not me -- go talk to the machine" or something like that.
Beethoven is a surprisingly clever and strong cat. For example, he's figured out the hardwood floors pretty well. It must be horribly embarrassing for an animal to slide across the floor uncontrolled or to have to give up running altogether when faced with slippery surfaces. Rather than put up with this indignity, Beethoven speeds up, then leaps onto the wall and turns sideways like a swimmer doing a kick-turn. If it's a long wall he might even get in four or five strides sort of NASCAR turn style before remembering that he's subject to the laws of gravity. Anyway gravity (or Beethoven's excessive supply of it) is the topic so I'll cut short the digression and just say that he's smart and strong. I know that most people would say that about their cats, but they would be wrong -- most cats can't manage much more than turning small brown pellets into slightly larger brown pellets. Beethoven is a cool cat.
Except when he's ruining my life by waking me up at 5 AM, which is what I'm back to because of this:
Yes, that's the automatic feeder, empty, with the lid next to it. This is an unaltered image. Despite his lack of opposable thumbs, he now swiftly removes the lid from the CatMate C50, eats a full day's meal in five swallows, and then finds a nice comfy place to sleep / digest for about eight hours. He has done this every day for the last week.
Does anyone have any experience with this automatic feeder? It looks sturdier...
by David Creemer : 2006/02/04 : Categories life : 0 trackbacks : 0 comments (permalink)
