Starvation Tower (for Cats)

Because I am mean, cruel and sadistic like all other human (said my two cats).

Story: Cats are lazy. Cats are natural hunters. But they are lazy. Quite smart, but still lazy. Plus, in their predator mind, it's not normal to have something that smell and tastes good lying in a cup/bowl on the floor, ready 24/7.. But it's there and they have to eat anyhow.

"Does it look like a mouse? A bird? Anything I can hunt and eat? But it does smell and taste good, so I'll eat it, then sleep. I'm done with that anoying hunting part of my life! Life is Meow."

Result? the cat eats until his stomach is full again.

Because hunting is a need, originally to feed.. but now trying to compensate with toys.. They can't eat toys, therefore it's pretty common to see cats with dozens of toys but pratically not playing with them: it's useless to "hunt" for something if you can't eat it..

"Food is already there in a bowl for me to take.. Speacking of wich, let's eat some free food for I'm pretty much bored from never feeling like a predator.. Meow."

Result? the cat eats until his stomach is full again.

Not anymore. Now the food has to be won, gotta work for it. Result? The cat eats when he's hungry, when he's ready to spend energy and making a physical effort. To eat their emotions, boredomness.. is now way too expensive in energy. There is two cats in here, one of barely 2 Kg (4.5 lbs) wich is answering to the name of Rose-Mimi-Mopette and the other one is a 3Kg turbo-rocket Evil Kanievel called Natha-Chatte who does'nt know fear nor danger.

This picture is the first prototype. 'Tachatte took about 5 minutes to understand how it worked but Mimi took 30 seconds to hate me forever. It's made out of two coffee cans. The food goes in the inside yellow cup. The cup itself holds on the bottom's lid, wich is cutted down to 3 "spokes" so the food can fall down.. Look at the photo, the thing is easier to look at than read to understand it...

I don't have pictures of the making/assembly because I honestly had not a clue about what I could do with two cardboard roll-core and some cutouts of +/- 3mm thick foam-board.. This happened to happen.

Here's how it works.To make a level, a "plate" of board is cutted to fit tightly in the tube. Each "level" has it's surface cutted right before their respective "access paw-hole", so the food falls down to the other level, wich access-hole is unaligned one from another. The plates are glued in place with non-toxic paper glue. The two rolls are also glued together, I used tape to hold them while the glue dried. Notice the top plate is tilted: it's to ease filling, kind of a "hopper". Access-holes are made with a hole-saw then sanded for a smooth finish. The bottom is glued to a piece of MDF.

No, none of my cat is green.

Don't worry, your cat won't let himself starve to death. I strongly suggest you should start with a basic model like the one with coffee cans but you know your cat's aptitudes..

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