Meet a cat who uses his own vending machine
A clever inventor named Ben Millam taught his cat Monkey not only to work for his meals, but to pay for them, too. Millam build a “vending machine” that dispenses cat food when a ball is dropped in an opening, then hid balls throughout the house, to engage Monkey’s natural hunting instincts. Eventually, Monkey will just tie a string to one of the balls and get all the food he wants.
That is impressive! What a great way to keep an indoor kitties mind active!
Was it just me or was there some wackadoodly eyes going on?
Also, we had a neighbour that had a cat named Chicken, we used to hear her calling “Chicken! Time to come in! Come on, Chicken!” Always odd to see a cat running to her house and not….well, you know.
While I admire the cleverness of the enrichment machine and engaging Monkeys natural instincts, what happens if no one’s around to empty out the ‘change’ and rehide them?
Does Monkey have a bowl of ‘swag’ food as a dietary baseline?
Such a lovely idea to engage Monkey. The bloopers clip was good too – when Monkey can’t do it Daddy is enlisted.
I got the impression that Monkey was trying to train Daddy into carrying the ball for him.
“You’re right there, you see the ball, YOU could carry it, right?”
Hmmm. You could be right. I haven’t had cats in a couple of years. I may have forgotten the lord in feline overlord.
Fantastic.
I love this! Pretty cat – looks to have some Siamese in him? He has a light cross-eyed look. And at one point his lip stays tucked up on the same side he carries the ball – silly beautiful boy. Very clever guy to develop the system – they should be for sale.
Hmmmm, could this be as “Catch as Cat Can-opener”?
It’s really imaginative … but maybe it would be easier to just hide bits of kibble around the house?
I think the problem with hiding kibble around the house is that it will attract insects and mice, especially if the cat is a sh@tty hunter.
I have 2 dogs. If I did this “work for kibble” scenario, one of the dogs would get HUGELY FAT and the other would starve.
Heh…Stripes could probably figure it out but Stars would definitely starve. She’s cute but a bit dim sometimes.
My cats would simply sit in front of me and meow until I fed them and if that didn’t work they would destroy stuff around the house until I gave in.
I would totally buy this for my fat slob of a greedy jabba the hut. She refuses to run, even when she’s trying to beat me to the bowl holding the other cat’s food, which she is trying to steal. Her only forward motion is a genteel amble, with the basketball she calls a belly swaying elegantly to and fro.
OMG…”fat slob of a greedy jabba the hut”..this is one of the best things I have read today!!!
Fabulous! Hope the owner makes an instructable!
I looked at some of the comments on youtube and he said there were some pictures and a parts list somewhere (not sure if that was on the first video or the bloopers), though not full instructions.
This man needs to patent his device. I’d so buy one! And Monkey clearly has a loving home, with cat shelves and a daddy who knows what he needs.