Cat Feeders to the Sleep Rescue

Tips, tricks, and tools to make life easier are always popular. Here’s my latest idea to share.

My husband and I have two sweet kitties. They are 14 years old and born in the same litter. Truly brother and sister. Each cat has its own personality and provides us with lots of love, snuggly support, sleepless mornings, and frequent aloofness.

Making cat chores a bit easier

In preparation for a short trip away from home, my husband and I dusted off the automatic pet feeders for our cats. We have four devices each of which can serve six meals on a timer. With two cats and this arrangement, we can manage to get away for up to six nights.

The week before our trip, I wanted to make sure that the feeders: 1) had batteries, 2) still worked, and 3) could be coordinated to provide breakfast and dinner as close to 12 hours apart as possible.

Schedule considerations

Normally we don’t feed our cats on such a strict schedule, but they each take medications that need to be given at a consistent time. We needed to use the feeders to offer food and to deliver meds. To help accomplish this, we also needed to separate them in the house so that one cat would not accidentally eat the other’s pills.

Health issues

Since our cats are from the same litter, they share a genetic predisposition to heart disease. Musette, our little tabby, was diagnosed with feline juvenile hypertrophic cardiomyopathy — that’s a mouthful — when she was 4 years old. She also has asthma and takes medication for each condition. Pippin, our little black cat, was diagnosed with mild heart disease just a couple of years ago and only started taking a blood thinner last December.

When preparing the feeders, I was very careful to make sure that the correct meds were placed in the correct feeders for the correct cat. Fortunately, our cats easily gobble up their meds when I smush them inside Pill Pockets. It’s almost like they get treats two times a day in addition to meals. I asked my husband not to distract me so that I didn’t get things mixed up.

Early morning wake-ups

Most mornings the cats take turns trying to wake me up to feed them breakfast. Sometimes they leave me alone until a reasonable time, say 7:30 am. Other times they start in on me at 6 am. This is kinda rough because Musette also likes to be scratched in the middle of the night before she will settle back down to sleep. Usually, I will just hold out a clawed hand and let her scratch herself with my nails. It’s rare that I get to sleep through the night uninterrupted.

During the week of testing the feeders, I noticed something. I got to sleep in!!!

Improving household tasks for easier living with MS

It was fantastic. I could stay in bed with my head on the pillow until Musette decided that she needed her post-breakfast scratches. Then I wondered, why don’t I set up this system ALL the time?

Fatigue is one of my worse symptoms, and I really need to get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible. Once we get back from our trip, I think that I’ll continue using the feeders at least for breakfast. No need to keep the cats separated as I can go back to giving Musette her morning pills a couple of hours later.

Trying to find ways to automate tasks is my tip for the week. My other tip is to scratch your furry friends when they want it. A relationship with a pet is good for the soul.

Be well,
Lisa

Do you have any furry friend tips to help reduce potential symptoms?

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