Has anyone implemented automation to keep the furry friend hydrated, but keep the human child dry?
1 Like
Wow. It reads a pet's microchip to keep track of multiple cats. Because who has just one?
@672southmain when can we expect integration 
I don’t have one of these. Our cats refuse to drink water from a bowl, insist on running water. We keep a trickle of water going in one bathtub, and we have a pet fountain on our enclosed patio:
That said, I do have a SureFlap microchip pet door from Sure Pet, the company that now sells the microchip pet bowl.
Dominick Meglio (@dman2306) ported the driver to Hubitat from SmartThings, and made it more robust. The same mobile app and Sure Pet hub control the SureFlap pet door and the Felaqua water bowl, so I suspect a Felaqua water bowl child device would be very similar to the SureFlap driver. I haven’t looked to see whether there is a SmartThings driver or HA driver.
LOL I was actually kidding but I should have known better.
Seriously, the SureFlap Pet Door is a good product. It’s my wife’s favorite part of the Hubitat home automation. It has dramatically lowered the HVAC utility bill because the door stays closed all the time, and it has eliminated the bugs and insects that previously would come in the open door. The cats love it because they can go in and out as they wish (except at night, when it will allow them to come in but not go out), and we always know whether they are inside or out.
Our cats got together and designed their own exit strategy. They took a vote and unanimously decided against an automated cat door. What they want (and demand) is a human to open and close said door for them whenever they all sit their and cry for 45 minutes. It seems to be working quite well for them. They are currently studying various charts, graphs, and polls to find a faster and more efficient way to motivate said human and decrease the latency.
5 Likes
Our cats finally realized that they had limited bargaining power, and started using the cat door.
Do you think that the cats would eventually drink water from a bowl if that were all that was available? Wouldn’t the need/instinct for water lead them to drink from a bowl?
Not our cats. They would express their displeasure by throwing up. That’s what cats do when they are unhappy.
2 Likes
spits out coffee
True!
1 Like
I have read their instinct actually tells them that running cool water is the safest and least likely to make them sick, which is true. Many cats will become dehydrated rather than risk death (so they think) by drinking from your possibly contaminated stagnant tap water.
I have a couple cats who will drink out of the circulating fountain and others who demand I pour filtered water from the fridge directly into a bowl while they watch (to be sure it is safe). Then if it sits too long whack to the floor it goes.
1 Like
