Learning to walk before I run

Suffolk_lass

My only conventional oven is a combined convector, fan, grill and microwave thing. I find a jug of water with a half biological washing cube in it and nuked lifts most of the gunk off the oven walls and the light cover. Less awful than caustic soda, for the lungs at any rate

greenbee

If you have a steam cleaner, that works too. Having said that, I’m considering booking a professional clean of mine…

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - the caustic soda foam is a once a year deep clean thing delayed from Christmas. Normally I just give it a monthly steam clean (oven has a setting for this, not that it's particularly efficacious).

Had a daddy daughter day after my running session this morning - Sing 2 at the fancy cinema with the recliners followed by an Italian lunch (calzone yum yum yum). Film was fantastic and DD remains an absolute joy to spend time with  I think she has been feeling a bit neglected (in fairness, my working hours definitely mean she has more downtime with Mrs E)

*Edit: Mr Maine Coon will need more dry and wet food by the end of February (8 months old and already a unit)! Just spent £120 on 10kg of his usual dry (4 month supply), 48 sachets of wet and a mahoosive sack of this fantastic corn-based clumping cat litter that we have discovered (genuinely doesn't smell for *ages*). There goes February's pet budget Luckily Ms Tabby will only eat the cheapest nastiest wet stuff you can get, despite my attempts to move her onto a high meat diet, so they balance out.

The website (Bitiba) is very reliable, the cheapest for our regular purchases, offers a 5% discount if you spend £75+, free postage, as well as a digital "collector's card" that offers you £16 back after spending £400 (works out as another 4%ish off). I've just earned my first card, so next time will be cheaper.

We are considering whether RFID/microchip activated bowls might work for our greedy cats, who seem to spend most of their time trying to nick each other's food? Then again I see how they work (cat puts head under a hoop and bowl opens) and can't see what is to stop a dedicated thief simply pushing their head under the loop too?

astrocytic_kitten

Delurking for my specialist subject 😂 I have the microchip bowls, they’re expensive but I find them worth it both to stop them eating each other’s food (which led to one cat being sick after eating the wrong food and the other cat chunking up considerably 🤦‍♀️) but also they’ve calmed down a lot at feeding time now they know the other cat can’t get into their food. There’s an intruder function you can activate so the lid won’t open if it detects a second chip, and you can also buy clear hoods to go over the back of the feeders if you have a cat that tries to lean over the back or side to steal food. The hoods are much cheaper from the manufacturers website than elsewhere. They seem to have a weird business plan where they have loads of extra settings (like intruder mode) that aren’t listed in the manual so you have to contact them with your issue, which is a bit of a pain. But on the whole I wish I’d bought them years ago.

Alchemilla

This sounds very hi tec!

edinburgher

@astrocytic_kitten - now I know who to PM for tech support! 

themadvix

If you feed at a specific time Ed and food is eaten straight away (as with our greedy so-and-sos), you could just keep them separate - ginger cat eats in the living room here and isn’t let out until his slower and less greedy brother has finished. It’s the cheaper option but appreciate it may not work if they have dry food available all the time.

Watty1

@edinburgher What litter are you using?  I need a clumping one for (ex) feral kitten (no longer a kitten) that doesn't have a chemical smell.  Suggestions welcomed. Feel free to pm the one if you do not want to advertise here.

Karmacat

Wow, the tech stuff for the feeding bowls is amazing!

edinburgher

@Watty1 - it's called Super Benek corn litter. I'm not a shareholder (if indeed they have shareholders)