Cat Food Stand

 We've recently acquired a kitten. Jr. Kat, the kitten is pretty, active, has a Detroit Diesel Purr and is about as graceful as an elk on ice.  Every time Jr. eats from his food dish he tips it over and spills the kibble, his water dish is one use only too because he bats is around and spills his water onto the floor. Even if you love your little kitten you get tired of cleaning up puddles or crunching stray kibbles underfoot. 

  This is the solution to Jr. Kat and his messes. I had a couple of pieces of 2 x 10 construction lumber laying around so I planed it flat and square. (flat and square just make all the following stages easier)  I traced the plastic tubs which are standard 500ml containers and reduced the the circumference about 1/4 inch. 

  Next I drilled four holes inside the line to give my saw blade some relief as I was cutting the wood out of the inside.
  

 For the first hole I used my faithful ol' jig saw.  I've had this saw for ages and cut hundreds of feet of wood. It did an okay job, and if it were my only option I would have carried on, but the jig saw works best in thinner material, the 1 1/2 stud lumber meant that there was a bunch of sanding necessary once the cutting was done. My set of sanding drums certainly cleaned up the cut quickly and easily but for the other holes I chose to use my band saw.

cat food stand, underside

 If you look closely you can see the entry cut which didn't weaken the wood seriously and cutting the material out with the band saw was quicker and meant that there was no sanding to be done.

  I put the cross pieces on instead of four feet to raise the stand off the floor another inch so that the plastic tubs which were deeper than 1 1/2 inch wood could flush in the hole.

  I sanded everything smooth and left the wood unfinished,because Jr. Kat is still chewing on stuff. The plastic tub is the standard sour cream container size and so every now and then the container can be thrown out, after I've got tired of cleaning it. Cats must have dirty noses because their drinking water get filthy.

  This is a job that can be done with found lumber, I think the 2 x 10 came from a local building site last summer and basic tools. Yes, I used a band saw but this could be completed as well in a hand drill and jig saw shop.

 Like they internet keeps saying: " get out there and build something"

cheers, ianw