How to accurately weigh a cat...OT ish

In message , Vortex writes

2) Put cats in identical boxes.

4) Smile sweetly at sub postmaster, and ask him to weigh the two boxes on his highly accurate, and regularly checked parcels scales.

6) Release cats

8) Deduct 7 from 4.

================================== Make a body sling (such as is used to move elephants) and use a fisherman's spring balance to do the actual weighing. Cats can't easily escape if held under the body on the palm of your hand so the sling serves the same purpose.

Cic.

a) You could ask your vet at their annual inspection,

b) or stick it in a cat basket and take it to the postoffice (you can weigh the cat basket seperatly back home on the kitchen scales) to weigh both cat

• basket

c) or cat in basket etc and borrow scales with better resolution

Jon

snipped-for-privacy@nospam.vortex.fsnet.co.uk declared for all the world to hear...

Do you know any midwives? Thier baby-weighing scales would be about right.

Well if you know the specific gravity of the cat, or assume its nearly one, submerge it in a full bucket of water and measure what overflows.

This also eliminates the unwanted cat.

Another useful trick is to use potential energy.

Take a known weight on one end of a see saw and place the cat on the other.

The height to which the cat is cat-a-pulted is in the ratio of the cats weight to the other weight, and the distance that weight falls.

Another good trick is to swing that cat on a bit of string tied to its tail with a spring balance. By measuring the RPM and looking at the scales, and knowing the string length, the cats weight may be calculated.

Easy.

Cats are very co-operative when you understand their motivation.

Borrow a set of scales with adequate resolution.

Place large plate on scales - mash a sardine up on it.

Put cat near scales and tell it to go nowhere near sardine.

When it heads for scale put it to one side and repeat admonition.

Make note of cats weight when it settles on scales to eat sardine.

Simple.

Get two washing up bowls, one larger than the other. Put the smaller bowl one in the larger bowl, and fill it with water. Put the first cat in the smaller bowl, it'll most likely get out of it's own accord. You can then pour the water displaced into the larger bowl into a measuring cylinder, and using a rough density of water as 1ml = 1 gramme, work out the weight of the cat. Of course, the cat is likely to retain water in it's fur, so it may be a good idea to cover it in vaseline first to minimise errors.

Then repeat the process for the second cat.

You can get professional quality scales normally used for medical purposes which have been calibrated but not officially certified. Seca is one of the most popular brands. I bought one a couple of years ago with 50g resolution and apart from weighing me has been used for cat weighing using your method.

However, if you need to weigh the cat for medical reasons - e.g. loss of weight because of an ailment, then veterinary scales may be needed. These have a 20g resolution

Even simpler, put the water in the outer bowl and float the inner in it. Put cat in inner bowl. Provided inner bowl does not "bottom" the weight of water displaced is exactly equal to the weight of the cat. No vaseline, no density correction. Archimedes rules OK!

They can also be bloody-minded

Cat sees through cunning ploy and decides sardine is most repulsive foodstuff on earth.

Cat wonders at stupidity of humans.

Cat pounces on scales, breaks sensor, grabs sardine, skedaddles.

Owain

Wait till cat goes to sleep in cat bed.

Place cat bed with sleeping cat on scales.

Owain

Square of canvas 50% larger than largest cat. Sew a ring into each corner.

Trap the cat in the sheet so that each leg is equidistant between rings, gather rings together. Cat is now effectivily disabled. Weigh on fishing scales.

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

You're a braver man than I, last time I suggested harming a kitty in here I got death threats via email..

A highly topical query in my household as I attempted to weigh ours last week. Here's not what to do:

1. Stroke cat for prolonged period and attempt to hypnotise into into false sense of security.
2. Place thoroughly relaxed cat on kitchen scales, weighing up to 5 kg, and gently retain cat in position with right hand while scale stabilises.
3. As cat freaks out and leaps into the air, attempt to catch scales with left hand as they fly horizontally across the kitchen
4. Curse loudly as cat's claws rip a groove in your skin from tip of right index finger to halfway up the right forearms, and then again as the expensive scales strike the floor with a resounding thwack.
5. Curse again when you find that said scales now have a permanent offset of 2 kg and a full scale deflection of 3.5 kg.
6. (one week later) Consult uk.d-i-y for alternative creative methods of weighing said beast.

David

Simple. Visit Monkey World in Dorset - opposite Bovington Tank Museum (much more interesting). Observe one of the dart guns they use every episode.

Make a DIY dart gun (separate thread) Dart cat with drug of choice. Weigh whilst cat is unconcious.

Chloroform cat then weigh it.

Peter Crosland

Thanks everybody for the somewhat eclectic range of suggestions.

Not wanting to spend my afternoon being stitched up in A&E, I am inclined to use this as an excuse to acquire some high resolution bathroom scales. Will investigate in the course of the day and may be back later for more advice.

David

In message , Graeme writes

or simply put cushion on bathroom scales such that it does not obscure read-out and wait.....

regards

OS Maps.

Unfold one, and position a point of interest on top of the scales. The cat will settle itself there in under a minute.