Hi everyone! I wanted to share my recent project of setting up a system to track my daily cat care routine. I’ve always struggled to keep track of when I feed my cats and when I give them their medications, especially since I have a busy schedule. I decided to use my Samsung SmartThings Hub and Alexa to automate this process.
I’ve placed small physical buttons near the cat food bowl and the medicine cabinet. Each button is connected to my SmartThings Hub. Every time I press a button, it automatically logs the activity in a Google Sheet. For example, pressing the button near the cat food adds a row like ‘Cat Food, 5/13, 3:45pm’. This has been incredibly helpful for me to keep track of their routines without having to manually log everything.
I’m using a combination of IFTTT and SmartThings automations to make this work. The physical buttons are simple momentary contact switches that I picked up from a local electronics store. They’re affordable and easy to set up. I’ve also configured the Google Sheet to send me a weekly summary of all the activities, which helps me ensure I’m staying consistent with their care.
One thing I’m still figuring out is how to customize the columns in the Google Sheet to include additional details like the type of food or medication. If anyone has tips on how to expand this setup, I’d love to hear them! It’s been a fun project, and I’m excited to see how else I can integrate smart buttons into my daily routines. Happy tinkering! 
