This is the story of popping shell on an Internet-connected cat feeder. From understanding how the device operates, delving into the network protocols it uses, to implementing custom tooling to interact with it and integrate it into home automation. This might sound straightforward, but it turned out to be a much more complicated ecosystem than I imagined. This talk will be a journey through obfuscated mobile apps, unencrypted HTTP APIs, custom peer-to-peer protocols, and home-rolled “encryption” with a sprinkling of reverse-engineering and protocol analysis. A fun and light-hearted talk for people of all backgrounds to inspire curiousity and encourage people to do some good, honest hacking in order to understand how their own devices and software work.