An SPCA Approved Schrödinger’s Cat Experiment

I have a new cat experiment that is both cat safe and also poses a question about the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics…

Imagine a box that is internally divided down the middle, by means of a partition, into two compartments. Furthermore, this partition has, as a part of it, a sliding door that can be opened, by an internally mounted actuator, to provide access to the other internal portion of the box. In one side of the internally divided box there is a hungry cat and in the other side of the box there is a portion of food. Also inside the box is the standard radioactive atom, a decay detector and an actuator mechanism for opening the sliding door. The standard question would be whether the cat has eaten the food or not. Is the cat hungry or is the cat satiated? You have to open the box in order to find out. When you do so - the wave function collapses…

Now I have an additional part to my experiment where I obtain a teeter-totter with a side A and a side B on either side of its pivot point. I then place the box on the teeter-totter with the internal partition aligned over the pivot point of the teeter-totter. Half of the box, the side with the hungry cat, is on side A of teeter-totter and the lighter side of the box, the side containing the food, is on side B. Thus the teeter-totter is tilted down on side A. I now wait…

When the atom decays the detector-actuator system will open the door and the hungry cat will, presumably, move from one side of the box to the other side of the box in order to eat the food. When this happens the teeter-totter will shift from side A being down to side B being down – and the wave function will collapse…

BUT, before this decay event is detected I know that it has not happened because the teeter-totter still has side A down... I know that the cat must still be hungry. How can this be? I have knowledge without having detected anything.

Interesting twist on the example. I think the answer is (and I'm assuming your mode of detection in the extension of your example is the shift in weight of the box from the teeter-totter changing position), you are performing a detection constantly. In other words at all times you know something about the position of the cat and hence whether or not the decay has occurred. The key, is that you say "wait" which really means "constantly monitor the box for a change in weight" and hence continually gaining information about the contents of the box.