One of my backpacking friends was interested in the Super Cat stove I was using (see jwbasecamp.com for detailed instructions). I told her all about the virtues of alcohol stoves, but in all honesty, I thought the stove was a bit "tippy" with my 3-c pot, and I wished I had something more stable. She asked why I didn't make a stove with a wider can.
Well, I did. I learned not all 5.5 oz pet food cans are created equal. Some are definitely thicker and heavier. Since my daughter has a dog to inherit the food in the can, I searched in the dog food section and found a great can that was thin enough to tolerate a paper punch but strong enough to be a stove. Plus, it's blue, which adds to the cool factor. There may be cat food cans that would work just as well. I made 20 holes, sort of evenly spaced, and was careful to make the holes 3/4" below the rim. I found if the holes were higher, the stove wouldn't stay lit. The stove has successfully fed me all summer long, even though most of my camps were at around 7,000 ft elevation. I can even use the bigger 2 qt pot and boil 3-4 C of water in it when Mr. B makes a rare appearance on a backpack trip. My Super Cat weighs .23 oz, and the Super Dog weighs .4 oz. Since each stove is less than half an ounce, I think the small increase of weight of the Super Dog isn't a bad tradeoff for a lot more stability and a bigger range of boiling volumes.
