TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Care & Grooming › Automatic Food Feeder?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Automatic Food Feeder?

post #1 of 3
Thread Starter 

Hi All,

 

I am thinking about getting an automatic food feeder for when I go out over night (which is often) and sometimes two nights.

 

I browsed Amazon and found a few good ones per reviews.

 

but I want to hear your personal thoughts on which feeder you have, tried, and like.

 

Nothing too crazy expensive! I'd like one that also dispenses wet food, but I hear the ice packs doesn't always keep them cold and fresh.

post #2 of 3

There are some fancy ones that dispense a set amount every so many hours, but we've used some pretty simple ones that are just gravity fed.  Same with water dispenser, although you need to give your cats a chance to get used to it; they can freak out if it gurgles at them while they're drinking from it!

 

I have left the cats for several days with these arrangements.  Now if I could just get a high-capacity automatic litter box that could go for several days.

post #3 of 3

I would love a quality wet food dispenser, but I have read all the reviews exhaustively and they are simply poor products and wet food does not lend itself to unattended feeding.  

 

The primary issue is that wet food has a poor shelf life at room temperature, and a very specific window for it to dethaw to the right feeding temperature.

 

That limits you to quite specific calculation of when the food can be put in the automatic feeder, the ice packs in these autofeeders are generally very poor and I have yet to see a timed refrigerated one, and thawed wet food emits considerable aroma which will lure most cats to try and defeat the latch which most average intelligence cats seem to be able to do by either rotating or pulling up on the lid.

 

So for my wet feedings, there is no way around it I get myself a sitter to come by once a day.

 

But for their dry feedings, we're happy with this product:

5517124761_4ff15402ae.jpg

 

http://www.amazon.com/Petmate-LeBistro-Portion-Control-Automatic/dp/B000TZ7022/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323739521&sr=8-1

 

It works well with the Blue Wilderness sized square kibble.  I am not sure how it works with differently shaped kibbles though.   I did end up having to put a chopstick (as you can see a bit by buttercup's head) between the autofeeder and the attached bowl which prevents her from getting her paw up the latch.    It holds exactly one of the largest bags of Blue Wilderness (12lbs IIRC) and is truly "set it and forget it".   It feeds as little as 1/4 cup to I believe up to 2cups a feeding up to three times a day of varying meal sizes as you prefer.   When on vacation, we have it feed breakfast and dinner, but otherwise its just once for dinner at 10PM.    Once filled, it lasts us months unattended, and has a counter on it I reset whenever I wash the bowls.    I did drill a small hole in the upper lip of the bowl though so that when placed upside down in the top rack of the dishwasher it drains the water out and comes out dry.   Very happy overall.   smile.gif

New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Care & Grooming
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Care & Grooming › Automatic Food Feeder?