Automatic feeders, specifically the Perfect Petfeeder.

I have 2 cats that are free fed.  The female maintains her weight perfectly, the male has been steadily gaining weight and the vet has been urging me to put him on a diet.

I travel often for work so I wanted to try everything I could before giving up on free feeding them. I cut out all of their treats and tried to play with him more but he still put on another half pound in the past 5 months.  Even though I'm unsure an automatic feeder will work, since there's nothing keeping him from eating his food and her food too, it's my last resort.

I just started researching them today.  Since this feeder will often be doing it's job unmonitored I really need a quality dependable one.  The one I'm leaning toward, the Perfect Petfeeder is significantly more expensive than the competition at $500.

Does anyone have any experience with that feeder or have any other high quality alternatives that they would recommend?

Also, is this even a viable option to think the heavy males portion will be controlled when the females portion is delivered right next to his?

I appreciate any input!  I'm desperate to keep my cats healthy.

Sorry, I don't have any experience with that one, but we do have a number of threads on different brands that you might want to look through: http://www.thecatsite.com/search.php?search=automatic feeder&containingforum[]=6&sort=lastupdate&resultSortingPreference=relevance&currenttab=All

I really don't see how you'll be able to control who eats which portion using a feeder unless you're standing right next to them and they're both eating at the same time.

nonstop said:

  The one I'm leaning toward, the Perfect Petfeeder is significantly more expensive than the competition at $500.

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That's insanely expensive for an auto-feeder. My suggestion would be to use that money to hire a pet sitter while you're away, and have them feed your kitties portion-controlled meals of low-carb wet food twice a day instead.

I agree that if food is delivered at the same time, you will have no way of stopping the male from grabbing hte larger portion, or pushing his friend away when he has finished his. Would it hurt the female to feed them both a light calorie diet when you are away and to supplement her diet on your return? That may be a silly idea but it just occurred to me.

Sorry I originally placed this post in the wrong forum.  Thank you all for your input.

Plan B.  I've given it more thought and am considering constructing a feeding box for the smaller cat.  Since she's literally less than half the size of the male I think I can make the entrance so she can comfortably pass through it and free feed and he won't be able to fit to reach her food.  The rest of my plan relies on this theory working.

Assuming that box idea works, then the dilemma is just feeding him portion controlled meals automatically.  I'm still leaning toward that feeder.  I did search the forums and all the threads I found were on feeders for the occasional vacation.  Since I plan to use this one full time I want to make sure I get one that is dependable and will last.  I agree $500 is insanely expensive but I can't seem to find quality alternatives for cheaper.  Hiring someone to feed them 2x a day at the rate I travel would exceed $500 in well less than a year.  My trips aren't usually very long but they're frequent.

With all the cat experience on here I just wanted to run this idea by everyone and see if you see any problems with this theory I may have overlooked.  Also I would still like to hear about anyone with a lot of experience with automated cat feeders, especially this one or a comparable one.

Sugarcatmom said:

That's insanely expensive for an auto-feeder. My suggestion would be to use that money to hire a pet sitter while you're away, and have them feed your kitties portion-controlled meals of low-carb wet food twice a day instead.

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I use a feeder but its just pour the food in the container and it falls out on its own. I think you could find a auto-feeder that is portion controlled withouth spending you familys collage fund doing it I am sure its worth every penny but in the econamy we have know I just would not do something like that my sefl. I have actualy stopped using the feeder I have much I just put enough food in the bottom of it to last her two days and if its gone the first day I won;t starve her but just give her a smaller portion the next day. It has worked out alot better for me. She dosen;t over eat now like she used to and the food last alot longer. Used to I would go through a bag in less than two weeks. Now the food last a month. It used to last a month and a half but the company has started making smaller peices of food and charging more for it.

For the feeding box you might want to make some small windows on the sides so your girl isn't eating in the dark. and doesn't feel trapped. Or maykbe use a clear plastic box so you don't have to cut extra holes. Will you be able to put enough food in there so she doesn't run out while you're gone? I suppose she could always go eat the boy's food if she does run out. Do they get the same food?

I had the same problem with my two cats, one was overweight and would eat all the food of the other one.  I got around it because Tulip (the overweight one) couldn't jump very high, so I put Pansy's food up on a shelf.  I think the box is a good idea.  As for an automatic feeder, I'm not sure if this will work for you but this is what I used and it worked well. You can set it to move every 6 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours.  I had it set on 6 hours most of the time and just refilled it daily and if I went away for the weekend, I'd add more food and set it for 12 hours.  I also like it because it holds ice packs underneath so you can leave wet food out longer than usual (though I would only feed dry if I was going to be away and if I was home and giving wet food, I changed the ice in the morning and again at night to make sure it stayed cold).

Hope this helps!

http://koolatrononline.stores.yahoo.net/pet-dish-six-days.html

Thanks for the replies and the other feeder suggestions.  This forum has to have some of the most generous and thoughtful users on the internet.

I thought that too Goldycat, and planned to make the top not totally enclosed so plenty of light could get in.

I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to do but I've got some good ideas.  There will be some experimenting going on, starting with the most simple solution and moving toward the most complex until something sticks.  I'll try to report back periodically to let everyone know how it goes so other people with similar problems will have some experience to draw upon.

Thanks again!

You might want to take a look at the posts starting with #44 in this thread about Lucky's feeding station. A TCS member, Carolina, made a microchip-controlled feeding station for one of her cats with stuff she ordered from Amazon. It really wasn't too complicated. If you need more info from her, send her a PM. I'm sure she'd be willing to advise you.

An update for anyone with a similar problem.

I did end up going with the $500 Perfect Petfeeder.  If you have a job that demands you travel a lot and presumably compensates you well for it, I think it's a no-brainer.  I decided to try the simplest solution first and just allow both to feed from it, hoping the girl whose weight isn't a problem ate her share.  I've been doing it about a month and a half now, tweaking the settings and recently switching to a higher quality food with more protein and no grain. (Pure Vita in case anyone is curious, didn't want to go too high protein like Innova EVO and risk a UTI on the male).

Initially he lost about a half pound then plateaued for a month, she maintained.  2 weeks ago I started the switch to the new food, now the weight is really starting to drop, and drop fast.  In fact I'm watching it closely to make sure it's not dropping too fast.  Apparently about 2% a week is as much as is healthy so it's important to keep a close eye on it.  For a 17 pound cat, 17 pounds = 272 ounces.  2% of 272 ounces = 5 ounces a week.

In summary, if anyone out there is facing a similar problem I'd recommend this solution.  Another bonus is I only have to deal with their food about once a month as it's otherwise a totally automated process.

Update.

New problem developed about 2 months into using the feeder, the fat cat learned he could inhale his food then nose into the other cats portion.  I've had to add a divider, it's almost a tunnel, that leads to the bowl that the female cat without the weight problem feeds from.  It seems to have fixed that issue.

Fat cat is down from 17.2 pounds to 14.0 pounds over a 5 month period.  He's had congestion issues since birth that are almost non existent now.  As his weight crept over 16 pounds he developed diarrhea and vomited about once a day.  Now the diarrhea is almost totally gone and he hasn't thrown up in months.  His coat looks exceptional.

I am very pleased, but I have to keep a close eye on them when I can to make sure he isn't still trying to get to her food.

Hammacher.com has a feeder that opens when a specfic animal comes within 2 ft of the bowl via microchip on that specific collar.

Mogwhy said:

 
Could you clue me in on what specific type of cat food you are using for this diet? I have a 6yr old female cat that is way overweight and am trying to figure out what to do. Thanks in advance.

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Hi @Mogwhy  ; welcome to TCS! 

This thread is a little old now; i'm not sure the OP is still around.

If you would like; please start a new thread and tell us more about your kitty and we can try to help you as well.