Automatic Cat Feeders

gillyrosh

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Hi, all.

Any recommendations for cat feeders - particularly for wet food?
 

LTS3

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I have used this one: 5 Meal Pet Feeder It works well for canned food. There is no ice pack feature but there is space in the bottom of the feeder that will fit a gel-type lunch box sized ice pack.

The Catmate brand does have an ice pack feature.
 

daftcat75

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I prefer the clamshell design over the wheel. The wheel places a time limit on a portion. If that's something you're interested in, then great. Otherwise, any food not eaten within that portion's time will be rotated back inside the wheel at the next portion time. I'm not certain if those intervals are individually customizable, or if you set a single timer for rotation. I like the clamshell design because once it opens, it's open. If my Betty sleeps through its opening, she isn't on the clock to finish that portion before the next one opens. With individual clamshells, you can set variable timing schedules. Because the potential consequence of a feeder not opening correctly might be an acid barf, I like to deploy them in pairs. The timers on them aren't an exact science. So if I want Betty to have food in four hours, I'll set one for 4 hours and another for 4 hours 30 minutes. That way if one fails to open (a two or three times out of 1000 uses occurrence), she doesn't have to wait very long for the backup to open. And if I have to leave my kitty in the care of a sitter who likely won't come to feed her five times a day, I can have the sitter come for the meals she can come and set the rest in feeders opening at variable times.

I don't use the included ice packs. Usually I am placing food from the fridge into the feeder. By the time the feeder opens, the room temperature has taken the chill off the food. If I do need to cover a much longer interval than a few hours, then I would probably use an ice pack.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y1TXZYP/?tag=thecatsite
 

Dinosnores

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I've used this one (Cat Mate C500) to great success. However, if you plan to put 24 hours' worth of meals in at a time, I'd recommend buying two additional ice packs so that you can keep one set in the freezer while the other is in the feeder. That way it's easy to switch them out when refilling the feeder.

Also, I bought this in March 2020 and I've only had to change the batteries once!
 

Margot Lane

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I have a cate mate as well and use the rotational ice pack system. Heaven is finding what times work best for your cat so they don’t paw your face at an ungodly hour. Make sure you don’t get the battery part wet when you clean it. Once in a great while for whatever reason it will:

1. Not match up with the top part, but, it seems to autocorrect by the next feed.

2. Rotate for about 15 minutes for no reason, before silencing itself.

Highly recommended for those that value REM sleep.

After awhile, the cat knows when the food is coming—- I think they like the routine, and consistency might be good for their digestion.
 

Dinosnores

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Heaven is finding what times work best for your cat so they don’t paw your face at an ungodly hour.
Although my cat doesn't start wailing at 5am for breakfast anymore, he has learned the routine of me washing out the feeder and refilling it at 4pm every day (even though the next meal doesn't come out until 2 hours later...). If I'm late on it, he'll start nagging me as if he's afraid I'm going to forget! So maybe be careful and pick a convenient time of day to do that.
 

Margot Lane

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My cat does that too! I would forget sometimes unless he reminded me. How funny.
 
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