Automatic Feeder Recomendations

[paramedicscan]

Hi guys,

Brand New to the site. Specifically signed up looking for help. As you might be able to guess by my user name, I work very weird hours. 12, 14, 16 hour shifts back-to-back-to-back can be common. This creates problems with feeding my cat as I am sure you can imagine.

I currently have a dry food auto feeder that has a five compartment chamber. This seems to work well as it prevents my cat from eating a day's worth of food in one shot, leaving him nothing for the rest of the day.

Not on is this unhealthy but of course come 8-12 hours later he's hungry. Unfortunately I found him as a stray and after 8 years I haven't been able to break him of the habit he acquired as a stray of "eat everything I can, while I can, because I might have to leave it."

I really want to get out of feeding him dry food. I don't have the time or inclination to do raw food. So I want to switch to a diet of wet food.

Sadly most options I seem to be able to find for good wet food feeders, that are programmable, and or have ice packs, seem to only allow two feedings a day.

Again, with my schedule, and his predilection to eat everything at once, two feedings are not enough.

Per the AAFCO, for the for the food I am looking at, he needs 3-4 cans per day.

Ideally I would like to find something with 6 Chambers, programmable feeding timer, with ice packs but can't seem to find anything like that.

6 chambers would be ideal, as I can then take half a can and split it out to equal 3 cans.

What would you guys recommend? How do I split out 3-4 cans in a five chamber bowl? How do I keep the food fresh after opening it? How do I keep the feeder sanitary, etc. etc. etc.

Thanks for the help.

 

[lalagimp]

If you believe what is said about canned food being good for 12 hours, you can use a regular spinning feeder. We were given the okay for up to 12 hours on our raw and we feed 5 times a day, so we use a Feed And Go for each boy.

Otherwise there is this really cool german refrigerated feeder that no one can ever find in stock CATSOMAT - the first thermo-electrically cooling automatic cat feeder for cats & dogs - World Novelty

 

[LTS3]

Ideally I would like to find something with 6 Chambers, programmable feeding timer, with ice packs but can't seem to find anything like that.

6 chambers would be ideal, as I can then take half a can and split it out to equal 3 cans.

I really like the Petsafe one: 5-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder It doesn't have an ice pack feature but there is an area in the base where a mini lunch box ice pack or gel pack would fit into.

The Catmate brand of feeders do have an ice pack feature but the biggest feeder has 5 compartments.
I found this 6 compartment feeder: https://www.amazon.com/Qpets-6-Meal-Automatic-Pet-Feeder/dp/B005POODL8

How do I keep the food fresh after opening it? How do I keep the feeder sanitary, etc. etc. etc.

The tray is removable so you can wash it out. Most are dishwasher safe. The outside of the feeder can be wiped down if it gets dirty.

Canned food is cooked so it can sit in a feeder for up to a day before it needs to be tossed. To keep food fresh in the feeder, you can either add water to the food to keep it from drying out too quickly or freeze the food into portion sizes and then put the frozen food into each compartment. Since it will take a bit of time for the food to defrost, the first meal should be straight from the can so the cat isn't trying to eat a block of frozen food or paw it out of the tray and bat it around the house like a toy

 

[FakeGourmet]

I'm not against your goal, but you should know that my late brother's cat died from food in the auto-feeder developing bacteria during the summer months. She was elderly, but the vet tested the food and said that is exactly why she died. The food was out less than 8 hours. So leaving meat out, cooked or not, is a risk. Maybe a better choice in your situation is to do a wet/dry combo. Use wet when you are at home and dry when you are not.