Feeding Stations With More Than 1 Cat

[destinyz12]

We are going to be adding a new kitten to the house very soon, and while I am excited, I am anxious for my current 11 month old kitten in terms of feeding, since she is a grazer with a somewhat small appetite. If all goes well we will be getting a 4 month old male orange tabby who more than likely have a much bigger appetite than her. How do you recommend managing feeding stations with 2 cats where one is a grazer (so keeping her food closed off from the other won't be an option), and assuming the other one will eat a lot more? I like knowing how much she eats each day to make sure she gets enough calories and adding a second cat will make things harder to keep track of. Is there a good way to teach a cat to only eat from their own bowls? This will be my family's first time with more than 1 cat in the household.

 

[IndyJones]

Have the same issue hope someone has an answer besides my current setup which isn't ideal.

 

[orange&white]

It's difficult. I have a new kitten who I feed all she wants, and a senior cat on a restricted calorie diet to lose weight. She (kitten) eats in the master bathroom (bathroom door open, bedroom door closed) and he (senior) eats in the kitchen. The senior eats in 1-2 minutes and wants more food. The kitten is a grazer, but she'll usually eat everything if I give her lots of small meals.

 

[lalagimp]

My grazers use a microchip feeder. If you can get your cats to wear a collar with a tag that gives them access or if your pet is chipped, it can be programmed to only open for them.
I don't exactly run my house on an economy budget but when I find something that works for my lifestyle I will invest in it. I got a GateFeeder a few years ago when Tommy started on his diet and then I got a SureFlap when those launched. The girls use the microchip feeder and the boys have scheduled feeders for 5 feedings a day - now if you think the microchip feeders cost too much you'll flip at the boys' Feed and Go s.
The girls' feeder was my idea. The boys' feeders were my partner's idea. He was tired of being relegated to the house every few hours. We used to just resign ourselves to someone needing to be home at 6am, 9am, 12n, 5pm, and 9pm. Mom was visiting from out of town and we were grabbing burgers and it turned 9 and she called us on how much to feed my cat. She's a good grandma.

 

[orange&white]

The GateFeeder looks like it would intimidate my kitten, but that SureFlap Microchip Pet Feeder looks really cool! Can't afford it right now, myself, but it could definitely be a solution for me at some point. I do wonder, though, if my Corgi dog wouldn't drag the entire feeder around and use it for a chew toy. lol

 

[lalagimp]

The GateFeeder looks like it would intimidate my kitten, but that SureFlap Microchip Pet Feeder looks really cool! Can't afford it right now, myself, but it could definitely be a solution for me at some point. I do wonder, though, if my Corgi dog wouldn't drag the entire feeder around and use it for a chew toy. lol

That reminds me of the laugh I got at the FAQ of the Feed and Go
We did get the SureFlap replaced under warranty for princess pants vomiting in it. They were really cool about it.
"I’ve got a determined pet. Will he be able to break in to a Feed and Go?
Not unless he is out of control! We designed Feed and Go to be cat and dog proof. To date, only one animal has even gotten into a Feed and Go, and that was a pet pig. We don’t recommend a Feed and Go for pet pigs. If you have a puppy or a really excitable dog, then he will be very eager to get familiar with his new Feed and Go. You may need to train him to use his Feed and Go to ensure he doesn’t cause it any damage. Within the design, there are very stiff springs that mean a pet won’t be able to manually push the tray one way or the other. A Feed and Go also cannot be knocked over."

 

[destinyz12]

Purchasing microchip feeders for each cat will be too pricey but so far after having the new cat for a few days, he seems to be a grazer himself (although he could still just be anxious about being in a new place and not be eating as much as he normally does). However, I've already caught each of them eating out of the others bowls though even though they are currently fed on 2 different floors of the house! The new cat is still on the garbage food that the shelter had him on and my resident cat eats healthy grain-free food though so I just have to hope that neither gets sick from eating 2 very different types of dry food. Wet food i'm not as concerned about since those can be mixed

 

[IndyJones]

can you transition the new cat to the same food as the old one? Or is there a medical reason this can't be done.

 

[destinyz12]

IndyJones That's the plan, but i need to make the change very slow since the new cat is used to getting very low quality food and I don't want to risk him upsetting his digestive system by switching too fast to a high quality food.

 

[IndyJones]

I understand, went through the same thing with Indy. She was eating no name Loblaws cat food which is basically the cheapest stuff you can buy and she barely even touched it I transitioned her to performatrin ultra grain free kitten and she eats a lot more now plus her coat is so soft now it's like velvet.

 

[abby2932]

lalagimp Did you know that Feed and Go recently went out of business? I've been having an issue with one of my two feeders consistently going OFFLINE every day and turning OFF my Feed Schedule. This is super distressing to me because I have a 4 month old kitten who eats every 4 hours and it has been skipping his meals

I've tried emailing contact@feedandgo dot com but I get no response. I also Facebooked Alex Stone (the founder) on his personal Facebook page but he hasn't responded. Alex must be an entrepreneur because he has another business that is pet insurance. I sent a message to THAT FB page today. They read the message but have not responded. All of the new reviews on Amazon are saying that they're having the same exact problem as me. Feeder goes OFFLINE, Feed Schedule turned OFF, pet does not get fed, emails & cries for support go unanswered.

I feel for the poor suckers who have pet insurance with this guy. When THAT business goes belly-up, many pet parents (probably some with pre-existing conditions) will be "ghosted" by him & really be at a loss. I guess I should just suck it up & be thankful that I wasn't messed over that badly.

Just thought I'd let you know since you have one of these! So disappointing​

 

[lalagimp]

abby2932

My boyfriend and I are aware that the Ish has hitsth the fan with them. 1 star reviews are pouring into amazon, and we just came across an issue with the feeders doing a dup feeding between 5-5:30, no notifications coming in, but not the offline issue. We just replaced Tom's feeder twice in April when they were still offering support. The contact form is gone, no one responds to the direct email, the agent we worked with in the past is not responding to her email, and the investor we were working with is not responding to his email. We still have his direct phone number, if he hasn't changed it since 2016. This wouldn't be a problem IF they were not running your feeders on THEIR NETWORK, but instead an app you install on your computer to run it directly on your network, especially for $249- however, my replacement feeders this spring are from a $99 run they were doing on Amazon. I read somewhere that someone tried a general support number for them and it was disconnected. We're not getting any mailer daemon responses for the email addresses, so they either aren't completely shut down, or they haven't let their hosting expire. I'm curious to see if they have a public WHOIS. I'm about to have to put them on blast on my blog, since I included them on the Christmas List.

I cannot confirm that they are shuttered, but they were absolutely 100% suspect. They broadcasted yay we're implementing changes June 30th, and then everybody's feeders start needing work.

ETA
Boyfriend"Their domain is set to expire on August 14th. We will see if they renew it."

 

[abby2932]

lalagimp if you make any headway, please keep me in the loop!

There is literally no other feeder (for wet/raw food) that my cat can't break into. My new kitten is also a mastermind and I'm very concerned that I wont find something reliable. I have 3 out of town business conferences at the end of the year & I'm having a panic attack LOL Of course, I have a pet sitter but I can't pay her to come 4 times a day, you know? I need a reliable feeder

 

[lalagimp]

abby2932 You're going to love this.
Alex Stone blocked my boyfriend from his LinkedIn account when he went to contact him there.

So, in turn, my bf has updated his Amazon Review with contact information:
Company has ghosted.

We discussed it, and if they ghost everyone, and support falls offline for the product, and it just stops working, we can possibly speak with an attorney to see if they want to create a class action for the pet parents that purchased this feeder. As of right now, ours are still working, but it's kind of ridiculous that people have paid anywhere from $99-249 for this, and that's a pretty big problem.

He said "they should at least make the code available" as if he knows some kind of nerd magic to keep the system running with that information. He did request several logs of back end information we needed for proper TS steps they were failing to work with us on, and that information was denied. It's in his review.

 

[abby2932]

lalagimp this guy is unbelievable! I am so distraught. I looked up my receipt from last year & I paid $329 for two feeders, total. Such a waste. One of them is still working (for now) but the other one is constantly OFFLINE. I can't trust it to feed my pet. I've tried hard resetting the internet & reconnecting but it goes right back OFFLINE after a couple of hours.

I was complaining to my sister earlier and she was like, "Just buy a different auto feeder." But people just don't understand how easy my cat (or any food motivated cat) can break into the other wet-food feeders on the market. The Feed and Go was indestructible. There was NO WAY any cat was getting there food prematurely. And I really love how it tells me that my pet was fed successfully. It gave me such peace of mind when I was away.

The money aspect is not even what is bothering me the most. It is the fact that I'm losing something that was so perfect for me & my cats and there is nothing else like it out there. I still have one working feeder but I'm just waiting for that one to go belly-up on me too. I'm so, so sad.

 

[abby2932]

lalagimp both of my feeders are now offline & I cannot log into the online portal.

 

[lalagimp]

"Feed and Go is sad to say, it's closed it's doors.
We're extremely sad and sorry to say that Feed and Go has closed its doors. We had an amazing time helping thousands of pets eat healthier and on schedule. The time has unfortunately come to close the operation of our web app, and mobile app services. This will mean that unfortunately your Feed and Go's will no longer work as an automated feeder, and will not connect to our servers.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of our mission and wish you and your pet many happy moments ahead."

They're probably going to get sued. Even I am within the 1 year warranty on one of my feeders. They were selling these all the way up to the summer. I even almost bought another one from a Walmart marketplace a few months ago, and bf stopped me because he said they would stop connecting, period, before they made the announcement to shutter. I found that on a cached version of their site that won't even finish loading if you go to the live version. We're trying wet food with the Petsafe Smart Feed where you can load dry and "semi wet" food into portions on the conveyor belt inside, but it's not working out great with homemade food. The liquids don't stay with the portions and leak to the bottom for clean up at the end of the day, and this last batch I might have added an extra cup of water to or something, because the cubes from the ice cube tray aren't staying as Loafy.