Plastic "allergy" and an automatic feeder

[Bratcat31]

Hello!

I bought an automatic feeder, somehow completely fogetting my male kitty gets baaaaad kitty acne when we use plastic.

I have read this is likely due to bacteria versus actual allergies. Is there anything I can do to work around this? I have heard that cleaning with vinegar works better and I have a second bowl I could use to swap out more often if that would work.

I even contacted the manufacturer to see if they made the bowl in stainless steel but they said no. I'm happily open to alternate auto-feeder suggestions too! I currently use the Petmate c500 as it has 4 timed feeder options and ice packs on all sides. I try to feed mostly wet so ice packs are a must.

 

[jcat]

We had a much smaller one-meal Petmate for our last cat's breakfast, and I found some stainless steel cat dishes that fit inside the plastic tray. That might be difficult due to the shape of the one you have. How about (demitasse/espresso) saucers?

 

[MissClouseau]

I remember seeing stainless steel feeders on Amazon.

Maybe it would also work to have a glass or porcelain, or like jcat said, a stainless steel cup. For glass and porcelain I would first check breakfast plates as they tend to be in all sizes and shapes for different foods like olives, cheese, jam...

 

[Rylka]

I also have a smaller stainless steel dish that fits inside Frida's timed feeder (cat mate c20) and it works out great. It's worth it to figure out a steel or ceramic solution imo, rather than set up something really arduous with cleaning the plastic.

 

[LTS3]

A Google search didn't turn up any similar feeders with stainless steel bowls, only the kind that you fill up with dry food and it dispenses into a single bowl for days.

Find a small ceramic or glass or even paper bowl to fit into the compartments. Paper can be smushed to fit into the wedge-shaped compartments if needed.

 

[Bratcat31]

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't think swapping the bowls out will work as the C500 is a bit odd in that the lid doesn't move, the actual bowel itself does. So, it isn't as simple as just switching one bowl for another. The new solution would have to actually be set up in a way that it would sit on the gear and move. I may see if I can find bowels to sit inside the already existing slots and "ride along" when it moves (thanks for that thought LTS3 !) Just gotra make suee the extra weight isnt liable to break the entire kit and caboodle.

What about freezing the current feeding tray? (That's part of the problem, it isn't individual bowels but a tray). Any idea if that would kill off the bacteria between feedings? I'll do a bit more shopping too and see if I can find something else that would work. Last ditch solution I guess I could always relegate the two I have now to foster cats and just deal with the super annoyed husband.

 

[LTS3]

Soaking the entire tray in a diluted bleach solution for 10 minutes or so after washing the tray will be enough to kill off bacteria. Be sure to rinse the tray thoroughly afterwards.

A paper bowl can be trimmed down to fit into the compartments so the tray can still rotate under the lid. But if you're trying to be eco-concious, paper isn't the best. Maybe look at at home goods / kitchen type store like Bed Bath Beyond to see what bowls might fit into the compartments. Maybe mini glass prep bowls or shallow sauce cups.

Or this wedge-shaped mini bowl:

 

[mani]

I use the Surefeed microchip feeder for Nilah. She got appalling chin acne with it even though I bought the stainless steel bowls.
I found that wiping the whole thing over (especially the inside of the folding lid) with detergent, then rinsing, after every use, has stopped it. Not so helpful for you unless you're prepared to swap feeders.

OK.. not helpful as you need ice.

But it's important to know that, even if you replace the actual bowl, you'll still need to keep the whole thing scrupulously clean.

 

[mani]

Your boy is gorgeous, by the way.

 

[Bratcat31]

Your boy is gorgeous, by the way.

Thank you! He's a FABULOUS cat and he and his sister bring such joy into our lives. Little known fact (to me at least) - cream colored kittens look orange when they are very very first born. He and his mother gave me the fright of the century because I did not know that.

When she was in labor she had an orange and white kitten first, a tabby kitten second, and an orange kitten third. When I went back up there to check on her she had had her fourth baby, a cream colored male (my boy). Problem was, I couldn't find kitten number 3. I could find the orange and white one (kitten 1), the tabby one (kitten 2), and the newest cream colored baby (kitten 4) but not kitten number 3. Took me a solid 2 minutes, some frantic searching, and 4 heart attacks to realize that baby 4 was actually the cleaned up version of baby 3 and that cream colored kittens look orange when covered in birthing slime. LOLOL!! If you look at the pic attached you can see his older orange and white brother, the tabby under moms leg and he's the other orange looking baby in the middle.

He has also gotten darker as he has gotten older. He was sooo light as a baby the white on his belly, chest and feet was completely unnoticeable/non-existent until he was like 6 weeks old!

Okay, so I'll start a hunt for usable light weight ceramic things or maybe use recyclable paper. That and/or a strict cleaning routine involving soap, water, bleach and likely still freeze the silly thing anyways and hopefully that'll keep him acne free. Fortunately I have two feeders currently - one for mine, one for my next pregnant/nursing mom who refuses dry food - but I don't have any fosters at the moment so it frees up a second tray for testing with! Plus, I can feed them just fine without using the auto-feeder at all. We only got it for when we went out of town.it was so much simpler to use we just didn't go back to manual feedings.