This has taken away the added worry of feeding my kitties on time. It was easy to adjust the time and serving sizes for my cats. Its weight and spill prevention is perfect since it prevents my cats from knocking it over to get into the rest of the food. The bowls are great quality steel that remove from the machine so that they can be easily cleaned. 10/10 would recommend!
Updated 10/21I bought a second one for a new cat in Apr or May 21. She requires different food so the split feeder option isn’t an option at this point. While the schedules work as needed, both feeders are easy to cheat. The new kitty likes to sit on top of the feeder and her weight causes bits of kibble to drop. Basically, when the feeder activates, one of the slots which fills with kibble for dispensing is partially exposed and any thump will cause the food the release (this is after the scheduled meal has been released).The other cat figured out that he could shove his paw into the shoot and release that excess food. I covered the shoot to keep him from putting his paw inside, but haven’t figured out a solid solution to prevent that slot from being exposed and excess food from being released when the unit is thumped.Very disappointing.———————-This is replacing a bulky feeder (super feed) I’ve had for a number of years which my cat terrorized in his younger years. This feeder arrived just in time because the previous feeder was on the blink and wasn’t dispensing properly.I’ve had this feeder a little over a month and it’s been wonderful so far. It has a small foot print and is proving reliable so far.Instructions weren’t too bad and I got it going about 15 min. I didn’t have major issues determining portion size since I knew what portions my cat was getting prior ( just a matter of measuring and testing the portions on a test schedule a couple of times). 2 portions is about 1/4 cup for small kibble.Changing the portion size per schedule is a nice touch as you’re not locked into the same portions for each schedule.Setting the schedules is much more simpler here than using an external timer where you have to set an on then off. Basically just set the time you want it to dispense and that’s it. I have not installed batteries yet to test the backup feature; I do hope that works as expected. I also don’t know if it will reset to zero during a power cut if batteries aren’t installed. I have not tried simulating this.Though the full capacity is smaller than the previous feeder, it’s very simple to fill. Since the unit sits on the floor, it’s better for me to open the lid to determine remaining capacity rather than look at the tiny windows on the side. The lid locking mechanism seems to ensure it’s cat proof (my cat terrorized the previous feeder so this one so far is proving to be cat proof). Just be sure you hear the snap when closing the lid after filling.The one thing about the instant meal function is that it’s based on the smallest portion size, so you may need a couple of presses to get the right portion for your pet for that one-off feeding.The unit itself is compartmentalized so cleaning should be relatively easy. I love that it has a stainless bowl. This was a necessity since my cat has skin allergies to certain plastics and the stainless should help clear that up.I don’t have a need to use the recording function. My cat was already conditioned to the sound of the previous feeder so this one is no different. He hears the food dropping into the bowl and BAM! off he goes.
TL;DR: Works as advertised, 12-month warranty, good programming options. Even more options might be nice, compartment could be larger for a large pet, and the dispenser hole is probably not cat-paw-proof for a really motivated cat. I will update this if the feeder quits working - otherwise, it seems like a great choice for my needs, as detailed below.I've used automatic feeders for a number of years, and I am thrilled that the available options have finally increased quite a bit! Of course, many of them are fairly cheap, so they are hit-or-miss in terms of how long they will continue to work (the Pet Safe one seems to be the best bet for reliability, but is less flexible in terms of feeding very small portions). I have another cheap model that has been working for several years to feed one of my cats; one prior to that quit after a few months, while another of that same model worked for a couple of years (all models that are no longer available). One of my cats has been using an automatic feeder for a few years for weight control, while the other used to semi-free-feed out of a puzzle ball, but he's made it clear that he no longer wants to do that. He needs small frequent meals to keep his stomach happy, so an automatic feeder is a perfect solution to keep him fed overnight and while I'm at work.I selected this feeder because 1) it has a 12-month warranty and 2) it can feed fairly small portions up to 6 times per day. I had a few reservations about the fact that this is a new product with few reviews, but hopefully the warranty will suffice for any problems. I would prefer something even more flexible (my old feeder can dispense a teaspoon at a time if you want, multiple times per day), which is why I gave this only 4 stars, but this is sufficient for my cat. One portion is about 1/12th of a cup (maybe a bit more) with my cat food, so I'll feed him 1 portion every 4 hours, and 1-2 of those will be double portions to add up to about 2/3 cup. It's easy to try a few manual feedings with the machine to measure how much is dispensed with each portion for your type of food - then watch your pet's weight to make sure the amount they're getting is right for them.The feeder is only 11.75" tall (shorter than advertised, I think), and I was happy to find that it fits perfectly inside the cage I'd already built! My cat Merlin enters the cage through a cat door that is tuned to his microchip, which keeps the other (piggy) cat, Rea, out. Rea is fed out in the open room with her respective food bot, because she is food-dominant and Merlin won't poach her food. Merlin can then eat in peace inside his food cage. It's not a cheap setup (now 2 food bots + smart door), but well worth it to ensure my cats are both healthy weights (and no "hunger pukes") without me having to manually feed them every few hours.The feeder was pretty straightforward to set up once you get the hang of it, though it would be nice if it timed out (from "set" mode) less quickly while you are reading the instructions for the next step. The times are changed with +/- buttons, so adjusting the clock for Daylight Savings will be easy. The motor is audible when it runs, but it's not loud - the food falling onto the metal bowl is much louder. You can record a message if you want, but trust me, your pet will very quickly learn to go running over when the motor starts (and until they learn that, food hitting a bowl is a universal signal for "meal time!"). I like the stainless steel bowl (it is loud, but you can take it out and use only the plastic base if you prefer) and the removable compartment that stores the food. I also really appreciate that it doesn't forget any of your settings if you unplug it to move it to a new spot after painstakingly setting it up - even without batteries in it. I haven't tried it with batteries yet, but assuming it works properly, the battery backup should ensure the pet is still fed if the power is out (or will allow you to use the feeder away from an outlet or with a pet that would chew the cord). The provided power cord is pretty short, so you might need an extension cord depending on your setup. The "off" switch on the bottom will allow you to shut off the feeder if it's not needed for extended periods, without having to reprogram.One potential problem is whether your cat will learn how to reach up the dispenser and pull out extra food. Piggy Rea learned to do that with her other food bot and quickly gained a lot of weight, which is why her bot now lives on the top closet shelf with a long chute (gift wrap tube) to dispense her food! Merlin is not nearly food-motivated enough to put in the effort to steal extra food, but if I left this feeder out for Rea, I bet she would figure it out. She'd have to lie on her side and contort herself to get a paw in there, but she would happily do that for extra snacks. So be prepared to take extra measures to guard against that if your cat is really greedy (put it up out of reach, or pos...
Fun watching cats run when they hear it activate
works great! its a big relief that it feeds my pets automatically.
Easy to use. Only have had it for about a month. Everything going good so far.
Works well and delivers same amount on both sides once setting up was done. Setting up was a little challenging. Recording isn’t very loud.
I am so happy with this cat feeder! My cats have always been able to removed the cover from other feeders. This one the case clicks onto the base and the lid clicks onto the case. The cats cant remove it. It is easy to program too! It doesnt tip over either. Very much recommened! Well worth the money. No more kibble all over.
Bought this to feed our cats for a weekend we were out of town. Easy to program and use. Cats adjusted quickly to the schedule. Powered by D batteries on our covered front porch. The lid is secure, we came home to what looks like racoon paw/claw marks on it trying to open it, and was unsuccessful. Will continue to use it.
Quick ship...Appears to be of good quality. Quiet operation. Plan to use outdoors so will need to make some type of cover to keep it dry and to keep bows from filling with water.
It is working very well once I understood how to set everything up. It was easy to put together. There was a small, small learn curve on programming it. Really, the biggest problem I had was one of my cats absolutely loved it and seemed to know right away what to do, but my other cat acted like it was some alien being and I had to convince her that it was her food coming out of there, LOL. Once I did she was all in, but I did have to hold her Paw for a few times until she was convinced it was safe to approach it.
Two new kittens and this feeder works great. A bit trying in the setup but they hear the voice message and sit and wait for the food to drop in their bowls. Knowing that I can leave them for a day and they will be fed is reassuring to me.
Easy to setup, even the time and portion were simple. Plugs in with usb-v charger, and looks sleek.
works good all but the dish should be at least a inch lower, if you select a higher amount the food stay in the shoot and does not filter in the dish like it should. by making the dish a a litter lower would solve this problem.
Okay, I’ve had this thing for nearly 2 years and I’m ready to give an honest review. It’s easy to use, buttons are nice, food has never jammed, and the size is great for how often I feed my cats. However, I’m giving 3 stars and almost debating on giving 2 because it does not keep track of time (which has been a huge negative and why I am now purchasing a WIFI one). So, I find that every few weeks I have to go and reset the time because the clock runs fast. Also, if it gets unplugged or power goes out, it will not remember the time. I purchased a cheaper single bowl one (I have 3 cats so I needed 3 bowls) the noise is not as pleasant, slightly harder to use, is a “cheaper” feel but keeps time like a boss even if it gets unplugged. It’s been a bit disappointing because I thought this was going to be a great quality machine but the fact it is unable to accurately keep track of time is such a huge turn off and causes more work than it’s worth when I get woken up in the middle of the night because my cats haven’t eaten.
I originally bought this feeder for our 8 feral cats because I was planning to be away from the house for up to a week. I needed a large capacity hopper and this was about the largest one I could find. I’m happy to say that this feeder exceeded my needs and expectations.It just holds a complete 6.3 pound bag of cat food. I’ve set it to discharge 6 times a day, with a pause from 9PM to 6AM. That schedule was set as an attempt to avoid feeding the raccoons that come around most nights, and for the most part, that logic has worked.I set this under a picnic table with a plastic tablecloth so that the feeder can stay out of the direct rain. It’s close enough to an electrical outlet that I could plug it in and then use the battery capability as a backup. I decided, however, to use only the batteries and not plug it in. I put it out in early September 2021. The batteries finally died on February 5th. That’s 5 full months on battery power alone. What a pleasant surprise that was!The first problem I ran into was those previously mentioned raccoons. Three of them came around after a couple of nights and knocked the feeder over, dislodging the top and exposing all those goodies for them to devour completely. BUMMER!I then tried putting a weight on top of the hopper, thinking that they wouldn’t be strong enough to dislodge that and steal the food again. WRONG. They are both clever and strong. Next I tried duct taping the top on. Another failure on my part. They just chewed right through the duct tape and feasted on the kibbles again. Twice they actually pushed the spring loaded button that retracts the pin holding the top in place right into the hopper! Man, are they persistent. But not as persistent as me…….I found a piece of thin metal and duct taped that over the spring loaded button. I also duct taped all four sides of the top onto the hopper. Then I bungeed the whole machine to the picnic table supports so the little rascals couldn’t move it or tip it over.SUCCESS!!!After a few night of unsuccessfully chewing the duct tape in their attempts to get to the treasures inside, they finally gave up. I won. They lost.The flexibility in setting the individual portion sizes and discharge times are great. Some reviews have commented that there is no “back” button for either of these settings, and that is correct. It’s not all that hard to accidentally go past the setting you desired, but it’s also not that hard to hold the button down to quickly cycle through the settings to get back to where you wanted to be again. No big deal to me.In summary, I love this helpful machine. And so do my cats/kittens. I found the battery life to be such that I wouldn’t hesitate to say you don’t need to plug this feeder into house power. 5 months on a single set of 4 batteries is a pretty long time.I set a voice recording (you DO NEED to do this, even if you chose to record silence instead of your voice) before the feeder will work. A number of reviews claim the feeder was junk and never discharged anything, only to find that they needed to record some kind of message first. Be forewarned.UPDATE: Another 5.5 months on the second set of batteries. It looks like this should be the expected life of the 4 C cells it holds.April 2023. After 14 months of reliable service, the machine just stopped feeding ANYTHING.Why? After about 4 months of flawless service I switched the brand of feed over to Kit ‘n Kaboodles. The cats all liked this food better than the store brand I had initially used, but the kibble size is larger. Unfortunately. The larger kibble sometimes resulted in jamming of the plastic feeder mechanism. Tipping the unit upside down then back up usually freed the jam but sometimes I had to remove all the food, then manually operate the feeder a few times before refilling it.BUT here’s the problem. The jamming on the larger kibble has eventually caused the plastic fins on the feed rotor to break off. There are a number of these fins on the rotor so the feeder had been able to continue dispensing some food even though it was slowly destructing. This week (April 2023), when it stopped dispensing completely I took it apart and found that all of those plastic fins were gone. The Amazon website for Honeyguardian does show a replacement rotor assembly for under $10 so I ordered that, believing that my cat food feeder could be brought back to life again.It appears that I am wrong about that. The only rotor design shown does have those plastic fins that I had broken off, but it does NOT have the extension of the rotor piece required to engage with the drive motor. As a result, THE REPLACEMENT ROTOR DOES NOT ROTATE, AND CANNOT FEED.Honeyguardian does NOT have a website and the only places that I could find a replacement rotor assembly all look like the one from Amazon. There are a few reviews on this replacement rotor that all say the same thing that I’ve said here, so I’m not alone.Lesson? Pay attention to the kibble size. Binding on ...
I have two 75lb dogs. I was skeptical if a cat food feeder would work, but thought that I'd give it a shot due to the great Amazon return policy. I'm glad that I did.Pros:The surplus of serving sizes make it just right for all house animals. I'm even tempted to get one for my chickens.It holds about a week's worth of food for my dogs. The housing is just light enough to see how much is left, but dark enough to prevent growth.My dogs no longer eyeball me for food but just sit by the feeder and wait.We can leave the dogs for a week without having to worry about the food.Easy setup.Solid construction.Keeps settings when power is removed.Reasonable price.You can set the dinnerbell to anything you want.Cons:You can set the dinnerbell to anything you want. ("What Does the Fox Say" is not recommended)Larger store bought dry dog food does jam this unit but a light shake or finger poke will clear it. Just be careful with what food you buy.Food bowls are too close and one dog will often eat both bowls while blocking the other.Room for improvement:Larger cup to accept larger food pieces.Hopper extension for longer lasting supply.Fault sensor or alarm to notify of jam.Built in vibrator to facilitate in clearing any detected jam.I may raise it and pipe the food to bowls further apart. I just need to find a good location. If it dispensed on opposite sides of the base it would solve the competition between dogs.Clear portion size recommendations would be nice.Alarm volume control.Relabel to "Pet Feeder." "Cat Feeder" gives themisleading impressionn of small capacity and servings.Overall I'm very satisfied with the unit and believe it's reasonable for the price. I would like to see future models with some of the suggestions incorporated within the same price range. I just couldn't find any at the time of this purchase. This was the best feeder that I could find for my needs and it does a great job.
We've had this machine for several months now and it has been great. Our schedules are constantly changing, but this feeder allows us to keep a consistent feeding schedule for our two cats. I'm mostly glad I don't have to set an alarm to wake up to feed them their breakfast.Our cats used to start crying outside our door sometimes as early as 3 hours before their breakfast time. (They are really bad at gaging time). Now they come up right after they finish a meal and cry for a few minutes, then go take a nap. Another thing is that my cats have learned that our dinner times coincide a bit. If I walk into the kitchen to start cooking (even if it's 2 hours before their meal), they run over to their bowls and camp out in front of them the whole time I am there. Sometimes they look up at me and meow like they're expecting me to make the machine give them food. And if both me and my husband are in the kitchen, they can barely contain their excitement. After months of being fed by this machine, they still seem to think it's us. Our cats aren't the brightest...Our cats can hear this machine before it even starts dispensing. They can be fast asleep and will suddenly wake and dart into the kitchen before the first portion has even dispensed.There are a few flaws that I can think of. For one, the portion sizes are awkward for standard American pet food feeding guidelines. It would be nice if it went by 1/8 or 1/4 cup portions. Also, if the machine accidentally gets knocked, it will dispense some food. Luckily our cats haven't learned how to do that. They will just come running in to eat the one or two pieces that drop into the bowls whenever it happens. Furthermore, if you unplug the machine and plug it back in, it starts dispensing an entire meal. I feel bad for our cats when that happens and they get super excited only for us to pour all the food back into the machine. Lastly, the food reservoir isn't angled enough. So when the food starts getting low, the machine will not dispense accurate portion sizes. This is very concerning because we aren't always there to check and see that their bowls appear to have received the correct amount of food. So it's one of those worries that I have to keep in the back of my mind to make sure that their food isn't getting too low. We just try to make sure that we top it off every week. Maybe one day they'll make these with a sensor to let you know of the food is getting too low.I wish the cord for the machine was thicker, longer, and didn't look as enticing to play with. I always catch my cats trying to chew on it while they wait by their bowls for their evening meal. We taped the cord down as best we could and tried applying a chemical cat deterrent to the cord, but they still mess with it occasionally. Also, the cord is obnoxiously short. So it makes it difficult to run it up the wall more inconspicuously. It has to stretch out right at cat-eye-level so that it can reach the outlets that are above the counter tops.Overall, we love using this machine, but it could definitely use some improvements. I'd still recommend it in its current state to anyone who wants to make meal times easier and more consistent. But if they ever make improvements, I'll be first in line to buy the new version.
