Automatic Feeding Dispensers

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Kathleen and Fred

Kathleen and Fred

Member Since 2009
I've gone back to work and my hours are iffy. Fred, my Sugarcat, needs regular meals - and my Civi, Bella, could stand to lose some weight. So I thought of timed feeders.

Found some on Amazon and wondered if you've tried any of these:
1. PetSafe 5-meal
2. Lentek 6-day feeder
3. Crestuff 6-meal
4. Q Pet 6-meal

There was one reviewer who said his cat got a chin infection from the plastic bowls. I use ceramic dishes now. Could this be a problem? What about those that allow you to leave a message - or record a sound (like chimes) to notify your cat that food is available?

Also, I only serve wet good. Will it be safe all day? And...should I get two so we won't have fusses!! How would you recommend handling that - same room or separate?

Thanks for your help!
 
As Larry said, many people around here use the PetSafe 5. I haven't heard of the other ones so I'm not sure how well they work.

Yep, they work just as well with wet food as with dry. Many people switch out the plastic dishes with ceramic as well. The auto-feeder I used to use, I them out with little glass custard cups. As for whether or not you should get two...I stopped using the auto-feeder when I got Henry so I have no experience feeding multiple cats with one. ohmygod_smile Sorry!
 
One thing you can do is add some water to the wet food and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then the food will thaw out throughout the day and may be a little fresher.

I use the Q-pet 6 feeder. The motor is a little loud and I actually returned the first one for that reason, but then the second one was just as loud. I don't think the voice recording does anything for Buster, but it couldn't hurt. It is a bit tricky to program at first. The reason I like this one is that it has little clips to hold the lid on. If you google pet feeders you will see plenty of crafty kitties that can break into all kinds of feeders!

Good luck!
 
I use the Petsafe 5 for my cat and it works well with wet food. It is a round plastic tray with 5 compartments, and the whole tray rotates to expose a compartment of food. So I don't think there would be any easy way to use ceramic with it. The compartments are not big enough to fit a bowl in one. So if your cat has problems with plastic, this feeder would not work. Other than that, it has worked great for me, and my cat can't get food out early or bust it open as he did with the Petsafe single feeder.
 
You might see if you can find a sheet metal fabricator to make some trays for it. Try a HVAC company that does heating ducts - they work with sheet metal to make custom ducts.
 
I've had the q-pet 4 since about 2008, and it works well. It's loud, but it is the sturdiest of the bunch, especially if you have a mischievous cat that likes to dissemble feeders like mine. I make little bowls out of tin foil to put in the slots, which solves the eating out of plastic problem and makes cleaning much easier, since it is kind of a pain to take apart.
 
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