The freezing option is very good for portions where they may dry out by the time the section turns to open. Also, if you are using the feeder for a half day or the whole day, food could spoil by being at room temp and not frozen.
If you want to give just 1 or 2 tbsp of food, like a mini meal about 2hrs apart, I am pretty sure that the 2tbsp in the last section may be dried out, so if you plop the food into ice cube trays then put a 'food cube' into 4 of the sections and fresh into the current exposed section, by the time the 5th section turns to be exposed, it will have thawed out nicely and not have a crusty surface. I know I sure would not find a smelly crusty cube of food very appetizing.
Shadoe LOVES her feeder. In the beginning though, she did have one traumatic, yet hilarious mishap.
On the first day, I set the times and left the lid open with no food; I wanted to see how it worked, then I put the lid down to be sure each turn would open up square with the opening. I did not want the thing not turning or turning but in a way that Shadoe could not get the food. So the first day, it was just this weird thing on the floor that both Shadoe and Booboo stayed clear of by walking on the other side of the room.
They both got used to it and I got Shadoe used to it by first putting it with the food beside it and then inside it, but with the batteries out. What I did was to get 5 small glass bowls that dropped nicely into each section and allowed the feeder to turn with no problem when the lid was closed.
(Each nite, now, I fill them with the day's worth of food, put them in the freezer, and the plop them into the sections in the morning before leaving for work.)
The big day came and I dropped the food into the sections.
Shadoe went over to the machine, and was standing in front of it, but was leaning over the lid to sniff at the food she smelled in the back covered sections.
Sadly and hilariously, it was at that exact moment that the machine decided to turn! ohmygod_smile Shadoe left the floor - all four paws jumped up in the air and she took off for the other room. I did not see her for some time :lol:
I really thought I had it all covered and nothing traumatic would happen; oh well. In hindsight, I think I would maybe leave it on the floor, empty, and let it turn. It does make a sound, and kitties are very smart, we know, so they quickly recognize the source of every noise.
Now, she loves it! She knows the sound well, and also knows she must listen for it because it means FOOD! She can be sound asleep someplace, but when the feeder turns, she comes out to eat.
I believe that the auto feeder is excellent for balancing out food intake during the day, especially if the bean is away at work like I am. During the week, I am away close to all the time between amps and pmps, and before the feeder, I always came home to a hungry Shadoe as she likely gulped her food down by her +6 time.
I plan to get another feeder so that Shadoe can have small bits of food available overnite and we can eliminate the hungry kitty at amps time.
Food plays a big part in the health of a diabetic, so regular measured feedings go a long way to a healthy kitty lifestyle.
