Microchip Feeding Bowls

[Ciela]

Does anyone have cat bowls that only open to an individual cats microchip? If so are they any good?

DH and I have two litter sisters Meg and Mog. An average domestic cat should weigh 8lb-10lbs and whilst Mog weighs 7lbs 7ozs Meg weighs 13lbs.

Mog has always been a small cat and it took three trips and seeing two different vets (same practice) for them to confirm Mog was female when she was five months old. Mog is never mooching for food and nor does she feel the need to empty her bowl as soon as we fill it so she is definitely getting enough.

We think Meg must be eating some of Mogs food but as we both work we can’t monitor them every day and so wondered if bowls that can only open for one cat might be the answer.

I had them. But it was an emergency as one had to have soft diet only. I couldn't work out how to use the bloody things. I think you need to train the cats slowly. My friend has them and likes them. Had to abandon soft diet as she just wasn't eating enough. So sold them on eBay for a good price

I have them and wouldn’t be without them. Cats took to them no problem at all, just put a few treats they love in there and they were eating their food from it within a couple of days. Keep an eye out for deals, it was a couple of years ago but I managed to get them new for around £70 but trawling Google for the cheapest ones!

Yes - we have 3 cats, 1 eats everything in sight. They’re on dry food only anyway as it’s easier to portion control. It works really well, especially when we weigh the food out as well.

I’d try it on the food motivated one as that’s the one that will have the incentive to learn to use them quickly.

We have them too, they’re expensive but worth it. I have one very greedy cat, another who isn’t particularly greedy but does have a tendency to gain weight, and a third who prefers to eat little and often throughout the day. They work a treat.

I had the motion activated rather than chip activated one for my last cat and they work on the same principle, was great, kept food fresh and meant a visiting cat couldn't get to his food as he wasn't trained! In fact he couldn't even smell the food as the seal is so good.

If you're using wet food with messy eaters they are a faff to clean, and your cat will look at you sadly when the batteries run out and you haven't noticed.

Thank you all. They sound like they are definitely worth getting as Meg really needs to lose some weight.

We have two microchip feeders. Both cats eat dried food, and one suddenly ballooned a few years ago (2kg weight gain!).
we got two feeders, and they work brilliantly, but in hindsight one would have been fine. We would have used that for the one who is a healthy weight, and they can come and go to the dried food as they please.
the one who ballooned has lost most of the weight but gets 40gm of dried food a day as per vets advice. We give her 10gm 4 x a day. She demolishes it as soon as we put it down, so she could manage without a feeder.

Yy, we started with one microchip feeder. At that time we had one cat who preferred to eat little and often and one grab-it-all-now fatty. Got something like in the photo for fatty. Worked an absolute treat.

After some time one of the original cats died and, fatty was slim again and we got two kittens. Moved fatty-no-longer to a microchip feeder and got a second feeder for the kittens to share. Only later, when one of the kittens turned greedy did we ge a third microchip feeder.