Automatic feeders for cats

[beingsunny]

I rarely go away, and usually have my neighbour pop in on our cat.
Though I have been thinking about getting an automatic feeder in case neighbour isn't around, it would be for max 2 nights, any longer and I would send her off to the cat hotel.

Can I ask for your recommendations on best and favourite feeders?

She's very greedy so just leaving extra kibble wouldn't work well

My dad has some from Amazon which seem to work very well, was just a cheapie brand I think.

I couldn’t have them myself as mine would find some way of destroying them to get to the food inside 😳

I had one of the rotating ones and it worked very well.

How your cat will be depends on the cat - I used to have 2 very well adjusted cats who were quite happy with this.

One of my current cats would go bonkers with this arrangement as she doesn't understand being in the house without us and we'd return to wee everywhere and a cat gone into meltdown.

I have 2 cats and of the 5 slot cat mate feeders from Amazon.

They can be set to do one meal a day for 4 days (since one slot is always open) or 4 meals in one day, and it has an icepack (plus I put it in the laundry to keep it all cool. Works for me because the cats like having a wet breakfast, but otherwise have free access to dry food with no problem, so I've been able to do a long weekend without having to have someone come and look after them (they spend a lot of time outdoors anyway, so litter trays isn't an issue)

They can be set to do one meal a day for 4 days (since one slot is always open) or 4 meals in one day,

I thought these feeders can only be set across 24 hours?

I've got one of the 3-slot Catmate feeders, and it is excellent. If we also set out extra dry food, then we can leave MrCat from morning one day to evening the next day. A wet food feeder that could be programmed across more than 24h would be useful , though I wouldn't want to leave him longer than 2 nights without a human. I'd get a pet sitter to visit for anything longer than an overnighter.

I also have slow feeders for the dry food, which allow me to leave out 2 days' worth. MrCat has to fish out the dry food from deep cavities, so he can't snarfle the lot in one go - which he totally would, if I let him! It also provides some intellectual stimulation.

Thanks everyone, like I said, no actual plans to be away anytime soon, but she's currently fed at 6am and 6pm, I work one day a week in the city so may be handy if I go out for a wine after work and am not then home until 8pm.

She's a super greedy cat, and slightly overweight,

I am a single parent, so no other adult at home to make sure she's fed if I do happen to want to go out the occasional evening after work.

I think I will just try it out, while I'm around, see how she goes with it.

I'm definitely not planning to abandon her for weekends, and my neighbour will usually look in on her and feed her anyway.

Cat Feeder, Faroro 7L Cat Feeder with Timer up to 4 Meals Per Day, Portion Control, 10s Voice Recording, Suitable for Small and Medium Pets amzn.eu/d/6PZA5wb This

Up to 4 meals a day in increments of 10g. Can run on mains or battery. Had ours 2 years and still going strong.

If she's greedy and overweight, try using slow feeders for all her dry food.

I mean the sort of feeders that makes the cat work, not the timed dispensers.

I've got this one www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/feeders/programmable/634607

works well, but we stopped using it for all the time as it was hard to get the amounts right and our cats were eating too much. For a couple of nights it would work well though as you can set the amount and times.

I use a smart pet feeder, like this - catflaps.co.uk/petsafe-smart-feed - although basic wifi feeders are available on Amazon from around £40. I also have a smart camera in the room so I can watch my cat eat (I get irrational fear that the feeder might have stopped working etc.)

My spoilt cat likes to eat 4x day, so this works perfectly to fill in for meals when I’m away, whether I’m out for the evening or away for 24 hours. Any longer than 24 hours and I get a sitter in twice a day (with the smart feeder doing in between meals). I’ve also had disasters before with pet sitters getting locked out and/or neglecting to turn up. I feel much more relaxed now, knowing that I have a back up in place.

So I’d definitely recommend a smart feeder, even just for evenings out. My cat learned to break into the basic timer options, which prompted my upgrade, but now I wouldn’t be without it.

We had the pet safe one and it works well, however I recommend you tape the battery cover on, as our greedy puss managed to turn it over trying to break in and knock the battery out, so it stopped! Luckily it was the last meal before we came home

We have this one

We just bought it to replace one that was identical but under a different brand name that died after a few years but worked well till then