One of the good things about this feeder which makes it unique to many other feeders is that it can dispense very small portions of food, as small as one tablespoon of dry food if needs be. This makes it perfect for small or very young cats with tiny appetites.

Using the orientation symbols indicated on the inside of the compartment to insert 3 x AA batteries. Substitute the cover for the battery. The whole concept of this product is to accurately identify which pet is eating so the portions are specific to that cat. Plus, it prevents your cats from stealing each other’s food. It has integrated scales that accurately measure portions for precise results.You can set a feeding schedule or if you connect the feeder to WiFi, the free app allows you to control the feeding settings from your smartphone too. To put the dispenser together, you simply fit four pieces on top of one another for the completed product. You can program the product for up to four meals. Since kittens eat more often in smaller portions, this is super helpful to make sure they eat on time. It's tough enough that the wrong pet won't be able to claw their way in, which is a great positive, but some users have reported that particularly canny cats have discovered a workaround. Pushing into the detecting halo once the door has opened, and barging the correct pet out of the way, leaves the food open for devouring because once the microchip reading is done the Automatic Pet Feeder is only concerned with proximity. That may not be the case for your pets, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on dinner time.

The timer can also be programmed to serve a specified amount over a period of time (e.g., a total of 12 units daily, at regular intervals between 9am and 10pm). This is designed for pets with specific dietary requirements (for example diabetic cats), or if you want to regulate how much food your pet eats. In addition, you can manually serve an extra portion (or portions) at any time. Automated pet feeders fit into two different styles – those that have individual feeding bowls that open up when scheduled, and those that serve a pre-determined amount of food into a single feeding bowl at the programmed time. It is possible to buy feeders with between 1 and 6 individual feeding bowls, with portion sizes between 175 and 500ml. One feature which has become increasingly common in feeders is the ability to record your own voice calling your cat for dinner! The unit works with batteries that may last up to 12 months if using good quality alkaline batteries and with normal use.You might want to choose an automatic cat feeder that works for both small and large food sizes. Keeping this in mind, you’ll be able to use the feeder for a long time. The Surefeed comes with two feeding bowl inserts, one which is a single bowl, the other which is a split bowl so if you want to serve your cat both wet and dry food you can do without having to mix them. It is a simple feeder that is ideal for keeping your cat fed for a day or so, however you shouldn’t rely on it for more than a weekend as it simply doesn’t have sufficient capacity to feed a cat for very long. This 4 Meal Automatic Pet Feeder from Andrew James is almost identical to the Trixie TX4 Plus, but is branded differently and comes in different colours. It is slightly cheaper too, so unless you really want the colours that the Trixie comes in, then you can save yourself some money and buy this version. Eventually I managed to figure out how to program it with the help of my Spanish friend however I have not figured out how to stop it working when I'm home. Each and every day, at four separate times, the cats and I are startled when we hear the thing come alive and it starts spinning the carousel. I understand that if I take the batteries out, I will lose the programming and let's face it, it's not worth starting over so we live with the sound of the cat-feeder coming to life, four times a day. If someone knows how to stop this, please write it out clearly, as I'm at a complete loss.

The Cat Mate C500 Automatic Cat Feeder with Digital Timer is very similar to the C50, but has a digital instead of a mechanical timer.The Cat Mate C300 Automatic Pet Feederis a smaller, 3-meal, version of the C500 feeder,and is slightly cheaper. The first type has a hopper on top, which drops food into an open container below. These are only suitable for dry food, and the main advantage is that they have a larger capacity than the other types of feeder. This means you can schedule food to be dropped for a longer period of time than with the other types of feeder. Rotating The body is made from a sturdy plastic that is easy to keep clean, and features durable anti-tamper lid clips. Thefeeding trays are also easily removablefor ease of cleaning.This feeder is perfect if you have pets who steal each others’ food, or want to make sure that prescription food is only eaten by the right pet. It’s also great for pets who are on weight management diets, as it will prevent them from eating food meant for your other pets. The Pawbo Crunch is a great option if you want to monitor and carefully control your cat’s diet, on the app you can view a diet report containing feeding and nutrition data statistics. This feeder is not ideal for constant use but is great for ensuring your cat gets fed on an occasional weekend away. The A25 allows for massive variance in the portion size your serve your cat, from as small as 4 grams to as much as 400 grams! Food is stored in a feeder with a storage capacity of 5.9 litres (or roughly 2.7kg) of food. The feeder also has a desiccant box inside it. Desiccant boxes are dry airtight boxes that contain a desiccant such as silica which absorbs all moisture meaning your cat’s food will be kept dry.