These automatic feeders will help to keep your pets healthy and well-fed even on your busiest days with scheduled feeding times!
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It’s natural to be concerned about when and how much to feed your pet, as well as whether you’ll be able to get away for the weekend without starving your beloved companion. This is where an automatic feeder for cats and dogs comes into play.
If you are mostly occupied with work or other personal things an automatic feeder would ensure that your pet would get fed with the right portion and at the right time. For you, with multiple pets, there are also options to assist you to ensure that each pet is eating its own food and not stealing from others. And that is why we have looked for the ideal pet feeder for you, considering the ease of use, sturdiness, capacity for small-medium pets, pet-proof, and more!
We have put all this into consideration and provided you with the best automatic feeder options in the market!
Automatic feeders need to be programmed to schedule food for your pet. However, this shouldn’t be a complex task. Here we considered feeders with simple buttons, interactive smartphone apps, and absolutely simple to assemble if need be.
The size of the automatic feeder you decide to get is important because of the relative size of your pet. A larger pet needs more food and that might mean a large-sized feeder.
Chances are your pet will always try to find ways to try and eat all their food in one sitting. As such, you want a feeder that is pet-proof and robust enough so that your pet can’t break into it and eat all the food at once.
For you that need to schedule your pet’s meal, you need to budget a little more. However, we prioritized trusted brands with great value for a great price.
Our Top Pick
This feeder allows you to record a 10-second voice message which acts as a gentle reminder for your pet to come and feed.
The WOPET automatic feeder can schedule up to four meals per day. It also connects to Wi-Fi so you can monitor your pet from work. Its precise dispenser allows you to feed your pet its prescribed diet.
Best smart feeder with precise pet feed dispenser.
Our Runner-Up
Because of its low-profile design, this cat feeder is difficult to tip over.
The Cat Mate C500 can serve up to five meals a day. The five large food compartments can fill up two cats or a small dog. With two ice packs, this feeder is specialized for keeping wet food fresh. Also, its dishwasher-safe lid and bowl are easy to clean.
Best wet food feeder with the ability to plan up to five meals a day.
Most Cost-Effective
This feeder consistently and effectively serves out properly-portioned meals to keep your pet’s diet in check
Feed your pet up to five meals a day or schedule over a couple of days. You can easily use the built-in clock and LCD screen to quickly set up your pet’s feeding schedule. Also very easy to clean and dishwasher-safe.
Best budget-friendly feeder offers serving up to five meals per day.
Our Top Pick
This feeder allows you to record a 10-second voice message which acts as a gentle reminder for your pet to come and feed.
$55.99
Our Runner-Up
Because of its low-profile design, this cat feeder is difficult to tip over.
$59.99
Most Cost-Effective
This feeder consistently and effectively serves out properly-portioned meals to keep your pet’s diet in check
$49.95
Who this is for
This review is for you who spend some time away from home and want to keep your pets well fed while you are away. It is also perfect for you with pets that might eat too much or too little because of the intervention of other pets.
This review is perfect for you with small-medium size pets providing you with the best options, so you can make a ‘paw-chase’ you would enjoy using!
Are automatic Feeders Worth Splurging On?
Of course! As a pet parent, you have something doing or somewhere to be most time, and your always hungry pets need their routine meals whether you are busy or not. This is where an automatic feeder comes in.
Think of it as your helping hand making sure your feline friend stays well-fed and healthy whether you’re home, at work, or just too busy. So even on short trips and long days, an automatic cat feeder serves the precise portion of meals your pet needs. The best part is that automatic feeders are also specialized to feed your pet fresh or wet food while you’re away.
Plus, an automatic feeder is an easy way to serve multiple small meals a day to your pet, keeping your cats energized and satisfied. They are also very helpful for you who feed your pets outdoors and prevent any other pets from eating up their food.
To find the best automatic Pet feeder, we researched pet feeders from trusted and verified brands, and user reviews, and compared values across prices. We looked for feeders ideal for small-medium pets, considering your budget, needs, and specifications (wet food feeders, microchip feeders, and warranty). We want to be a small part of the reason why you are confident that your pets still enjoy their meals even when you are away from home!
Ease Of Use & Assembly
One of the major things to look at when getting a dog or cat feeder is the ease of use. And this is always on top of our check box when suggesting an option for you. Automatic feeders need to be ‘ programmed’ to schedule food for your pet. However this shouldn’t be a complex task, or else you might end up serving more or less food to your pet. Here we considered feeders with simple enough buttons, so you can set them manually, and also feeders that can be programmed with an interactive smartphone app.
Size
The size of the automatic feeder you decide to get is important because of the relative size of your pet. A larger pet needs more food and that might mean a larger-sized feeder. An ideal automatic feeder should be the right size for your pet and sturdy enough that your pet can’t topple it over and break it.
You might also want to consider the size of the feed as well— some kibble comes in different sizes and shapes and some automatic feeders can jam up, leaving your pet hungry when you’re not around.
Pet-proof
Scheduling the exact portion your pets get is important because eating too much can get them overweight and even sick. That is why feeders that are Pet-proof are preferred. Some bigger dogs or sneaky cats might feel motivated enough to knock over the feeder and get to the food storage reservoir. Here we considered sturdy feeders that your pet shouldn’t be able to manipulate.
Easy To Clean
Here you would need to know if the automatic feeder is dishwasher safe or not. Most brands instruct you on how to wash and clean them to avoid spoilage. But simply going for one that you can easily wash in between meals or after is always great.
Capacity
A very important feature to look at when choosing your pet’s feeder is the capacity — how much food can be served. Some people like dispenser feeders that have compartments to store a large amount of food and then dispense them in portions when it’s meal time. But this is highly dependent on the size of your cat or dog and if you have one or more of them. The larger pet would need more food than the smaller pet, this means more capacity is needed for larger pets than for smaller pets. Here we looked for options that can serve small-medium size pets easily.
Price
The good thing is there’s an automatic feeder for almost every budget. However, for you who need to watch or schedule your cat and dog’s meal then you might need to budget a little more.
The second good news is that we have considered trusted brands and looked for brands with great value for a great price. This way you are sure you are getting your money’s worth!
Keeps Food Fresh
Another important feature to consider when choosing an automatic feeder is its ability to keep dry or wet food fresh. Most automatic feeders work best with dry kibble, but a select few can serve up wet food. To keep wet food fresh for longer you’ll need a feeder that can be equipped with an ice pack. This way the food doesn’t dry up and doesn’t spoil easily.
Power & WI-FI Outage Backup Features
Considering where you want your pet’s feeder to stay this is a very important feature to have in mind. Most automatic cat feeders need to be plugged into an outlet. However, you might not have an outlet close to the eating spot of your pet, and changing that spot might be difficult for the pet. Because of that, you could consider a battery-powered feeder. This way you ensure that your cat gets its food even in a case of a power outage. More high-end feeders are equipped with the ability to be plugged into an outlet and a backup battery. The backup battery will keep your feeder going when your home electricity can’t.
Our Top Pick
This feeder allows you to record a 10-second voice message which acts as a gentle reminder for your pet to come and feed.
The WOPET automatic feeder can schedule up to four meals per day. It also connects to Wi-Fi so you can monitor your pet from work. Its precise dispenser allows you to feed your pet its prescribed diet.
Get the WOPET Automatic Feeder if you are looking for an app-connected automatic feeder that you can control from far away from home. The WOPET Automatic Feeder uses a Wi-Fi connection, to allow pet parents like you to monitor and control your pet’s eating. We love that this feeder allows for detailed control of feedings and can schedule up to 15 meals a day! If that isn’t impressive enough, what is? This feeder also notifies you when the food gets low or when It doesn’t dispense food because your pet didn’t have the last meal. The controls are so handy you might never need to go close to the feeder except to refill and clean.
A potential flaw to this feeder is that all of these features come at a higher price and you might also find using the app a little overwhelming at first.
However, you would love that this feeder dispenses the accurate amount of feed when due. Perfect for you with cats on diets. Plus it has a battery backup option to ensure your pets are fed even if your home loses power. You can also make a recording that comes in handy when trying to keep your pet calm or inviting it to come to have food.
Our Runner-Up
Because of its low-profile design, this cat feeder is difficult to tip over.
The Cat Mate C500 can serve up to five meals a day. The five large food compartments can fill up two cats or a small dog. With two ice packs, this feeder is specialized for keeping wet food fresh. Also, its dishwasher-safe lid and bowl are easy to clean.
If you are looking for an automatic feeder that would keep your pet’s wet food fresh all day then get this automatic five-meal feeder from Cat Mate. The Cat Mate C500 feeder comes with two ice packs and five distinctive feeding portion bowls. This means you can feed your pet delicious fresh meals while enjoying the weekend far away from home. This feeder is also perfect if you want to set up specific feeding schedules throughout the day, even when you’re busy!
A potential flaw to this feeder is that it doesn’t have the option to use electricity from your home and you might also need to clean more frequently to prevent bacteria growth. However, the value is worth it!
Asides from the two ice packs that aid keeps your pet’s food fresh, this feeder is also tamper-proof, meaning, its rigid lock keeps the wet food fresher for even longer! Also means your pet can’t sneak into the component and eat ahead of time. Another great benefit of the Cat mate C500 is the thoughtfulness of the design. Its bowls and lid are dishwasher safe, and the overall materials are designed to last. So it is no surprise when you get a warranty of 3 years and excellent customer service! This feeder uses 3x AA batteries, which you would buy separately, and the feature of “stand by” mode helps batteries last for 12 months.
Most Cost-Effective
This feeder consistently and effectively serves out properly-portioned meals to keep your pet’s diet in check
Feed your pet up to five meals a day or schedule over a couple of days. You can easily use the built-in clock and LCD screen to quickly set up your pet’s feeding schedule. Also very easy to clean and dishwasher-safe.
Get the PetSafe Eatwell 5-Meal Automatic Feeder if you are looking for a consistent, dependable feeder that gives you enough room for control. This is the best feeder for the money! At its reasonable price point, this feeder can hold up to five cups of dry or wet food.
You would love the thoughtfulness in its design. First, its small portable nature makes it unlikely that your pet tips it over.
You should know that this feeder doesn’t have the option to use electricity from your home and some reviews report that sneaky cats can still find their way to the stored food. However, for its price, it compares well against high-end feeders.
You can set the feeder to feed up to five meals per day, which means only one portion is available to your pet at a time. This way you are sure your pets don’t overeat. You would also love that food bowls are dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning. And that the D-cell batteries can last up to 12 months with daily use!
Almost Made The Cut
Best microchip feeder can pair with up to 32 chips
SureFeed microchip is the automatic feeder that allows you to stop your pets from stealing each other’s food. Its bowl holds both dry and wet food and keeps food fresh.
Get this automatic pet feeder if you have Multiple pets, and you want each of them to get their share of food. The SureFeed microchip feeder pairs with your pet’s existing microchip or an included RFID collar tag to ensure that only that cat or dog can access the food. This way if your cat is on a special diet or can’t get enough food because your dog or other cats would steal it, you can be sure they have their food to themselves. You would love that this feeder can pair with up to 32 collars or chips! And when it detects one of the paired chips the feeding bowl will open for the pet to eat. Once your cat leaves the detection zone, the bowl will close, preventing any sneaky paws. You will find the programming process quick and easy — you can start feeding your pets in minutes after unpacking.
You might not like this feeder because it serves out food for your registered pet anytime and all times it comes around to eat. So if you like to schedule meals or want your cat to eat healthily and not overeat this is not the feeder for you.
Like most feeders, these feeders also run on batteries which you would need to buy separately.
But even in cases where the battery runs down, this feeder would remember your pet’s identity.
You would find this feeder easy to clean and it comes with an incredible 3-year warranty!
Before cleaning it is good practice to be aware of the type of material used to make the feeder parts, whether you could use a dishwasher or you would need to hand wash. Knowing this would prevent avoidable damages as well as help you know how to clean the bowls.
when your feeder is not in use, we advise that you keep it out of reach of your pet. This way your pet doesn’t go to the feeder expecting food when there is nothing there. Also, it is advisable to unassemble the feeder when it won’t be used for a long time.
October 30, 2022
Let your pets have extra fun with their favorite kibbles this National Treat Your Pet Day!
August 15, 2023
This Check the Chip Day, use microchipping to keep your pets safe.
April 21, 2023
Learn about C.B.D. and its health benefits for your beloved pets.
September 30, 2023
Teach your cat, dog, or even your pet snake a cool trick today!
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