PetSafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed Pre-Portioned Automatic Food Dispenser for Cats and Dogs - Adaptor or 2 Meal Splitter Feeder Accessories

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Aija - Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2017

I used to make fun of people who had automatic pet feeders, and theeennn........

I made fun of people who had automatic feeders. I thought they were lazy. Dumb. People obviously have too much money burning their pockets if they'd buy such a contraption to put some food in their animal's dish. Then I moved in with my boyfriend and his cat. As it turns out, she clearly had some major food anxiety issues. She's a fat cat; 16lbs. There's another cat in the house who she does not get along with, as well as a dog that steals any and all food she can get to. So leaving a dish heaping with food was not an option. For her health/weight, and for other animals to not steal. But she, for a short while, was living in a home where it was not noticed that the other cats in the household would not let her eat, and she would go hungry for long periods. And that's when her food anxiety started. When I moved in, my boyfriend was just feeding her a small handful/snack whenever she hollered for it. But that wasn't working out, so we switched it to two feedings per day. One at 6am, one at 6pm. It helped a little, but she still constantly begged for food throughout the day. So we switched it to three feedings per day. 6am, 12pm, 6pm. Still begged. It was a nightmare. The meowing hardly ever stopped. When we did feed her, she'd practically inhale it. She was waking us up at 4am screaming for food EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. Nothing was ever good enough. So I did the research. And to my sadness, the true winner for an automatic feeder (this one) was an ungodly $130. It was a tough pill to swallow. We avoided it. Continued our horrendous feeding schedule for 4 more months. Finally, one morning at 4am with the cat screaming, I couldn't do it anymore. I ordered this feeder that very night. I couldn't believe we just bought a $130 cat feeder...... And the day it arrived in the mail, the heavens opened up, and shone light into our sleep deprived, nerve stricken, cat wailing, lives. I set up the machine. I set the clock, plugged in my five 1/8cup feedings at the precise times I wanted them dispensed, and poured in the food. It took the cat 1 food dispensing to figure out that this machine is her Trusty Food God. Instantly, her anxiety went down by 80%. After a week or two, her anxiety was down 90%. And now I think I have her feeding at her precise preference, and she leaves us COMPLETELY alone about her food now. She no longer inhales her food either; she'll nibble on it throughout the 4 hours until her next feeding. She trusts the machine to give her food every 4 hours. And it does. Every four hours. This feeder is an absolute Godsend and a life-saver. The best $130 I've ever spent. For me. For my boyfriend. And more than anything, for the cat, who no longer has to panic about when her next meal is going to come. She never has to question if she's going to be able to eat today. She's so much calmer. About the machine: When you first get it, if you just simply pour food into the food holding tray, IT IS GOING TO TAKE ABOUT 6 SCHEDULED FEEDINGS TO ACTUALLY DROP FOOD OUT. The food goes up a conveyor belt at 1/8cup increments. If you want food to start coming out right away, you'll have to pull the food holder tray out, and fill the conveyor belt with food first (you can see exactly this in my pictures!), then put the food tray back in, and dump more food in. It's SUPER easy! It has a little bit of a noise when it's dispensing the food. You can hear a little motor running in there. By far the loudest part is when the food is dropping into the METAL bowl! Scares the hell out of me every morning because it's at the foot of our bed. At first we were using Blue Buffalo kitty food, and that comes in teeeeeny tiiiiiny little pebbles. They machine worked perfect for that food. Handled it like a champ. If I remember right, a lot of auto feeders have a hard time with tiny food pellets for some reason, but not this one. However, we quickly switched to a much larger food because the vet put our pudgy lady on an old lady diet. The feeder seems to struggle a smidge more with the bigger pellets, but still dispenses exactly 1/8cup, every time. I will never make fun of people with an auto pet feeder ever again.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By Dragon Lady Barbour - Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2016

Real Information...

I am very pleased, this product is exactly what I was looking for! I almost didn't pick this one, due to a lot of uninformed negative reviews... I want to clarify a lot of the things they said, based on my experience with this feeder. Most important: I DO feel this is much more effective as a cat feeder or small dog feeder. Large dogs probably wouldn't be as easy to regulate on this (hopper would empty too fast, it could tip over, bowl is too small, etc.) As for clarifications of othet's reviews... FIRST: Those who returned their feeder because "it didn't feed their cat when they turned it on, they're worried their cat will starve"... It stats the first 3-4 feedings will be empty as the conveyor belt fills each slot with food inside the feeder... I just kept a full food bowl handy until I'd witnessed the feeder releasing actual food pellets. It took about a day and a half, with my settings of 3 feedings per day. Second: If you actually Read the instruction booklet that comes with the feeder, setting up meal times and portion amounts is Easy. Those people who said their feeder only dumped 2 cups of food no matter what, thereby making it useless as a diet feeder? They didn't read their instructions... If you put batteries in the thing and just keep pressing the enter button, it will go to an auto dog food setting. This auto setting is 2 cups of food twice a day. I have mine set to 1/8 cup morning and night, and 1/4 cup of food at noon. I've measured the amounts. They are spot-on each time. Third: The bowl is wide enough that my cat has absolutely no problem with fitting his head into it to eat. The spout doesn't inhibit his ability to eat at all. I have a 15lb main coon with a large head. Fourth: Compared to my old $50 clunky square feeder, the motor on this feeder is nearly silent! The loudest noise this thing makes is a small clatter as food is released. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions and are deliberating which feeder to get. It took me way too long to pick a feeder because I had to sort through all the stupid reviews... I hate uninformed reviews and am attempting to fight that misinformation with actual information. Have a nice day!

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Christopher Lindsay - Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2016

Great unit! Modified for two stingy cats...

We've had this unit for about 6 months now. Works great! We have two cats who don't like to share the bowl, so I made a two-bowl arrangement out of Starboard with a ramp to each bowl. Works great and now the boys don't fight over the food! Also the unit has been displaying F02 lately. Owner's manual says it's jammed, but what we discovered is that actually the batteries are dying. So if you see that error check your batteries first! Update October, 2017: I replaced the batteries shortly before the post above in February 2016 and have not replaced them again yet! The boys love this thing. They sit patiently up to an hour before it dispenses, and woe is you if they happen to be sitting in your lap when that whirring sound starts! We also love this unit to help with weight control. If we see the cats looking "less svelte" then we'll adjust feeding times to put them on a diet. I'm really sorry I didn't see all those positive comments on the two-bowl arrangement. I was going to look at making them for people, but I don't have enough time to spend several hours per-unit to make them. If anyone wants to know how they were made, I can help.