6L Smart Pet Automatic Feeders for Dog and Cat Food Dispenser with Timer Programmable Up to 4 Meals a Day

Did not come with tool to change the plastic guide mechanism for smaller animals, a minor issue; but this delayed implementation in our home, because I could not find my tiny screwdriver and had to wait for the time to go purchase another.I bought this for the sole reason of wanting to be able to sleep in peace until at least 7am. I am a night owl. So is my cat. But she does not work during the day and thus logs in many hours of sleep while I am laboring for her food and housing. So when we both retire between 1-2 AM she doesn’t need the zzzzz’s for long. I do.Some internal feeding alarm in her seemingly explodes in urgency with or just before sun up. Mysteriously (lol) sunrise has been arriving earlier and earlier every morning, almost since she joined my family last October. Until this week, at least. Perhaps that will stabilize now ... or even get better.This means she has progressively been batting at my face in the middle of my sleep earlier and earlier, eventually by or before 4:30 AM!!! That is just unworkable, no matter how much I love her nor how gentle the batting is with claw tip barely exposed. I am trying to not complain too much behind her back, about the fact that she also walks all over my anterior and lateral surfaces, all of whatever is accessible, before choosing the optimal angle from which to bat my face, hoping to lightly snag my lower lip.In her search for the perfect unexpected snag, being a cat, this means she is extraordinarily patient and diligent. Hence she may lay on my arm and flank or on my chest pretending to dose off, while waiting. If I move around, she seems to enjoy riding out the surf changes. And then, when I finally have at last settled again into Dreamtime, claw meets lip. All recall vanishes.In my world and psyche there are indeed some deprivations as grievous or more as lost dream recall. However. I try to avoid those too, if possible and to particularly cultivate the precious dreamland along with all possible memories of its terrain and inhabitants.I finally surrendered to the inevitability of her morning hunger. Who know whether stomach acid sets that off or what. So I purchased this product. Due to the rush for trip planning, I did not get it set up until 1-2 days before travel when I would also need help from my neighbors to tend her.She learned to shift to it for her dry food easily. The neighbors definitely appreciated that it dispensed automatically at 6:30 AM, as I had programmed, thereby cutting down their need to be here in the early morning. (Don’t tell the cat, but I am quite certain that just was not gonna happen.)By the time I had returned a week later, she was well adapted to it and interestingly much less ravenously hungry 24/7 than before. It appears that a having a certain guarantee of most of her food on a precise schedule has softened her hunger. I still share a bit of my meat from breakfast and dinner with her. She is so much calmer about that now too.The best part is that instead of awakening me at 4:30 AM she is waiting until about 6:00. Go figure. However. I stir long enough to reminder her it is not quite time. The food will be there soon. She entertains herself until it does and I get to sleep on, to 7 AM or later if desired.Maybe one day she will realize it is going to deliver its food to her on time even if she does not wake me up first. (Not counting on it.)But.I am hopeful this winter when it stays dark until after 6:30 AM she will discover this on her own. Ahhh. Right! Hope on...The Belopezz was pretty easy to learn to program by trial and error, I had lost instructions by that time, due to delay obtaining a screw driver. I appreciate the battery back up ... particularly when traveling. It’s certainly sturdily sealed enough to prevent her breaking into the supply reservoir (she is a 13.5 pounder with enough dexterity and tenacity to pry all cupboard doors open). She’s stopped gaining weight from her near constant begging supplemented by local mice and voles. Previously, it was difficult to put her on a diet when she would show me her annoyance by bringing home the critters and swallowing them in 2-3 bites. Now if she is still doing so, it more discrete and not promoting weight gain. Perhaps they are running and hiding better as well. Who knows.On one occasion, I accidentally bumping it when I walked past; it dropped a few feed pellets. So. I suggest putting it in a location where that does not happen. My options are currently a bit limited. Nonetheless, it harmed nothing and would be a rare event. I don’t know, but do suspect that meant her next scheduled portion was slightly less.Given the improvements in my Dreamtime and recall thereof and her stabilized hunger drives ... this is a purchase I regard to be very well worth it.

When shopping for this self feeder, there were many priced significantly higher and i was concerned about sacrificing quality when i was further enticed by this one because it was offered as a discounted lightening deal. I decided to buy it at $48.00 figuring if it's junk at least they offer free return on it and it was the most reasonably priced even prior to the additional discount!We are, so far very pleased! We received it just before Christmas and i programmed it and built a steel enclosure (raccoon proof) for it because we used it to feed outdoor cats while we were away for two weeks visiting our daughter n her family (GRANDKIDS!! YES!!). When we returned home we found the cats sitting on our deck beside the feeder and to our delight there was food in the dispensers tray! It performed magnificently!We have left it there since we returned to verify its satisfactory operation and have absolutely no buyers remorse! It performs wonderfully! Just make sure you tell your wife about the voice recorder! My wife was putting some coffee on one morning when she heard the cat food dropping and then she heard someone calling, "here kitty, kitty, kitty!". She was frightened and immediately ran to tell me that someone was near our deck calling our cats! I said call 911 n i'll go investigate!!!I want to mention one more thing. This feeder comes with a large and a small portion accessory. The large is already installed and you have to remove some small phillips head screws to replace it with the small one. I did that but when i performed the programming and the manual drop i realized it was unnecessary. So i changed back to the large portion accessory. You can program 1-39 portions to be dispensed per feeding. The small one dispenses a mere 5 grams (0.177 ounces) per portion. The large one dispenses not much more per portion, only 10 grams (0.353 ounces). I did the math! Since one portion dispensed from the small accessory is so little, i feel that unless your feeding a shrew it is unnecessary to replace the large portion accessory.It operates on 110v AC with four D cells as battery backup. I believe you'll be quite happy with this feeder!