Sure Petcare SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder with Sealed Lid, RFID Collar Tags Compatible, Works for Wet and Dry Food, White, 4 x C Cell Batteries Required, Not Included

We have two 13year olds and back in 2022 we took in a stray who is now almost 2 years old. At his recent check up the vet called him obese, weighing in at 6.89kgs. Not good for his long term health and he is not even 2 years old yet!!The ladies have never overindulged, with a packet of wet food twice a day between them and free access to biscuits. One prefers the wet and one the biscuits but they both eat a bit of each.Unfortunately our new arrival just eats until everything is gone and even visits the neighbours to steal theirs. Trying to restrict his intake while also ensuring the ladies did not go hungry was stressful for all.Now harmony has been restored and his weight is down to 6.2kgs after about 3 weeks.In addition to only the ladies accessing the bowls the food stays fresher because it is enclosed.The instructions are easy to follow so programming access for the 2 ladies was a breeze as they are both microchipped. I did make a mistake when he was close by, pressing the programming button instead of the open button and so allowing him access. The factory reset and reprogramming was quick and easy.My ladies are generally quick to adapt and learn and only needed a day or so to grasp how to access their food.Try as he might chonky (name changed to protect his anonymity) has not been able to break in and help himself and now rarely does more than sniff at the devices.They are easy to clean and make very little noise, it remains to be seen how long the 9v batteries last.My only cons would be no option to use mains power and the shortest delay in closing the lid feels too long although so far chonky has not actually tried to get his face in the food before the lid closes.They are not cheap but in the long run having stressed out or obese cats would probably cost more to fix.

We purchased two of these cat feeders to solve a specific problem, which it solved and unexpectedly, it also solved two other problems. We took on a rescue cat, with her kitten from the Cats Protection League in 2012. We knew we might have a few issues with a neglected & ill-treated cat, but we were not expecting the cat to eat all of her food and then eating all her kitten’s food. We had to intervene and very quickly got to the stage where the kitten would be fed in the kitchen, then when she had enough to eat, the mother would be fed. The mother will then eat her own food and what was left of the kitten’s food. As the kitten matured, we would warn off the mother from her daughter's food (a hard stare worked) and we managed to arrive at a point where the kitten got enough food, but the mother was getting too fat. The vet did not view this as a problem, but health problems would be coming if we did not act soon. The mother was too fat to clean her own back and we had to brush her, so action was required before health conditions from over-eating arrived. We moved house, where we had fields at the back of our house and this led to many flies landing on the cat food, which was clearly not good. The wet food would also dry out and would become inedible.We got these cat feeders from Amazon and used the two sided bowls, one for dry food, the other side for wet. We spent about 3 weeks training the cats with the training modes within the cat feeder, which made progress easy, but steady. This was all worth it, the food is covered and the flies cannot get to it, but more importantly, the mother cat only gets her share, she is losing weight and her daughter no longer has to eat all her food at once, or face the reality of losing most of it. The cats are now relaxed as the feeder lids open and they eat their food happily. The wet food is fresher and you can see that it retains moisture throughout the day, as condensation forms on the inside of the lid, which the food fresher most of the day.This has been a very effective device to keep our cats healthy & happy. It is battery operated, so it can be sited anywhere in the home. Setting up was easy, the instructions were easy to follow and helped a great deal.We knew that taking on an ill-treated cat would come with issues (photographs after her rescue show a very skinny & scared cat), her over-eating is clearly the result of cruelty and not a reflection of her true self. Things have progressed well, she can now clean her own back. Incidentally, it took two years with us before she would purr, so the neglect and ill-treatment cast a long shadow for her and this feeder is putting to rest the last vestiges of that long shadow.

Take one scaredy grey cat, who came to us as a rescue six years ago. She's lovely but she's a bit crazy and has a very odd relationship with food, often going to the food bowl just to check food is still there and then walks away without eating any.Then enter a second black kitten, who a year or so ago was teeny, confident and greedy, and is now confident, greedy and obese. We call her the shark, and in a previous life she was a Great White. She wants to eat all the food all the time.Actually the kitten has given our older cat a new lease of life, and whilst they have their catty moments, they are now famous friends. So how to solve the food imbalance?I was sceptical about the grey cat being able to use the feeder at all. It makes a little mechanical whirring noise when the flap opens (unnerving). The cat also has to stick its head through the loop, somewhat putting blinkers on. Blinkers that may obstruct the view of oncoming kittens.We didn't start off using the training mode, because we didn't want the kitten to get the idea she could eat out of it too. We thought we'd just go cold turkey, keeping the lid closed, and see how the older cat fared, although we did help her at meal times by opening the lid, watching over, and then when she was 'done' (e.g. two mouthfuls were eaten) we pressed the button to quickly close the lid so that the shark didn't eat everything left. There were some early concerted efforts on the younger cats part to use paws / claws / digging to uncover the flap, I'm pleased to say to no avail.Within less than a week old grey cat was a pro at using the bowl. Rather than joining in with the scoffing immediately at meal times, she often casually waits for everyone to finish and leave the kitchen, and then I will hear the flap move to denote that she's decided it's her turn for a snack in some peace and quiet.There were lots of times in the first week or two that I would hear the flap open, and then immediately close, and was worried it was because she'd lost her nerve. But I know that, before we got the feeder, actually our old grey cat would periodically 'check' on her food, so I would say don't immediately get disheartened if you hear/observe this happening. It may be that your nervous cat was always checking back and forth, without always eating, but you just didn't notice.I often work from home, and it's really nice to be able to hear her going for a snack from the next room.Old grey cat does the process of opening the flap on her own consistently now, and without fail she is scoffing most of her food every day (before she would still often have a bit left by the next mealtime, like she's leaving herself a back-up).So essentially the feeder allows our older cat to graze as she chooses, and whilst it doesn't solve her neurotic attitude to food, it does mean she doesn't go hungry and we can relax in that knowledge.Meanwhile there's signs that the 'kitten' (now 18 months and was nearing 5kg - ...5!!) has certainly stabilised her weight, and it seems to be starting to reduce a tiny bit. So time will tell. But for sure she doesn't get to eat both cats food all the time anymore so that must be a good thing.I don't write reviews for everything I buy - who has the time? But honestly I am converted to this feeder thing, it seems to be genius. Was our old grey cat thrilled at the concept to begin with? Absolutely not. But look, she likes her tuna food, and she likes to eat it at a rate of about one mouthful per hour during the day. And for that, she's willing to suffer a bit of indignity and stick her head under the loop bit of the feeder, and was even nice enough to not take our arms off when we had to pick her up to register her microchip at the start (it was all very easy to set up). And is it cheap? Again, clearly not. But in our case it works, and it's cheaper than cat diabetes / stroke / other obesity complications. And associated vet bills.Also, we would sometimes feel bad for the old grey cat if we thought she hadn't got enough food, and often open another packet of wet food and give her half to make sure she'd had some, and those packets aren't cheap. It seems very possible that the food we've saved will pay for this feeder over the course of a year or so.I uhmmed and ahheed for a while about getting one of these, but for our cats it has been great. I would advise cat owners with our problem to seriously consider it. And if you do decide to give it a go - best of luck!