Timed Feeder Tips

Hi,

I ordered a PetSafe 5 that should be arriving tomorrow. I would really like to be able to do smaller meals throughout the day (currently Socks gets fed in the morning and night before shot and then about 3 hours after evening shot right before I go to bed). I'm very skeptical that the feeder will work however, because he will eat any and everything! I'm concerned he'll just break it open or tear it up somehow. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for using a timed feeder with very aggressive cats?

Thanks in advance!

 

I've had cats bat at it, or push at it, but never break into it! I hope you like the feeder - mine has been working great for months. Mine rattles a bit when anyone eats out of it, but it hasn't stopped anyone from eating from it. I look forward to learning if someone has a cat smarter than this feeder!

 

I've had no issues with my feeder. Even when the batteries died and the dish rotated only slightly, Rhubarb didn't break it to get to food.

 

My Freckles figured the feeder out in about the 2nd day! We have to have the feeder up off of the ground because the dogs would push there way into it and eat her stuff. She figured out that if she knocked the feeder down, a little bit of food would spill out and she could snack on it then. Sooooo, we emptied a drawer from an dresser and put the feeder inside the drawer (we leave the drawer open 24-7). I also got rechargeable batteries and we change batteries every 3 weeks. The Petsafe 5 has been so incredibly helpful. I'm so glad that someone on here suggested it when I first found FDMB as I did not think automatic feeders for canned food existed!

I freeze snack size Fancy Feast in ice cube trays. I put these icefood cubes in the later day compartment, so by the time the carousel rotates, the food has melted, but isn't dried out.

 

My feeder will be on the floor, so that shouldn't be an issue. It was delivered today, so we'll see how it goes. He's gnawed on plastic containers, torn holes in lunch bags, etc. If he knows food is inside- he must have it! Hopefully he won't beat up on the other cats if they go near it. I'm hoping I won't have any issues, because spreading his food out more would be better. I thought I had read reviews about cats getting into them, which is why I was concerned. *fingers crossed*

 

Used it twice today so far. The first time it opened was right after we filled it up, so he was already over there sniffing and pawing at it. After he ate all the food, he tried gnawing on it, scratching, poking his head in the hole, etc. He managed to lift the front of it off the ground a little with his teeth!!! When the second feeding came around, it didn't open, so we checked it, and it wasn't on anymore. Apparently the batteries got jostled. We reset, he ate the food and then left it alone after some additional sniffing. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping he's calmed down from the initial time since he didn't try as hard the second time. If he keeps knocking it around, we'll have to figure out how to secure it so he can't knock the batteries out of place again! I was surprised they're so easy to jostle like that- they were hard to get in there- it's quite a tight fit with some giant size batteries! Haha

 

Tape the batteries in place? Duct tape?

 

There’s no way to tape the batteries, but after some testing, we’ve discovered it’s not the batteries, it’s the feeder- it’s broken. Bought it on eBay because I didn’t want to pay full price for something I wasn’t sure would hold up to Socks’ aggressive love for food!

We’re returning it, and I ordered a Cat Mate C500 instead. Has ice packs and a 3 year warranty instead of one year. We’ll get this feeder thing going eventually!

 

I have this one and it’s great, although I don’t think my little piggy tries quite as hard as Socks to get to the food! The only issue I have with it is that if it turns for a feeding and the tray is not in it, the slots get misaligned but it’s not too hard to fix by just changing the time on the clock

 

I've been using it for about a week now, and it's great! Has several teeth and claw scratches on it where he's tried to break in, but he hasn't been successful so far!

Just thought I'd share an update in case anyone was interested and because I try to find answers and recommendations by searching the forum first, so maybe this will be useful to someone else in future.

 

Just wanted to add, I have a catmate. I only use it occasionally, but Katie will not leave it alone when it's down. I used heavy duty velcro to attach it it to cutting board so she will not knock it over or push it around.