6 Meal Automatic Electronic Dog and Cat Pet Feeder with LCD Screen and Meal Time Message Recorder

I, and my cat, are very happy with this device. I definitely recommend reading the reviews here, and the directions, carefully, because it is tricky to figure out the settings the first time you set it up. But, once you get that figured out, it's pretty straightforward to set, very easy to fill/clean, and works like a charm once it's set to go. Even my cat sitters had no problem with it, after I showed them once. Also, I've had it for months, and there's no sign of it needing new batteries yet, which I'm happy about - was worried it would eat batteries, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.The only caveat I want to mention is that I think it's best for pets that aren't too strong/energetic. My cat is older, and not particularly curious/determined about getting into it, so the lid works great for him. But if he was the kind of cat who was determined to get into things, I can easily see the lid being more of a minor obstacle than a true method of securing the food. The little sliding door isn't that strong, is what I'm getting at. My cat just stares plaintively at the "food roomba" (as my friends call it), but if he was inclined to put any serious or strenuous effort into getting into it....Overall, though, I'm extremely pleased with this purchase, and would definitely buy it again.

I've had it about two years, used it for occasional weekends, recently started using it for daily breakfast.Good:cats seem to be able to eat from it just fine.It spins when it says it does.It's easy to reuse the same program if you don't turn it off.Batteries last a long time.Our cats generally eat wet food. With a little planning, one can give them wet food for the first feeding: the day before, put wet food into wax paper in the bin, and carefully lift it out so as not to change shape much, then freeze it. Day of departure (or 12-18 hours before), put frozen food into the appropriate bin.So-so:Programming is kinda awkward, but I don't know that there's a better product out there. It would make this product better to either default to 24 hour mode or to make the am/pm indicator much larger. It's just a touch too easy to mean to set the feeding to 7am, but get 7pm instead.The clocks aren't super accurate, and we have two feeders, so eventually one opens first a few seconds before the other, eventually like 20 seconds before (after a week or two, not months or years). So rather than go to the feeder they're supposed to go to, when left unsupervised the cats just both go for and fight over whichever one of them opened first, and only really settle down (not always to their own bowl either!) after they've both opened.Bad:The cats figured out how to open the small part of the cover, and how to get at dry food in the adjacent bowl, so we effectively get only 4 feedings out of it, not 6.One of them recently decided to skip bin 4, so on the fourth morning, it just skips directly to the 5th bowl. The cats get a little bit as #4 passes, but as noted above, we were leaving #5 empty. Note that #5 and #6 were accessible because the cats figured out how to open the floppy part of the cover, so now we're down to 3 feedings instead of 6.So we're getting ready to buy new feeders, and I don't think I'm going to go for one of these. I do worry that there aren't better feeders that you can use with wet or dry food, and that are cat-proof, easy to program, and reliable.

My kitty doesn't do well when free feeding (she'd like to become completely spherical), so I feed her pre-measured portions for each meal. As one of the most affordable, well-rated auto feeders, I got this for two reasons:1) Provide portioned meals at regular times while I was out of town for the weekend (someone stopped by for attention and to scoop and give fresh water, but I wouldn't ask her to come multiple times a day).2) To make sure she gets her early evening meal on time, even if I work late, run errands, or go out for the evening.Pros: The feeder is perfect for those uses. The 6 meal cups let me go away from a Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, knowing that she could get two meals a day and it lasts nearly a week for feeding her the dry portion of her dinner. For the price, it's a great piece of equipment. I would recommend fresh batteries before going out of town, just in case.Cons: It's tedious enough to program (time-consuming rather than challenging) that I subtracted one star. At the Amazon price, I still feel like it's worth it.UPDATE: I've been using this for 5 months now and am still very happy with it. It usually feeds my cat one of her meals each day (so it doesn't matter if I get home late) and has been used for three weekend trips. Haven't had to change the batteries yet!The cat, highly food motivated, likes it AND hasn't been able to get at any of the food cups other than the open one, although I've seen her try. She gave it a very weird look and poked it suspiciously with a paw the first time I tested it and she heard whirring noises and my voice coming out of it. However, she has completely embraced the concept.