Sure Petcare -SureFlap - SureFeed - Microchip Pet Feeder - Selective-Automatic Pet Feeder Makes Meal Times Stress-Free, Suitable for Both Wet and Dry Food - MPF001

My full review after a month! :So I have two cats that need two different diets. One cat that is a food stealer and one very timid girl. Timid cat was eating food stealer's prescription food but it made her turn into a chonk. So we needed a solution that would give timid cat her own private bowl that food stealer couldn't get to, and her own food for weight management. I couldn't just give timid cat her own kind of food because food stealer would steal it all and food stealer wouldn't eat her prescription food, which she needs.So I asked the vet how to help a cat lose weight, he suggested scheduled feeding. I researched online how other people have handled scheduled feeding, and soooooo many people suggested SureFeed feeders as the holy grail of solutions. I was a bit intimidated by the price initially (worth every penny). But I saw it as how I see humans, if I can avoid a problem from getting worse, it'll save me money in the long run. I had spent over $1,000 on food stealer's GI diagnosis already and timid cat was probably on her way to pre-diabetic if I didn't do something. So after a few trial and error with feeding them in separate rooms, the absolute hassle and refusal from the cats to make that work.. I said okay, these feeders are beyond worth paying for to try out.And I am so glad that I did. For me, so far, they are the holy grail. Every problem I was having with food stealer and timid, have been fully resolved with the feeders. They each eat their own meal plan, in their own bowl, and they can't mix. Timid has lost weight already with her weight management food, and stealer is happily eating her GI food. Timid, who is also a grazer, can graze on her own time (Later I will include how timid got used to the feeder itself, because she is..well..timid; I used the collar tag for training!) without stealer eating the wrong food. And timid has gotten much more comfortable knowing that stealer can't bother her feeder.Setup:Setup was easy. Unbox, place where you want it, the large button opens the feeder, add food, click the +pet button to have the feeder detect your pet's microchip. It detects it really easily within a few seconds. You can reprogram that anytime, I did for timid's collar tag. You just hold down the +pet button for 10 seconds, then add the new one. I accidentally put the feeder in training mode not knowing what that button (or training mode) was and had to turn the feeder off and back on and read the directions. If you hit the training mode button and think you broke something....you didn't! Lol. It's probably training mode and you need to read the directions. My cats didn't need the back protector, stealer is thankfully happy using her own feeder. But you could easily use a box (like other people) or put it up against a wall/corner with something to block a side.Adapting to the feeder/how they handled it:I put food in each feeder, and sat them near their old bowls. I used timid cat's original food to start, so she had some familiarity at first. BEFORE letting timid cat in the room, I had stealer in the room alone to show her the feeder and how it opens. She is a glutton so as long as she knows food is in there and she just has to walk up to it for it to give her that food she is good to go. Next was introducing timid. I took stealer out of the room. I opened the feeder for timid and let her sniff. She knew the food was there but didn't want to walk up to it, so I took the food out and sat it in front of the feeder. She ate from it like that for a few days but we needed her to eat from the feeder. Now we have a third cat with food downstairs, and I didn't want timid to get desperate and go eat from that bowl. She needed to learn her own. So we kept timid in HER room for a week to ensure she would get used to her own bowl (letting her out only when supervised). During that week I gradually put the bowl in the feeder more, but left the flap open. Then mid way through the week I closed it. Per the vet, if she is hungry enough, she will use it. And she did. After a day and a half of only drinking water, her instincts kicked in and she opened it herself for the first time (she knew how it worked the whole time, she just didn't like the "opening sound") and over the rest of the week she opened it herself more, and more, and more times. It's been a month now, and she uses it completely normally. Another tip that worked SO well for getting a timid cat used to the feeder was using the included microchip collar tag. At first timid cat didn't like getting too close, but her microchip in her back made it to where she needed to get pretty under there for the flap to open. So I thought "the tag is closer to her face and would open it sooner". So during training I used the collar tag so it wouldn't open right in her face startling her, it opened sooner before she was really close to it and opened gradually as she walked up to it.Shipping:-Ordered 2 of the first gen (the one without the app) because I didn't want the app. Just wanted to keep things simple so I got the regular feeders. They arrived together, on time, and were the correct items.-Included with the feeder: a microchip tag, 2 bowls, a mat, offer for 3 year warranty, and instructions.-Size of feeder: per the box diagram 200mm height x 320mm length. Bowl is 400ml.

I have three cats. Cat 1 has to be on a special Rx food, Cat 2 is a ravenous monster, and Cat 3 has health concerns & needs his food intake monitored to ensure he is eating. I have two of these feeders, one for Cat 1 & one for Cat 3. Without these feeders, I would never be able to keep my cats healthy!The feeder itself is very easy to set up. It does require 4 C batteries to work, but I have had the feeder for Cat 1 for over a year & I have only needed to change the batteries once. To get it linked to the cat's chip, all I had to do was press the button on the back for the feeder to be ready to read the chip, then put my cat's head under the white arch, where the sensors are located. That was it! Easy peasy! With Cat 3, he is not the kind to let me pick him up to put his head under the arch, so I just pushed the learning button on the back, put some treats on the closed lid, & waited for him to put his head under to eat them. Then it was linked to him.Some things I really really like about the feeder are:1. The training mode. This was great for Cat 3. (Cat 1 didn't need it at all, he caught on super quick that putting his head under the arch opened the lid & he got to eat). Cat 3 is really easy to startle and fairly anxious, so the training mode, where the lid doesn't open/close all the way, was great for him to get him used to the sound & movement of the lid. He was able to get the hang of it in about 2 weeks.2. The ability to change the speed of the opening and closing. This was a nice feature for Cat 3, since he likes to take his individual bits of kibble out of the bowl, set them on the ground, and eat them one at a time. This pulls him out from under the arch. I put his on the 3 second delay before it will close the lid, and this delay means he can pull out his kibble, eat it, and go back for more before the lid closes up again. Since he is so nervous, if it closed up right away, he probably would get freaked out and confused and not go back for more. Cat 1 scarfs all his down right away, so I have his set at 1 second delay before closing up. This is a nice feature so you can adjust to your cat's needs.3. The intruder cat feature is excellent! As I said, Cat 3 needs the 3 second delay. So when he is done eating for the time being (he is a grazer) and walks away, it will stay open for 3 seconds. Cat 2 (the only cat who uses a regular dish bc he doesn't have health concerns) eats everything all the time, so he will try to sneak in to eat the food in the other cats' bowls. Cat 1 feeder is set to close after 1 second so it's usually too fast for Cat 2 to get there, but Cat 3 feeder stays open for longer. So Cat 2 tries to go to that to eat the food. But once he sticks his head through the arch, it reads his microchip as an intruder cat & will immediately close, even if it hasn't gotten to 3 seconds yet. This is important for my cats, because I have to monitor Cat 3's food intake and it's great that the feeder will not let any of the other two cats eat from his feeder once it reads their chips.4. The bowls are dishwasher safe. The dual bowl is good for Cat 3 who gets both soft food and kibble.5. The lid movement is not loud at all.6. The battery drain is minimal so you won't have to be buying C batteries all the time.Things I wish were improved in the feeder are:1. The sensor only works if your cat puts his head under it, both for authorized and intruder cat's. Which means sometimes, Cat 2 will be able to come at the food by putting his head behind the arch & snatching up food without the sensor reading him as an intruder cat. I believe they sell a hood piece on the company website, but given the price of the feeder to begin with, it feels like the hood piece should just be free/come standard. The point of this item is to keep other animals from accessing the food, so this oversight defeats the purpose of the feeder. However, since the lid will still close after 1,2, or 3 seconds depending on your settings, this negative isn't a major deterrent for me, since I bought a second one when Cat 3 got sick & I had to start monitoring his food intake.2. I wish there was an option to pick different colors for the bowls when you buy the feeder itself, instead of it coming standard with gray. It would make it easier for those of us who have more than one feeder to designate which feeder went with which cat. I can remember easily enough, but I travel a lot and hire a pet sitter to come feed my cats, and I have to specify "Cat 1 feeder is on the table, Cat 3 is on the floor" or whatever each time. It would be nice if I could have selected a different colored bowl when I purchased my second feeder. There is an option to buy different colors separately but again, these aren't exactly cheap feeders & I don't want to have to buy additional stuff if I don't have to. But again, not a big enough issue to deter me.If you have more than one pet, need to have some pets eating different foods than others, have a pet who eats all the food before the others can get any, etc. then I can't recommend this enough. It's not cheap, but it has been a necessity for me to keep my cats who have health problems healthy!

Similar to other reviewers, I have 2 cats, one of whom is a food "hog" who scarfs up any food he can find, and the other who likes to eat at her own pace. The only way to keep the food hog from stealing the other one's food was to feed them in separate rooms and lock the slow eater in her room until she finished her meal, which was a real pain for both of us! Once I purchased this device, the slow eater can take all the time she wants without worrying about getting her food gobbled up, which makes her (and me) happier! I am sooo glad I bought this!A few tips:1) The plastic cover (sold separately) is a necessity to keep the other cat from barging in the front to get to the food.2) Train your cat to use the feeder by using snacks at night instead of meals, and also by leaving the meal dish inside the device while it's open until she gets used to it. (It took less than a week for her to get fully trained.)3) Face the device outward (ie so the cat can see who's coming), esp if they are on edge about another cat barging in.4) Use a shallow oval cat dish (available on chewy.com) to put inside the cavity instead of using the plastic trays provided. For me, this was essential because I prefer ceramic to plastic AND because I use refrigerated food that must be microwaved, which I would not want to do with the plastic trays.