Automatic Portion Control Dog and Cat Pet Feeder (45 Cups) with LCD Screen and Meal Time Message Recorder

Bought this for a week long vacation. My cats over eat when left with a large bowl of food. As others have said, the programming is cumbersome but not impossible, just be patient and follow the instructions, the hardest part is getting the time programmed in 90 seconds.There are a few bugs, the recording of your voice goes off every time the feeder cycles the amount, so I set the amount on #2 and the recording goes off twice. The feeder also makes a lot of noise that lasts a long time and dribbles the food out. At first I could not figure out what it was doing, the cylinder cycles the number of times that the amount is set for. Supposedly 1/4 cup for each setting, so I set my amount on #2 and the food delivery cylinder cycles twice giving a dump of food with each revolution, vibrating each time to shake the food into the bowl. My cats even the feral skittish one was not scared of the noise, in fact it was very interesting to watch how quickly they learned the exact time the feeder would go off.My biggest complaint is that when you shut the feeder off you loose your programming and have to start over again when turning it back on - this is BAD.The feeder is cat proof, I have a foodie cat that will do anything for food, he could not get into the feeder. This is the main reason I bought this feeder after reading reviews from other feeders. He tried through the feed slot, he tried the top, and I see the hopper has a lot of deep scratches in it that did not harm anything. The feeder is heavy especially when filled with food, he was unable to tip the feeder over, it is built low to the ground and not top top heavy. Even so I did wedge it in the corner while gone just in case.The amounts are WAY OFF so make sure you set it up and measure the amount it dumps. I found that setting #2 dumps exactly 3/4 cup of regular size cat kibble. #4 dumps 1&3/4 cup. I set the feeder to feed amount #2 twice a day for 3 cats. That seemed to be a very good amount for my cats.One reviewer said that the feeder works better when filled 3/4 full so I did do that. I can see that it might make a tunnel through the food if less is used. And it makes the feeder heavier so that is ok.The feeding dish is large enough for 3 cats to eat at the same time with no problem.

I was apprehensive about purchasing this because of my energetic cats who act like they're starving, but I have been very happy with it. I was worried they'd find a way to open it, knock it over, get their paws stuck, etc. but they're not even close. It's very sturdy and safe. It's also helped a lot with their perceived "starving" because it can feed them when I'm not home. It's so nice to just fill it and not have to do anything until it needs to be refilled. As others mentioned, the programming isn't terribly straight forward, but if you follow the directions, it's not bad if you have basic digital skills (if you can set a digital clock, you'll be fine). The only thing that's a little off is the measurements run on the high side, so I just set mine for a little less. It does make noise when feeding but the mechanism isn't too loud. Overall I'm very happy with it and wish I bought one earlier. Definitely worth the extra money for a study, reliable machine.

I bought this feeder because none of the feeders on Amazon had very good reviews. For me, this feeder is good enough not to return but far from ideal. Pros and Cons:Pro:Holds a lot of food - an entire bag of the food I buy.I can't imagine cats breaking into it. They can reach their paws up the chute all they want and no food will come out due to the design. This was a common complaint in reviews of other feeders. A large dog left to their own devices probably could tear the lid off or bite a hole in the side of it (my speculation only).Food tray easily detaches for cleaning - one of our cats got some chin acne I think due to not cleaning the dish often enough, so I've been doing that more, but it does come off quite easily.Cons:Not capable of dispensing all the food. Dispensed portions become smaller when the feeder gets near empty (but is still far from empty). This is a pretty basic flaw with the shape of the food hopper.While dispensed portions are advertised as 1/4 cup, I think they are twice that - I haven't measured precisely. This makes it hard to precisely dispense the right amount of food. You can do multiple portions per feeding but no less than 1 portion.Battery powered, and if the batteries die or you turn it off, it dumps its programming. Speaking of which...One time a single kibble got stuck in the spring loaded food door and the feeder said "Err" on the display. This also requires you to turn the feeder on and off, thereby dumping its programming and requiring you to get out the manual because...It's not intuitive and tedious to program, and the directions have mediocre English. Hopefully you won't have to change the programming very often.