Cat Feeders are great for making sure your cat is getting fed when you’re out, they are getting the correct portion size that they need and they are getting fed at exactly the right times.
If you and your cat would benefit from a device that can do all this (and more) then read on!
If you’re keen to quickly find out which feeder is the best then see our table below of the 4 cat feeders that we are convinced are the very best currently available:
Contents
The Best Automatic Cat Feeders:
Below are the 12 best automatic cat feeders we have looked at, there are options to suit all food types, budgets and capacities:
1. The Pawbo Crunchy
The Pawbo Crunchy is a modern looking smart feeder that lets you schedule up to 10 meals per day for your pet.
The portions can be sized from 20g – 120g per meal and the system uses a dual-scale weighing design so that all meals are weighed out and dispensed accurately.
This feeder will look good in any home and it offers several handy features that can help you with caring for your pet’s health and dietary needs.
You can set a feeding schedule or if you connect the feeder to WiFi, the free app allows you to control the feeding settings from your smartphone too.
A fun interactive element on this feeder is the ability to record a 10-second personalized voice message, calling your cat or telling them it’s time for food, this message is then played at feeding time to help attract your cat to the feeder.
This is particularly useful when your cat is only just getting used to the automatic feeder as it will help encourage them to the food. You can still feed your pet manually too.
The Pawbo Crunchy has a large 6L food storage capacity and all the parts are detachable to ensure it is easy to keep clean.
On the app, you can see how much food is remaining in days and amount (g) and you will also receive a notification when the food is running out.
For peace of mind, the feeder has a backup battery to ensure your pet will still receive food in the event of a power outage and this battery life will last up to 5 days.
As well as this, the unique dispensing system has been created to suit all type of kibble to ensure the food never gets stuck.
The Pawbo Crunch is a great option if you want to monitor and carefully control your cat’s diet, on the app you can view a diet report containing feeding and nutrition data statistics.
The feeding station is 36cm x 42cm x 32cm and weighs 2.3kg when empty so it is a big feeder that offers more than enough storage capacity.
Pros:
- Accurate portioning
- Produces a feeding report on the app
- Large capacity and ability to schedule up to 10 meals a day
- Back up battery
Cons:
- Can only be used for dry kibble (0.3 – 2cm in size)
2. The HoneyGuaridan A25
The HoneyGuardian A25 is great cat feeder which has all the features you would expect delivered in a sleek, stylish and robust package.
The A25 allows for massive variance in the portion size your serve your cat, from as small as 4 grams to as much as 400 grams!
The food storage hopper can store 1.5kg of dry food.
As with many cat feeders it has a voice recorder function which lets you play a message for your cat every time food is dispensed.
However unlike a lot of these voice recorders the recorder on the HoneyGuardian A25 seems to do a good job of recording your voice clearly.
The speaker is loud and clear meaning that your cat will be able to hear the recorded message from anywhere in your house…one of the drawbacks to this is that if your cat is sat nearby they may be startled and scared off by the loud noise!
Featuring a twist to lock lid the HoneyGuardian will be impossible for even the most shrewd of cats to break into.
It also features a button to dispense a small treat for your cat if you feel they deserve one!
It measures 38 cm tall x 20 cm wide x 22 cm long and requires 3 x D batteries to operate.
Pros:
- Sleek stylish design
- Loudspeaker so your cat will hear your recorded message from anywhere in the house
- Highly customisable portion sizes from 4-400grams
Cons:
- Lots of buttons make initial setup fairly complicated.
3. PetKit Smart Cat Feeder – Best Smart Feeder
The PetKit Smart is a WiFi enabled feeder that boasts an app that syncs to your phone allowing you to check on your cat (via the in built camera and microphone) and dispense treats whenever you want to.
One of the big problems with feeders is that if they get jammed then your cat is going to go hungry. This can happen all too often with some feeders, particularly if you use awkwardly shaped food. The PetKit Smart Feeder has a unique oscillating bar system that prevents this from happening.
Instead of being made from hard plastics which will jam if they get food stuck in the wrong place the PetKit Smart Feeder uses silicon impellers (these are the rotors which help regulate the flow of the food) so that if any food does get stuck awkwardly the silicone can move and allow it to still push through without blocking the feeder.
The PetKit can be scheduled to dispense as many as 10 meals a day is necessary, each of these meals can be set to range in size from anywhere between 20-400 grams.
Food is stored in a feeder with a storage capacity of 5.9 litres (or roughly 2.7kg) of food. The feeder also has a desiccant box inside it. Desiccant boxes are dry airtight boxes that contain a desiccant such as silica which absorbs all moisture meaning your cat’s food will be kept dry.
This feeder requires 4x D batteries (not supplied) to operate it can also run using an AC adapter (supplied).
It weighs a total of 5kg (empty) and measures 31cm deep x 22.3cm wide x 44.5 cm tall.
Pros:
- Industry leading anti-blockage technology means your cat’s feeder won’t get jammed.
- Food is stored in a Desiccant box (with in-built silica gel) so that you can be certain your cat’s food will be dry and hygienic as possible.
- 5.9 litres storage capacity.
- Can run using an AC adapter.
Cons:
- Doesn’t sync with Alexa (so you can’t shout “Alexa feed the cat”!)
- The App is basic, it doesn’t allow you to see or hear your cat.
4. The PetSafe Healthy Pet Feeder – Best For Cats With Specific Dietary Requirements
The PetSafe Healthy Pet Feeder is great for pets who eat too fast thanks to it’s slow feed function which drip feeds small amounts of food (28 grams) every 15 minutes. It uses a converyor belt to deliver it’s food which means that it can serve up both dry and moist food.
The feeder can store up to 4kg of food and can dispense as many as 12 meals per day (much more than most feeders), making it ideal for cats with specific dietary requirements.
The conveyor belt system is completely unique to the PetSafe feeder. The conveyor belt is split up into sections, each section can be filled with dry or moist food, then as the conveyor belt rotates the sections are emptied out into the bowl.
The brilliance of this over a gravity feeder is that it allows you to change each meal, even including moist food for your cat.
The feeder (as with most feeders) claims to be fully pet proof, with a sealed top so that even the most determined of cats won’t be able to steal a snack outside of their scheduled meal times.
Weighing in at 2.6kg and measuring 34cm deep x 26cm wide x 40cm tall it is a solid well built feeder, made from plastic which is free from BPA chemicals, that should last. It requires 4x D batteries to operate.
Pros:
- Can handle moist food
- Dishwasher safe removable bowl
- Stylish design which blends seamlessly into a modern kitchen
- Slow feed mode
Cons:
- Battery operated only
- Slightly unintuitive to program
5. The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder – Best RFID Feeder
The Surefeed microchip feeder is one of the most popular feeders on the market, it is simple but effective.
Its key feature is that it uses RFID technology to selectively feed whichever cat you set it to feed. When your cat puts its head through the arch the feeder will read your cat’s RFID tag and will open providing it is the right cat.
It is compatible with all types of RFID tags and can store upto 32 different tags in its memory, that’s a whole lot of cats!
The Surefeed feeders are popular with people who have several cats. You can buy one for each cat and then you can be certain that your cats are eating as much as they should be (and their food isn’t being stolen).
The Surefeed comes with two feeding bowl inserts, one which is a single bowl, the other which is a split bowl so if you want to serve your cat both wet and dry food you can do without having to mix them.
The Surefeed isn’t really a classic cat feeder though because it doesn’t store loads of food for your cat and dispense it when you schedule it to be dispensed, it only has space for one meal which will be dispensed when your cat comes for it.
The Surefeed is more of a cat food protector which will help ensure that the right cat gets the right food and will also prevent dogs, children and other cats from stealing any of it.
It runs using 4 C batteries which will last at least 6 month…and potentially up to a year depending on how much use it gets. It has a low battery indicator so that you won’t forget to change the batteries when they do eventually run out.
It weighs 1.0kg and the feeding bowl measures 10.5cm deep x 16cm wide x 3cm tall.
Pros:
- Selective feeding via an RFID scanner makes it perfect for multiple cat households where some cats may require different diets.
- Prevents other pets from stealing your cat’s food.
- It’s small and inconspicuous.
- Dishwasher Safe.
Cons:
- It only has space to store one meal at a time, so requires refilling every day – just like a normal food bowl.
- No meal scheduling function.
6. The Cat Mate C500 – Best Cheap & Simple Feeder
The Cat Mate C500 is an old school style disc feeder with 5 meal segments, it operates by spinning round on a timer which you can schedule so that meals are served as and when you wish.
It is a simple feeder that is ideal for keeping your cat fed for a day or so, however you shouldn’t rely on it for more than a weekend as it simply doesn’t have sufficient capacity to feed a cat for very long.
One of the big benefits of a disc feeder is that they can be used for both wet and dry food as you can simply store them in the food segments.
The C500 measures 35 cm wide x 29 cm long x 7 cm tall. Each food segment can store 330 grams of food (this is usually enough for two cats), meaning that the C500 can store a total of 1.6kg of food, which is a good amount!
The Cat Mate C500 is particularly good for wet food because it features two ice packs which sit below the feeding trays, store these in your freezer and when the time comes to put the Cat Mate C500 into action, simply take off the lid, lift out the feeding trays and place the ice packs into the space beneath them.
Replace the feeding trays and fill them up with wet food, the ice packs should keep wet food fresh and edible for up to a couple of days providing you keep it in a cool place.
Be aware that in hot weather the ice packs will quickly melt and cannot be relied on to keep food cool and fresh for more than 12 hours or so.
The C500 can be set to dispense from one meal a day up to four meals a day, a typical schedule is two meals per day for a couple of days to keep a cat well fed over a weekend.
As with a lot of feeders the C500 doesn’t have a system for storing your settings and scheduling for very long if it loses power, so pay close attention to the battery indicator and ensure that when you do change the batteries you do so in less than 45 seconds or so otherwise you will lose all the timings you have setup on it.
Pros:
- Simple and easy to use.
- Can be used for wet or dry food.
- Keeps wet food cool with concealed ice packs.
- It’s cheap!
- Great for keeping your cat fed for a day or two if you have to go away.
- Dishwasher Safe.
- Quieter than other disc models.
- 3 year guarantee.
Cons:
- Limited food storage capacity.
- Can only serve 5 meals before it needs to be refilled.
- If it goes without power for more than 45 seconds all stored meal schedules will be lost.
7. PetMate Cafe Feeder – Best Gravity Feeder
Now for something completely different…well not completely different – it is still a cat feeder after all – this cat feeder doesn’t require any electric power source, it works simply by harnessing the power of gravity!
That sounds more incredible than it actually is but basically it work with a small pedal mechanism. The idea being that your cat will paw at the feeder thus releasing food. This means that your cat has to work for the food before they can eat so hopefully having free access to a large amount of food won’t result in them becoming obese!
One problem that a lot of users have reported with this feeder is that it does easily get jammed with awkwardly sized food. However an easy way to fix this is to use scissors to cut a few millimeters across the opening which the food comes out of in order to allow the food to flow freely without creating a blockage.
Having said that this isn’t the type of feeder you would want to leave with a cat for days at a time unsupervised because there is a danger that it may get completely jammed and your cat will go hungry. It is best used with human supervision as a self-replenishing food bowl for cats who aren’t prone to excessive overeating.
Pros:
- No batteries or power of any kind required
- Very cheap
- Massive capacity of 2.7kg of dry food
Cons:
- Some cats struggle to work out how to use it
- It can get easily jammed
8. The Cat Mate C3000 – Best All-Round Performer
The Cat Mate C3000 is a loadable automatic cat feeder that you can fill with enough dry cat food to schedule your cat’s feeds for several days or even weeks.
The Cat Mate C3000 lets you schedule 3 meals per day for your cat, storing up to three kilograms of food that can feed a cat for a few weeks. You can also manually schedule in more meals if you need to.
It works best with dry pellets which are a minimum of 0.5 cm wide and are no more than 2 cm wide as these will easily feed through the machine without causing a blockage.
One of the good things about this feeder which makes it unique to many other feeders is that it can dispense very small portions of food, as small as one tablespoon of dry food if needs be. This makes it perfect for small or very young cats with tiny appetites.
Measuring 21 cm wide x 21 cm deep x 37 cm tall and weighing 889 grams (when there is no food in it) it is a big feeder with plenty of food storage capacity.
It features 5 auto-configured feed settings, these are:
- Set Meal – 3 meals a day.
- Extra – Use this if you want to increase the number of meals your cat has per day to 4.
- Advance – This function allows you to serve a set meal early then scheduled, this can be useful if your cat is being particularly vocal about their hunger!
- Manual – This lets you feed your cat an additional meal outside of the schedule programmed meals.
- Frequent – This function serves lots of very small meals, it is ideal for cats with very specific dietary needs such as diabetic cats who shouldn’t overeat in one sitting. You can set this function to dispense a set number of small meals over 24 hours.
It requires 4 x C batteries to keep it running but these should power it for over 6 months with normal use.
It features a low battery indicator, which is vital because if you leave the feeder without power for more than 60 seconds it will lose all your stored meal scheduling settings which can be very irritating especially if you have a complicated setup – so make sure you change the batteries before they run out and do it quickly!
Pros:
- It can store up to 3kg of food, meaning that you can feed one cat from it for several weeks!
- It can dispense very small portions of food making it ideal for cats with very specific dietary needs.
- Plenty of different feed options with customisable portion control to suit the feeding schedule of any cat.
- Dishwasher Safe.
Cons:
- If it goes without power for more than 60 seconds all stored meal schedules will be lost.
- It is fairly loud and can scare some cats when they are getting used to it.
9. The Dream World 6L Automatic Pet Feeder
The Dream World Automatic Feeder is one few will have heard of, it’s a completely unrecognised brand that are doing a great job with this Feeder.
This feeder is a great choice for anyone who wants plenty of food storage without breaking the bank.
This 6 litre feeder is capable of storing almost 3kg of dry cat food, just make sure that the pellets you use are no larger than 1cm x 1cm as anything bigger than that may block the feeding chute.
The feeder serves it’s meals in portions. A portion is roughly 12 grams of dry pellets, you can serve as many portions per meal as you like, with a maximum of 39 – ideal for a multiple cat household. It can dispense as many as 4 meals per day.
One of the fun features of this feeder is that it allows you to record a personalised message for your cat. Simply press the mic button to record a message up to 10 seconds long, this will then be played when food is dispensed, calling your cat to their bowl (not that they are likely to need much encouragement!).
It also features an infrared sensor that detects when your cat is close and won’t dispense food when they are nearby so that it won’t spook them or cause food to get blocked up if their head is in the bowl.
Measuring 21cm long x 35cm wide x 36cm tall and weighing in at 2.7kg (when empty) the Dream World requires 3 x D batteries or alternatively it can be powered by a USB cable.
Pros:
- It can store 6 litres (almost 3kg) of dry food.
- Voice recording function to call your cat to the feeder.
- An infrared sensor detects when your cat is nearby and avoids dispensing food so that no blocking is caused.
- Can be powered by a USB cable instead of batteries.
Cons:
- Not suitable for wet food.
10. Petwant Smart Feeder
The Petwant WiFi Smart Pet Feeder is a smart feeder which is very reasonably priced considering all it can do. PetWant are a fairly unheard of brand in the west but they are a rapidly growing Chinese pet product manufacturer that sell many of their products via Amazon.
The PetWant allows you to feed your pet remotely using the PetWant App which works on iPhone and Android. It allows you to feed your pet snacks and even watch what your pet is up to via the inbuilt camera and you can also send voice message to your pet through the app.
Featuring only 5 buttons it is much simpler to understand and use than other smart feeders which are often far from intuitive to set up.
To set a meal simply press the ‘set’ button and use the up and down arrows to schedule the time, then press ‘set’ again to schedule how many portions of food to dispense. One portion is 24ml and you can dispense up to 10 portions per meal and you can schedule up to 4 meals per day.
The feeder can be powered by either battery or adapter and features a handy LED light to let you know if the batteries are running low. This feeder should easily last over 6 months without requiring a battery change but potentially far longer if you make use of the adapter. It is quite energy efficient with the LCD display turning off after 25 seconds of inactivity to conserve battery power.
As with most feeders it is easy to manually serve an unscheduled feed, simply hold the up button for 3 seconds and food will be dispensed.
It also features a mechanism that detects blockages and stops the mechanisms so that no damage is done and the motor isn’t worn out. Simply unblock it and it will be good to go again.
Weighing in at a 2.1kg (empty) and measuring 24cm wide x 28cm deep x 37cm tall it is a good sized feeder that can store 1.8kg of dry food.
Pros:
- Detachable food tray for easy cleaning.
- WiFi connectivity so you can feed your pet any time anywhere via the PetWant app.
- Very affordable price.
- Voice recording function.
- Watch your pet eat via the inbuilt camera.
- Speak to your pet through the app.
Cons:
- Can’t handle wet food.
11. The Bunty Automatic
The Bunty Automatic cat feeder is a simple 5 segment rotating feeder which is available in either white or pink.
It allows you to serve up to 5 meals, one of the good things about the Bunty is that you can feed your cat wet or dry food.
Each food compartment can store up to 175ml of food.
The Bunty allows you to program up to 5 different feeding times and these can be spread either spread out over the course of 5 days (or longer) or they can all be in the same day just a few hours apart.
A lot of high end feeders only allow you to schedule up to four meals per day so if you have a cat that require frequent small meals then the Bunty may be a better choice.
The Bunty is exclusively battery operated and requires 4 x C batteries to operate.
Having used the Bunty ourselves we found that the spinning mechanism seems to demand a lot more battery power than is required for gravity feeders. Consequently, we found that the batteries required changing after a combined 20 days or so of use.
This feeder is not ideal for constant use but is great for ensuring your cat gets fed on an occasional weekend away.
The Bunty also features a voice recorder function, though in our experience using these seemed to run the batteries down even faster than if we didn’t use it.
It weighs in at only 299grams (empty) and measures 60cm across.
Pros:
- Works with wet food
- Voice recorder
- Cheap
Cons:
- Can only serve 5 meals
- Uses a lot of power and runs batteries out quite fast
12. The TD Design 4.3L Automatic Cat Feeder
The T D Design is a generously sized feeder packed with all the tech you would expect from a feeder of this size and value.
The T D can be powered by either batteries (3 x D cell) or plugged in with the adaptor. Unlike some feeders the T D can remember all of the food schedules you setup on it even if you leave it without power for days or weeks.
It allows you to schedule 4 feeds every 24 hours. Each feed is made up of between 1-10 portions of food. 1 portion is 10 grams of food. This allows a maximum meal size of 100grams, which for multiple cat households may be insufficient for one meal, however over the course of a day 400 grams should be plenty for even the biggest of cats.
It features a voice recorder which lets you record a 20 second long message – this is the longest time we have seen yet on a pet feeder, so if you have a lot to say to your cat then this is the feeder to get!
Weighing in at 2.13kg and with a food capacity of 4.3litres, the T D measures 24.5 cm deep x 19.5 cm wide x 38 cm tall.
Pros:
- Remembers your feeding schedule even if you leave it without power for days or weeks
- Can be powered by batteries or an adaptor
- Empty feeder alert
- You can record a 20-second mealtime message (the longest we’ve come across on any feeder!)
Cons:
- Not suitable for wet food
- Only dispenses a maximum of 100grams of food per meal so may not be suitable for multi-cat households
We hope you found our reviews useful and that they help you in purchasing a cat feeder that is suitable for your cat.
What Is An Automatic Cat Feeder?
An automatic cat feeder is a machine designed to allow you to feed your cat at regular timed intervals without you having to be there.
They allow you to control how much and how often your cat eats.
A Guide To Cat Feeders:
Cat feeders vary massively in the range of features that they offer, understanding what those features are and whether or not your cat would benefit from them will help you make an informed purchasing decision.
Here is a quick guide to the different features to watch out for when buying a cat feeder:
Capacity
Capacity is one of the first things you should consider when thinking about buying a cat feeder. First of all measure out how much your cat eats in a day then work out how many meals (in litres) you need your feeder to be able to store.
If you have more than one cat to feed then the smaller capacity feeders simply won’t cut it, having a large capacity is key!
If you are planning on using your feeder to feed your cat while you are away for a day or so your capacity requirements will differ from someone who plans on using the feeder as a permanent feeding solution which just needs topping up every so often.
Selective Feeding
Selective feeding works by using your cat’s RFID tag (the same type of tag that can be used for microchip cat flaps and storing your cat’s I.D data on) to only allow a specific cat to eat from that feeder.
Some feeders allow you to set timers for different cats to be able to feed from the same feeder using their RFID tags.
A selective cat feeder is very useful if you have more than one cat and they require different diets.
Scheduling Timer
Cat feeders all allow you to schedule when your cats food is dispensed, that’s one of the reasons that so many people get them.
Scheduling options will vary from feeder to feeder depending on the brand and model. Many newer feeders can be scheduled to dispense up to 12 meals a day, of varying sizes, over a 48 hour period or longer.
The older style rotating cat feeders usually have up to 8 small compartments which you can program different times for.
If your cat has been put on a special diet which requires small but frequent portions of food then make sure you get a feeder than has the capacity to schedule regular small meals multiple times per day – these also allow for greater flexibility during the summer months when cats will eat less due to the hot weather.
Voice Recording
One feature which has become increasingly common in feeders is the ability to record your own voice calling your cat for dinner!
Not all feeders have this so if this is a function that you feel would be useful (and fun!) for you and your cats to enjoy then make sure you do your research (have a look in our table) to find out if the feeder you want has it.
Battery or Plug?
Most feeders are battery operated, typically requiring between 4 to 6 AA batteries.
Cat feeders, particularly the newer ones, are designed in a very energy efficient way meaning that you can expect to get between 6-12 months operation out of your batteries.
Some of the more complex feeders which include features such as WiFi connectivity and built in cameras may need to be plugged into the wall which will impact where you can place them, so if you have a specific place in mind where you want to put your feeder make sure that you either buy a battery operated feeder or that you have a plug socket nearby.
Does It Take Wet Cat Food?
Most cat feeders are designed for dry food, it works much better in a feeder because it can easily be dispensed without any mess and without food residue getting stuck to the food container and then potentially going bad!
As a general rule we don’t advise using wet food in a feeder because many cats will stop at nothing to get it if they catch a sniff of it.
This can often result in cats knocking feeders over and creating a big mess…if you do want to feed your cat wet food make sure you get a feeder that is going to be able to stand up to an all out feline assault!
Does It Have A Cooling System?
Cat feeders which are designed for wet food should feature a cooling system which will keep wet food fresh. Typically this system will consist of a small compartment underneath the food storage compartment in which an ice pack can be stored.
This will keep the wet food cool, however it doesn’t completely refrigerate it so we advise that you don’t store wet food in any cat feeder for longer than a couple of days.
Wifi Connectivity
Smart feeders will feature Wifi connectivity, this allows you to connect them to the internet and interact with your pet via a smartphone app.
These apps will typically allow you to do things like dispense treats on demand, talk directly to your cat and hear what they say back and watch them via video!
How To Train Your Cat To Use It’s New Feeder
Buying your first cat feeder can be exciting, particularly when you think of those undisturbed morning lie-ins you will now be getting because your cat won’t be pawing amd meowing at you at 6am for food…however all those dreams can be dashed to pieces if your cat doesn’t take well to the new gadget.
Fortunately training your cat to get used to using the feeder is fairly simple, most cats will pic it up very quickly, particularly with food as motivation.
Teach your cat to get used to it’s new feeder by:
- Putting the feeder next to your cat’s usual food bowl.
- Put some cat food in the open tray of the cat feeder, this will encourage them to eat from it, once they are happily eating from it remove their old bowl.
- Now turn the feeder on and setup a timer, the food dispenser mechanism will make a small amount of noise which may startle your cat if they are nearby, however they will soon come to love that noise as they will quickly associate it with food!
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Crazy article! Good work! I never realised how handy an automatic feeder was until I got one, I’ll never go back now to manual food preparation for my tabby.
Thanks Tuxedo,
Seb
Thanks Sebastian, out of interest which feeder have you got?