PetSafe 6 Meal Automatic Cat Feeder - Programmable Pet Food Dispenser for Cats and Small Dogs - Dry Kibble or Semi-Moist Pet Food, Slow Feed Portion Control, Tamper-Resistant

I acquired this for a pet rabbit who needs 2 pellet meals and 4 treats, spaced 2 hours apart, every 12 hours. When we have to be away on day trips, this PetSafe carousel feeder gives us more flexibility on our time away while ensuring our pet rabbit’s feeding schedule is not disrupted.I will be purchasing a second unit to span 24 hours. If there were a version of this feeder with 12 timed servings for ultra small pets, I’d buy it ASAP.The features of this PetSafe feeder that are superior are as follows:1. The carousel that sits higher up and which feeds the servings through a chute to a food dish below protects pets’ snouts from getting caught in the carousel dividers when they rotate. This is important as our rabbit initially kept trying to push his snout up into the chute to try to hack it for more food (like a human sticking their arm up the dispensing slot in a vending machine to try to get more content). This feeder is completely protected against this type of hack, by the way.2. The food dish can be removed for cleaning, and clips firmly in place to prevent pets from knocking or throwing it around. If you have another weighted food dish that you prefer to use, the one that comes with the feeder can simply be unclipped and there is plenty of clearance for another one of 6 to 8 inch diameter to align with the dispensing chute.3. The digital, electronic timer on this PetSafe feeder is much more precise and accurate than the manual “egg timer” dials used on other feeders, and the meal serving times can be set in 15-minute increments. Other feeders using analog timers work only on 1-hour increments for the meal serving times.4. The top lid is flush fit and locks tightly, preventing pets from gaining a hold on the lid and opening it. Our rabbit immediately tried to undo the lid with his teeth, but ended up gnawing on the non-moveable outer rim of the feeder’s console instead - and gave up the attempted break-ins after realizing the futility of his efforts.5. The control console has a battery power level indicator to help you know when the replace the batteries. Though the D-cell batteries required are kind of old school, they do have the benefit of adding substantial weight to the base of the feeder that helps stabilize it and protect it from being flipped over by small pets. Our 3.5 lb. rabbit tried his best to deadlift the unit and roll it — but to no avail. LOL6. The carousel compartments allow you to specifically size each meal or feeding by loading the exact amount into each. The ability of this feeder to deliver meals in greatly varying proportions is a plus.Some things to know:1. This feeder is not waterproof. So, do not immerse it in water. I clean it by wiping down with a paper towel soaked in white vinegar and then follow with rinse wipes with paper towels soaked with water.2. If you take out the carousel for cleaning, the power will cut off to the clock / timer panel. Do not be alarmed - you did not short out or damage the electronics. Power from the batteries will flow to the clock / timer panel when you re-install the carousel. However, know that the clock and all the meal time presets will be zeroed out and will need to be manually re-entered.3. If you use the “force feed” button, be aware that it will advance the feed time to the next pre-set of the six that are available.4. The clock / timer on this feeder distinguishes AM from PM. If you are not using the 24-hour clock option, make certain you pay attention to the AM and PM designations on the clock and time settings.5. This unit uses D-cell batteries — six of them. It is kind of cool in a throwback way that reminds of toys from my childhood long ago that used these huge battery cells and lots of them. In any case, the batteries do not come with the feeder, so be certain to add six D-cell batteries to your cart. :)6. Make certain the lid is properly seated with “tongues in grooves,” and locked (by turning the lid clockwise until it stops). Otherwise, if the lid is left loose, it will not be long before your pet figures this out. Don’t ask me how I know. ;-)7. Do not use this feeder with wet food items that will spoil if not kept cool. This feeder does not have an ice-pack option for cooling the carousel compartments holding the edibles.Overall this PetSafe carousel feeder is a keeper, and very practical.***** 07/24/2021 UPDATE1. I have had this PetSafe carousel feeder for about a week now, and it is proving to be very useful. Our pet rabbit is most active during the overnight hours while we are asleep. This feeder allows us to keep delivering treats and light meals at 2 hour intervals throughout the early morning hours.2. I have discovered that the power consumption of this feeder is substantial. A full set of four D batteries showing full charge on the feeder’s battery power indicator was depleted in about 5 days. To save on the costs of buying a new set of disposable batteries every week, I have acquired EBL 10000 mAh rechargeable D cells and the EBL 4-cell charger via Amazon. These rechargeable batteries work great in the PetSafe feeder.Note that your average disposable (alkaline) D battery has 13000 mAh capacity. So when you have a full set of the EBL rechargeable batteries installed in the PetSafe, the battery charge indicator will show only 75% charge remaining. This is because the 4x10000=40000 mAh on the full set of rechargeable batteries is about 75% of the 4x13000=52000 mAh on the full set of alkaline, disposable batteries.When you replace the batteries, the clock and timer settings on the PetSafe have to be entered again.UPDATE 09/07/2022: The power consumption is actually very low for these units. What was originally happening was: I was accidentally activating a tiny “power off” button that is hidden behind the flip-cover to the settings console. If you pull the cover back too far or brace your fingers against the chassis at the rear of the cover, you can accidentally press this “power off” button, and this will turn off the unit and give the impression that the batteries have gone dead. This unit will run for a long, long time on D-Cell batteries that are re-chargeable or not.3. Our rabbit immediately realized the goodies (food and treats) that were stored inside the PetSafe carousel from the first moment I set it up. For the first few days, he spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to figure out how to break in to it. Despite his dedicated efforts, he has been unable to hack or crack into the feeder. He then tried to gnaw his way through and chewed up the rim of the main unit and part of the food dish causing some significant disfiguring of the plastic, outer shell of the feeder and dish. We were concerned that he would ingest small pieces of plastic, but he seems to have retired from the aggressive gnawing on the feeder after a couple more days.UPDATE 09/07/2022: Our rabbit ended up getting sick from gnawing bits of plastic from the feeder and swallowing them. So, we had to stop using these auto feeders for a while … until I figured out a way to elevate one feeder on a wire shelf with a chute made from a large flour scoop (for dispensing treats), and designed a custom chute for our other feeder where it can be set lower and behind the wire fence to our rabbit’s pen and push food pellets through the gaps in the wire grid fencing.Some ideas for product enhancement for the maker:(a) An optional, stainless steel, sheet metal box or wire cage that can be put around the main console of the feeder to prevent direct access by the pet. *** See the 09/07/2022 updates above on some work-arounds I’ve fabricated.(b) An optional, all stainless steel food dish to clip in to the main console of the feeder.(c) A built-in battery recharger so that the feeder can refresh the charge on the rechargeable batteries with a detachable AC power cord without having to remove the batteries, and therefore keeping the time and timer settings.(d) A 12 compartment carousel variant with 12 timer settings.(e) Ability to advance the time and timer settings backwards or forwards by holding down the buttons instead of having to click them incrementally — for each minute on the clock, and in the 15 minute increments for the timer settings. UPDATE 09/07/2022: I didn’t realize until later that if I press harder when holding down the time and timer setting buttons, they will automatically “scroll” the time settings.I want to reiterate how much I like this feeder. I have purchased another one to have two feeders that together can span 24 hours in 2 hour feeding increments.

We have been using one of these for a few years now, and just added a second one for longer-term feedings. With quality batteries these are very reliable units. I can't remember a single time they have failed to dispense as scheduled. The only thing is that there is no audible low battery warning, and it's easy to forget to look at the battery indicator on the display if you have had it set to dispense at the same time forever and don't think about anything but keeping it filled. So just remember to check it before you leave town for a while and make sure the batteries are fresh. One of our smarter cats has realized she can reach up into the machine and push on the divider in an attempt to cheat the system but it doesn't succeed in getting her any more food. That doesn't seem to affect the function of the machine either when it dispenses next. We trust these to keep our fur babies fed and they haven't let us down.

In summary, every cat owner should have this. Works great, easy to program times. easy to clean, reliable. I was terrible at over feeding my cat who gained too much weight and developed urinary crystals. I needed a solution to control his diet and researched feeders and decided on this one and am extremely glad I did. Even without the over feeding and crystal issue, I would never have another cat without this feeder. My cat has leaned he will be fed regularly at the programmed times and so he begs less and I resist overfeeding him more often. I believe he is more comfortable knowing the feeder will feed him on schedule. Some notes regarding the performance of this particular unit. I put in new duracell batteries when I received this almost a year ago and I have not had to change them. I used regular Alkaline D cell batteries, my understanding is that lithiums would not work well with this and rechargeables would be problematic as well. The regular disposable alkalines have worked perfectly, though they do cost about $12 for 4 for what I bought, they have lasted long enough to make that more than worthwhile. Programming was easy and changing the clock for dst was simple enough. I took the batteries out to measure them with a battery tester after about 6 months as I could believe they were still good and when I returned them to the unit the dispenser had retained the programmed settings, I did not have to reprogram it. I believe there is a wall wart power supply available for this but I didn't want to entice the cat into chewing on the cord which he has been known to do and with the lifespan of the batteries I haven't regretted that choice. Cleaning the unit is very easy, the food movement mechanism comes out and the compartment is easily cleaned while washing the "spinning" food mechanism and the food tray. My cat has been unable to open the clear lid covering the food. I returned home after a weekend out and the unit had been moved about 5 feet across the kitchen floor but was intact. That was the first time I was away after acquiring the unit and I haven't seen him move it since. He has noticed I open the lid over the buttons occasionally to dispense his food early by pressing the feed now button and he has tried once or twice to open that lid but isnt able to press any button if its open, they require a firm press which I think a cat simply isnt capable of doing. I feed my cat three times a day, twice with 1/4 cup and once with 1/8 cup, I can load two days worth of food with this pattern. I can reduce the pattern to twice a day and get 3 days from the unit if I want and may try that soon, but three feedings a day seems to work well for him. I pour in any amount I want to feed him in each of the slots, so first slot I put 1/4, next slot 1/4, next slot 1/8, next slot 1/4, etc. There are feeders that measure and dispense specified amounts and can do so for weeks as long as there is food in the container to deliver. I looked at these and was concerned that there are many moving parts to potentially break and the amount of food dispensed was perhaps not very reliable in the small quantities I am feeding a cat. I went with this design because the tray can be loaded with whatever quantity I want and will simply rotate to dispense, there is hardly anything that could go wrong and that has been born out over the course of the last year. In short I am completely happy with this unit and whole-heartedly recommend it for the pet owners peace of mind and the pets security and comfort.

I mainly bought for the ability to fill for several days when we went on vacation. Love that at a glance I can see how many slots are full so I don't forget to refill it each week. Timer easy to set up, cover over it so it doesn't get changed accidentally. Used for 3 months, so far works great.

Not only is this thing great for portion control but I can put my dogs pill pockets with her medicine in it and she can get it without us being home. definitely getting one for my cat

Where would we be without this! Bought this last year for my Dog, for when we are out during the day sometimes. Works such a treat and a massive relief for us knowing the boy is still being fed and we don't have to rush to get home. I totally recccomend this to any pet owner household.

It's the perfect feeder except for one thing:It only works if the batteries are in a very specific alignment. For some reason either the batteries or the wiring connecting them gets loose with even the slightest movement. Usually some amount of jiggling could get it back in place, but it's been getting more difficult to figure out that exact position to get it to work. Now it doesn't work any more. It lasted less than a year, and for $100 I'm very disappointed.If the build quality were better it would really be perfect. My cat can not break into the food, and it's heavy enough that she doesn't move it and slam it loudly on the floor. But when it's not dispensing food, I'm back to the original issue of my hungry and noisy cat.

I wanted a feeder where I could portion out her food myself and see for myself that the food dispensed even if I'm not around. This one fit the bill. I like it. It's very solid and not too tall so I can't imagine my cat will ever be able to knock it over. She does sit on it in an attempt to paw at the food through the plastic. She also has pulled the dish out and tried to put her paw up to get food. It doesn't work so fortunately she's given up and leaves the dish in place. So far it's working great. No complaints.

If you are looking for an automatic pet feeder but have a small dog or a cat, and are worried about accurate portion control, this is the feeder for you!Mose feeders use a hopper and automated scoop or conveyor belt of some sort os the actual portion size can be hit or miss. This may not matter much for a 40 or 50 pound dog, but an extra 1/4 cup of food here and there for a cat can be the difference between a healthy weight and obesity. With this feeder, you control each portion so it is as accurate as you want it to be - right to the gram if you use a scale.The battery seems to last forever and the unit itself is virtually silent. the only sound we hear is the noise the food makes sliding into the bowl when it is feeding time. There is no mechanical noise.Programming is quite easy if you follow the directions in the manual - just be aware that if you use the "feed now" button, the feeder will feed the next scheduled meal and will not auto feed until the meal after that. This point seems to confuse some users but the display makes it easy as it will always display what meal will be fed next (the meals are numbered 1 through 6).My only gripe is that the feeder can only hold 6 meals worth of food, but this is a small sacrifice for the accuracy and reliability that you get with this feeder. Any more than 6 meals and this machine would have to be a whole lot larger.So until someone comes up with a craftier way to accommodate more than 6 meals in a rock solid, and to-the-gram accurate feeder, this is simply the best cat/ small dog feeder you are goign to find.

We previously used a larger automatic feeder, but my cat lost interest in her food once it had been sitting in the hopper for a week at the most. I guess it got a bit stale. Since this feeder needs to be topped up more often, the food is always relatively fresh, and that keeps my cat happy.My only complaint is that while the bowl, lid, and carousel divider section can be removed and washed, the carousel base isn't (easily) removable for washing. Your only option for cleaning the surface that the food sits on is to wipe it down in place. I'd be happier if I could dunk it in hot soapy water and give it a scrub once in a while.