We HAD to have an automatic feeder. Our cats don’t seem to know when to stop eating. If we left down bowls of food, they would be out of food in like 2 days.
Plus, the vet said we needed to put them on a diet. That’s the easiest way we found not to overfeed them. Before we got that thing, I would feed them, my bf would feed them, I’d feed them… etc. We are at home at different times, so we never knew if the other person had fed them or how much. Now the feeder does all that worrying for us. We just set it at the amount/time and let it go.
I’d still go with the drop-by service though. 