What's a good, compact automatic pet feeder? (need answer fast)

General Questions
#1

I know the answer isn’t Le Bistro.

Last year my vet recommended feeding Tikva small meals several times a day, rather than one big meal. I tried to set up a schedule, but Tikva is a whiny cat, and if you try feeding her at 6 every day, she’ll annoy you into feeding her at 5:30 in no time. So I went to buy an automatic feeder.

PetCo had only two choices, so I took the one that fitted best into the space where she eats, the aforementioned Le Bistro. Let me tell you, Le Bistro is a piece of crud. If you shake it or bump it, food falls out, a fact Tikva couldn’t fail to notice. Probably her lack of weight loss has more than a little to do with her wiggling her paw in the dispenser whenever she feels hungry. Also, the programmed feeding times seemed to have become messed up somehow, and given my general relationship to electronics I’ve been afraid to try and fix it.

Well, Le Worthless has finally broken down beyond repair. Petco hasn’t started stocking anything better, and I’m not trying that again (see: definition of insanity). I need some recommendations for what I should get, ASAP. Tikva eats and sleeps in what is essentially a doorless dog crate, so whatever it is has to fit.

#2

Please? I’m really serious about the “need answer fast” thing.

#3

You can try ‘lite’ cat food which seems also a bit less palatable which may have her eat less and you can leave out the food continuously. Another trick is to feed them moist food, I like to use the Meowmix peal and pore, very mess free and easy for moist, and leave dry (or dry lite) out all the time. The cat will quickly want the moist food and nibble on the dry occasionally, which should have her ask for food less often.

As for a autofeeder, I never used one.

#4

I feed her special vet-prescribed diet food. If it was more diet-y it would be air. She’s still been sixteen pounds for the last three years in a row.

#5

Some friends of mine have this one. I helped catsit over two weeks while they were away and it operated fine. Not cheap, though.

#6

This comes highly reviewed

#7

I have an erratic work schedule, and this made my Tiger (obligatory photo) unhappy. I purchased an older version of the AutoPetFeeder:2000 5 years ago and it has been working fine.

The one I linked to comes in 3 sizes - perhaps one will fit.

#8

That looks promising. I’ll have to check it out.

#9

Dran it, they’re out of stock!

#10

A Google search (and then selecting “shopping”) for “auto pet feeder 2000gm” (without the quotes) shows a number of places that claim to have it in stock. That’s for the medium size - you may want the small one, 2000gs.

#11

I am not getting a good feeling about this. All the auto pets feeders had four and half stars (except for one which had three), but so does the Le Bistro.

#12

I’ve found one that has mostly positive reviews, and mentions the brand of cat food I use. It’s crazy expensive, but it’s the only one I’ve come across so far that seems like it might work.