We have cats. They have snuck into pics, videos, tele-medicine sessions, online school classes, and have been the topic of some blogs. This is one such blog. Before my MS was a factor, we had a cat with appetite/weight issues. Yes, one cat has not met a food type he didn’t willingly gobble up. Well, he does have an aversion to plant based dairy substitutes. I can’t really blame him there.
In addition to increasing the cat’s exercise, we needed to control his food intake. Making sure he only eats *his* food has been an ongoing struggle. We have tried many ways to block his access to the other cats’ food. He would usually find a way to get their food.
Our longest working solution was getting each cat a food bowl that would only open for their own collar tag. This ate a lot of batteries – especially until I purchased the power adaptors. Cats being cats would lose their collars with tags or ruin the tag by dunking the tag into the water bowl while drinking. Eventually the bowl and tags were discontinued. This was the same time it became difficult for me to feed the cats balance and reach wise.
I started looking at automated time and portion feeders. Some you need to load once every 3 to 6 meals. These give the cat access to one meal section at a time. Other feeders allow you to store several meals in one section and then serve the cat the correct amount in an attached bowl. I went with the load a couple weeks’ worth of food at a time type feeder. I bought the Petlibro feeder on amazon. For posting a review on amazon, Petlibro emailed me a $20 amazon gift card. I used the gift card when buying a second feeder.
Pros:
- The feeder can hold a couple weeks worth of cat food.
- The feeder can dispense a specific portion at a specific time, each day. We set up 7:30am and 5pm.
- Portion control is consistant. 5 feeder dispensed ‘portions’ = 1/3 cup.
- The feeder can run on electricity with a battery back up.
Cons:
- Once the food despenses any cat can eat it. Our biggest cat tries hard to take as much food as possible from other cat’s bowls too.
One cat was a little slow at trusting the feeder. The same cat is scared of the automatic litter box too. The cat with weight issues actually runs to gobble up as much of the two bowls possible. I would definitely recommend the Petlibro feeder.
- My Disclosure.
- My MS Tips and Hacks.
Life, Humor, and MS 