Pet Feeding

Hello! This is part of a home tool series. Here, I discuss pet tools. Between feeding and cleaning up, there are several options.

First, feeding. With one cat needing portion control (carb sensitive) and another needing a special (read expensive prescription) food, we have been on a mission to control the cat food.

We tried the feeders that would open for a specific cat collar tag. This worked with drawbacks.  The food bowls used up D batteries monthly.  The cats would also lose their collars with the control tag. Replacement tags were about $10.

These feeders came in two types: 1. bowl with a lid that raised and 2. bowl where the lid folds back. The second requires the cat to place their head between the bowl and a handle like bar. The cats hated the second type.

Then we tried the feeders that you could schedule and size the meals. These helped but pay attention to the control buttons, the morsel size range, how it measures meal size, and how you will know it is empty. All four factors vary. Reaching down to push the right tiny black button on a black feeder several times for a missed 1/4 cup meal can be frustrating.

When I added a dog to the family, the option for app control feedders had become affordable. I found a Petlibro 5G WiFi feeder that tells me at glance if the feeder is empty or offline.  I have slowly transitioned my cats to the same feeder model.  For the cats, the empty light means the food is getting low. It holds a 3lb cat food bag or 4 days of large breed dog food. 1 3/4 cups of the dog food fills the bowl and sometimes blocks the dispenser. The block clears when the dog eats.

The dog’s feeder is on a stool. Occasionally, it gets knocked off. If it falls and looks crooked, it won’t work right. It is easy to fix this. Open the feeder and pull up the food compartment to reach the rotar.  Then reset these pieces.

The app schedules feedings and even instant feedings when the dog eats a cat’s meal.

You can find this Petlibro feeder on Amazon, Chewy, and chain pet store websites.

I’ll share more information on pet related gear and pet stories soon.