Cat Mate C200 2-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder for Cats and Small Dogs with Ice Pack

Worked great for our rabbit! We normally have a pet sitter but we’re going to be gone on a holiday for about 24 hours so this worked perfectly to keep her veggies cold for evening and her pellets for morning. We checked it on the Blink camera and it opened just as scheduled. She did toss the dishes around after, but they were sturdy enough that she wasn’t able to chew them.

we use it to dispense a treat and pill to our dog in the middle of the night so we don't have to wake up. Simple, easy and works just fine. We also use it if we will be gone at dinner time. It takes a battery but seems to last a really long time. You can not program it for an exact time, but seems to work within 15 minutes of timer setting. Tick, tick, tick.

I wanted an automatic feeder for wet food because my cat was waking us up around 5-5:30am every day to be fed and 1) my partner was starting to lose his marbles and 2) the cat is on a specific wet food diet and a dry feeder wasn't going to work for us.This simple little feeder honestly solved the problem. Cats are usually quick to adapt to a new routine that results in them getting food and our little fluffball was no exception. It took about a week all told. He does know that the food is in there before it opens and still bats it around a bit but he gives up on that more quickly every day. But the bottom line is, instead of meowing incessantly every morning, he now just goes to check his dish and lo and behold, food. These days, he just eats his breakfast, comes back into the bedroom licking his lips, and hops back in bed to snuggle up. It's genuinely made our home a little happier.Even so, here are some issues I have with it. With all these drawbacks, it's still been worth it to me but I figured I'd share so folks can decide for themselves.1. It's expensive for what you actually get. It's essentially a thin plastic box that opens when the timer has counted down. Not the slickest tech, but a useful little device nonetheless. I am curious about how long it will last, especially with my cat batting at it every day.2. To point 1, it's a little too lightweight. It could use a heavier bottom, or some kind of mount because cats will definitely smell their food and try to get in there. My cat still hasn't given up trying even though he hasn't had luck so far. Gotta admire his perseverance. I do worry he might flip it over, which would prevent the lid from opening at all and defeat the purpose.3. Having to remove the battery when not in use--so, every day--is annoying. I got the steel dish insert so I just pop that in the sink to be washed and put the battery in the plastic compartment before closing it. Some reviews mention you can't keep the lid closed between uses. You can, but this does require removing the battery. That also stops it from ticking (the ticking is barely audible to me to begin with). It's an aggravation but takes 20 seconds tops. Although, I really feel like a simple on/off switch could solve that nuisance for the user.4. I have to be sneaky about loading it with his food every night. I have literally fake-coughed while opening the little can tab but 80% of the time, he knows. If you have a cat you probably know they can be on the other side of the house (down the block) and know when you're opening a can of food. I have resigned to giving him a tiny bit of dry food as a bedtime treat so he doesn't begin to hate me for teasing him.5. The math problem involved in setting the timer every night when I'm sleepy is not my favorite part. (I'm just not really a math girl.) Some other reviews have complained that the timer is inexact and I can totally see that being the case, but imprecision is not an issue for us. I set it to open around 5:15am and whether it opens a little before or after, I don't know and don't care. I'm in bed then and the whole point is to stay there. To that end, it's worked. But I do wish the dial was a clock rather than a countdown mechanism.6. There is no ding or sound to indicate when the dish opens. Just seems like an obvious, easy feature to have added. It wasn't a problem for our cat but a less adaptable creature might take longer to catch on because of this.Overall, there are a bunch of little design tweaks I can think of that would improve this thing. That said, does it work anyway? Yes. I'm endlessly glad I gave it a try. There's only one pro needed to outweigh any cons by a mile and this simple little feeder has that.

This feeder works like a charm! Now my cat doesn’t wake me up at 4 o’clock in the morning want to be fed! Food is already there for him! It’s well worth the money! I love it!

As far as being a reliable mechanical aid, this does the job. It's got a couple of weak points and I'll get into that; but if you're quarantining a pet for whatever reason, and you need to keep them on an existing feed schedule, this is great. I wouldn't rely on it as my sole feeder — for that I have a bigger one with a hopper and a programmable clock and distribution amounts etc — I just needed something simple and cheap in order to integrate my new pet onto the existing pets' feeding schedule.The weak points here are that the timer's only precise to within about 10 minutes, and the whole thing is very lightweight. If you have a super food-motivated pet, even a small one, they will push this around all over the place. If that's not an issue to you or your pet, or if you want to stick it to a heavier base that's harder to move or whatever, you should have no problems.Now let me try to help with the MAIN confusion I've seen online:// The instructions say to make sure a little dial on the bottom is turning counterclockwise. This is SUPER misleading because the place you're supposed to be looking does not move — it's actually a little frosted window and the thing that moves is BEHIND it. And the moving thing is TINY, so it's incredibly hard to see. You have to use a flashlight and catch it at just the right angle. It's super frustrating. I even had to use the magnifier lens on my phone hahaha. But you'll find it now that I've told you where to look. You can also just lift the thing up to your ear and if you hear it ticking, it's working.Setting the timer is simple but it's finicky. There's a little bit of play in the dial so when you turn it to the number you want, you'll notice that you can still freely wiggle the dial a little bit. Seems like the wiggle covers about 10 minutes, so I always turn it a slight little tiny bit past the target number. That way the target number is right in the middle of the little wiggle. Like I can wiggle the dial on both sides of the number. I don't know if that's clear but it's the best I can describe it. Even being precise you're still going to be within about 10 minutes of your target — it'll never be dead on.Look, it's not a perfect thing, but it's super helpful as a backup to a primary feeder, or for those times when you know you need to sleep in, or for when you're not going to be around, or whatever. I would absolutely buy it again and even recommend it to others, like you, but just be aware of the weaknesses.Good luck!

This automated food bowl is a life saver. Our cat had been relentless and loud, waking us in the middle of the night for more wet food, every night. With poor sleep we were desperate to find a solution. We set wet food in each bowl and have it go off twice throughout the night. We are finally able to sleep soundly and past 5am! There’s an ice pack but we don’t use it. The food doesn’t dry out (which we were worried about) and we have a happy cat! Only problem is, he won’t eat out of his regular metal bowls anymore! He only eats from the bowls in the dish! Small price to pay. It’s easy to set the timers, the quality is good, the bowls are easy to clean and sturdy. I’d definitely recommend!

This cat feeder is perfect. It is very easy to set up. I am glad it comes with the cold pack . I set the timer to open in 4 hrs and the wet food was still cold.