PetSafe Automatic Dog Feeder, 5 Meals, 40 oz Capacity, Plastic, for Dry Food, Multiple Pets

My cats always wake me up around 4 or 5 am to feed them, no matter how late I give them their last meal of the day. Hoping to avoid having to get up at this hour, I bought two of these units (they each eat different food and in a different location.) Setup was easy enough. I was able to coordinate the two so they activate within roughly 10 seconds of each other. Day one was pure comedy. The cats were nearby their dishes when the motors kicked on (it's kinda loud). They freaked: Fluffed up like they'd stuck their little paws in an electrical outlet, ran, stopped, crouched, and hissed. Once I'd regained my composure, I coaxed each one into coming to look and eventually eat from the bowl. Day two through four, the cats still shy away when the motor turns on, but are no longer freaked out. They still don't 'get it' ... that the sound means food is now available to eat. In order to get them to associate the sound with something good (food), I made an effort to be nearby at mealtimes so when the dishes kicked on, I could say, "Hungry, hungry, hungry?" and then wiggle my fingers in the bowl to show the food was in there. "Hungry" is what I would say when feeding them before, so they already knew what those words meant. I just needed them to make the connection to the sound. Day five. The lightbulb goes on at the last meal of the day. (I feed them a little less than 1/4 cup food every 6 hours.) They got me up at 5:25 am for their first meal of the day, still not realizing food was already sitting in the dishes for them. So, for the next two meals, when the motor kicked on, in addition to repeating the word "hungry", I picked them up and took them immediately to their feeders. Tonight was perfect. The feeders clicked on and both cats ran to their dishes right way and began eating. Hurray! I hope this will also be the case in the wee hours of the morning starting tomorrow. I'm very much looking forward to no longer having to endure their early AM pestering for food. Update after three months: I'm in Heaven! I get to sleep through the night. The cats love their feeders and so do I. My main motivation for getting these was the interrupted sleep, however, it's been really wonderful all the way around. I have only to remember to fill the feeders each evening, and I'm set for 24 hrs ... free to come and go without the worry of hungry cats awaiting my arrival for their next meal. July 2013: Wow! Four years later and I'm still loving these feeders. I think in all this time I've changed the batteries only a couple times. One of the units is still working absolutely perfectly and the other recently started to have difficulty rotating the bowl. It's beginning to stick and in the last couple days, it's happening a lot. Sometimes after a bit of strain it moves but other times it totally sticks and continues to run until I push the bowl. The mechanism that makes it spin seems to be a bit stripped. I've tried rotating the bowl to different positions on the spinner and cleaning it well, but have been unable to resolve the dysfunction. So, rather than waiting until it completely conks out, I decided to purchase another unit. I got four years of near-flawless functioning from this unit, so no complaints, especially since the other one is going strong. I'm looking forward to at least another four years of excellent performance from the new unit. Periodically (every couple of months) I have to resynchronize the bowls. They are running about 1 minute apart by then and I like both cats to start eating at roughly the same time so they are not both trying to eat from the feeder that activates first. This is a very minor inconvenience and if not for having two units that I need to activate together, it would be a non-issue.

Very impressed with this product! I waited a year to review this product because I wanted to make sure it was durable and what I expected before I posted a review. As you can see from the reviews on automatic cat feeders it is hard to find one with near perfect reviews. They all have reviews with 1 stars for various reasons. I took a chance and ordered this one because it had 5 compartments, the food is set to a timer (you can set multiple timers), and it was decently priced compared to some other products. This is what I have learned after using this product for a long time: 1) When I first bought this, yes, my cat moved the compartment and found food in the side compartment. HOWEVER, I realized it was MY FAULT because I did not close the lip properly so that it "locked". Therefore, she was able to lift the lid with her paw in order to move the compartment. She also made it so the compartments were off and half of 2 compartments were showing. I immediately called them, they were very friendly and sent me a NEW one with a paid return sticker to send the broken one back. From then on, I always check to make sure I push the lid down til it "clicks" and my cat cant get to the other compartments at all. Now, at the time, I called to get it replaced because I thought she broke it but later I realized it wasn't actually broken (see #2) 2) make sure to read all of the instructions about the buttons you can press. I just realized a month ago there is a button that moves the motor (turns the compartments) around even if the timer doesnt go off. So when I left the lid open accidentally when I first bought it my cat first moved the compartments so 2 were showing, half of each. If the compartments ever get "off" from the center hole press this button that moves the motor and after a couple times rotating it, it will eventually be back and centered on the hole again. This is important! I realized I sent back the first product when it actually had nothing wrong with it and could easily be fixed with a push of a button. 3) This product takes a lot of batteries which I thought would suck. BUT, I have not changed the batteries since I first bought it!! So it has been working for a year and still running haha amazing! I still wonder how much longer the batteries will last but its running strong. And now that I know having the batteries isn't actually costing me more money than if it plugged in, I prefer this over a feeder than plugs in because I can put the feeder where ever I want without worrying about a cord. My new apartment doesn't have an outlet in the specific spot I like to put my cats food and water so the batteries are great! 4) You can set many timers. I have 3 set ( 2 morning feedings spread out so she doesnt inhale the food too fast, 1 afternoon treat, and then I give her wet food for dinner). I REALLY trust this product because I have actually used it for "emergencies" when I have to leave for 1-2 days and can't get someone to watch her. It has never failed on me when I have had to rely on it for 2 days. 5) I wash the inside compartments in my dishwasher because I am lazy lol Overall I love this product! My cat loves it too! She no longer wakes me up at 5am for food :D This was one of the cheaper automatic feeders I found that had all of the features I wanted and I am really impressed. I have bought a lot of petsafe products and I am impressed with them all!

To say one of my three cats is food obsessed is an understatement. He will also eat too much too fast and throw up. This feeder has been a big help. In addition to wet food twice daily, I program this feeder to rotate twice a day (6am and 2pm), so it gets refilled every two days, and I don’t get woken up early. Each rotation contains a small serving of dry food (all of his wet and dry food daily is weighed). To help slow him down, I also put a golf ball in each slot. (I have another set of golf balls and replace and run them through the dishwasher periodically.) The first slot remains empty. In addition to numbering the slots, I added a red dot on the fifth to remind me when it’s refill day. Batteries last a long time. This cat also gets a bedtime dish of “kibble soup” - a small portion of dry food that has soaked in 2 oz water for at least an hour. Works well for us - he finishes every drop, gets extra hydration, and doesn't throw it up.

UPDATED REVIEW Unfortunately, my early elation with the apparent reliability with this feeder faded after it failed completely when I was away on a four-day trip, leaving my cat without food for one of the two meals she eats every day, unbeknownst to the person who stopped by daily to give her the second daily meal and just assumed the feeder continued to work well, as it had in the first month or so. My hope is that I simply received a defective feeder and that the replacement provided by PetSafe pursuant to the one-year warranty won't fail in the same way. Here's what I reported to PetSafe on 6/30/15 when asking for a replacement under the warranty: "The feeder works inconsistently. Sometimes it's great and reliable. At other times (and when it really has counted), the feeder has let me down by not rotating the bowl fully or at all at the programmed times. I am not overfilling the bowls; I put only about one quarter of a cup of dry food in each bowl. I have tried three different sets of batteries, including a fresh set I bought just a few days ago, but the operation is the same. Even when I use the button to manually advance the bowls, the carousel does not rotate the bowls a full position at a time, requiring me to hit the button about half a dozen times to get the next bowl into position. The motor appears to be straining, which makes no sense given that I've been using the feeder for less than a month and a half." PetSafe asked me to follow its instructions to do some troubleshooting, and, after I did what the company asked, the feeder stopped working entirely. I originally had given this feeder five stars. I've downgraded it to four stars because, when it works, it's still fantastic. I just have so much nervousness now that it is going to fail again and deprive my cat of food at the times I assume it is feeding her. Part of my rating, as well, takes into account the relatively hassle-free replacement under the warranty. The replacement came at no cost to me; PetSafe even covered all of the shipping costs. Communication with PetSafe was very slow by e-mail, so, if anyone needs to get help with this product, I suggest calling and trying to get someone on the phone in real time to resolve any problems more quickly. *** ORIGINAL REVIEW (5/18/15) This feeder was a life-saver when I went away recently and couldn't find anyone to feed my cat for a couple of days. I've had it for only about a week so far, but I've been pleased with its reliability. I tested it a handful of times before I felt comfortable leaving my cat to depend on it, programming different times for it to rotate while I stood by and watched, and it came through perfectly. When I got home from my weekend away, my cat displayed none of the food-related anxiety she exhibits even when I have people stop by to feed her. She got the hang of the feeder very quickly. She's highly food motivated, and she can smell the meals that are stored inside, but she just seems to accept she can't have them until they're presented to her. She did push the whole unit around a bit on the bathroom floor, but the feeder is sturdy enough that she could not damage it, and it is weighted well so that it did not tip over. I join the chorus of other reviewers who recommend this product. I am especially pleased that it was less than half the cost of a different automatic feeder I bought from Petco (Petmate brand), and it worked much more reliably.

***Updates are located at the bottom of the review.*** ***Original Review*** My husband and I needed to find a solution to prevent our cat from waking us up at 4:30 in the morning for her breakfast. We were very happy to find this automatic pet feeder! We haven't been using it all that long but so far, it's been great for us. Our cat is still getting used to it but we've seen a difference already with how she doesn't wake us up that much. It has 5 different chambers to put food in which is great for portion control since we have our cat on a diet. The feeder was very easy to program with the times we wanted the next serving of food available. When it's the next feeding time, the dish part of the feeder rotates and the next portion is available. The feeder requires 4 D size batteries which are not included. We plan to always have some around for when the time comes that we need to replace them. We could've opted for the 2-meal feeder but we wanted to make sure our cat wouldn't figure out how to open the feeder. For us, spending a few more dollars on the 5-meal feeder was well-worth it. The price we paid was AMAZING! If this feeder continues to work this well for a long time, it will be such a good investment for us. Plus, it means we get a little more sleep! I highly recommend this pet feeder to anyone with a pet who wakes them up earlier than they want to be up! ***Update 09/02/2016 - We have had this pet feeder for well over a year now and it's still working great. We switched our cat from two meals a day to four smaller meals and this feeder accommodates our needs perfectly. I was easily able to switch the times so our cat's food is ready in six-hour increments. The feeder has been durable even with our curious twin toddlers poking at it and it's still in great shape. I still believe the five-meal feeder is the best one that suits our needs since we have more flexibility and it allows us to easily change up our cat's feeding schedule without purchasing a new feeder. I still highly recommend this feeder.

I use this to dispense treats for my pup and I have even used it to dispense her medication when I need to be away from home at certain times. It seems pretty sturdy although my pup is not destructive so I wasn't too worried. I point a camera at it and it has never failed. Setting it up wasn't too difficult.

I have several of these, because multicat household. Only 1 has failed on me before the 12 month warranty and Petsafe replaced it. I have had 2 for more than 10 years and they still work great. I am now finally converting all of the ones I own to AC power after the last few I purchased have gone past their 12 mos warranty and the batteries I purchased at the same time have died after 16 mos. of use. DC to AC How-To- I purchased "2A AC Converter Adapter DC 6V 1.5A Power Supply Charger 5.5 x 2.1mm 1500mA US" for $10.10 and " 6ft. DC Barrel Power 5.5mm x 2.1mm Extension Cable Male to Female" for $2.78 on ebay to give me up to a 10 ft extendable power cord. I cut off the male connector on the extension cord and prepped the cable to expose the positive and negative wires. I purchased a rubber bushing for $.69 3/32" overall length 1/8" I.D. 3/8" major dia. 3/16" min dia. 1/16" Hd. Thickness & a nylon snap bushing that fits 3/8" hole 1/4" I.D. Shorty for $.35. Also, I purchased moldable glue and used one packet at $3.17 for the one packet. Unscrew the battery housing from the main unit, drill a 3/8" hole into the outside of the back side plastic near where the wires from the circuit board go to the batteries. There are two plastic wall from the back side plastic on the battery housing to the place where you want to solder the positive and negative wires from the male side of the extension cable. I drilled a 1/4" hole on the inside wall and fed the power cable through the snap bushing then the rubber bushing and then the plastic on the battery housing and tied a standard knot on the cable to keep it from pulling out of the 1/4" hole. Snap the plastic bushing on the outside hole and the rubber bushing also catches on the plastic bushing when pulled. I soldered the red wire from the cable to where the red wire from the circuit board is soldered to the battery housing and the black wire from the cable to where the black wire from the circuit board is soldered to the battery housing. Then after reconnecting the battery housing, I added moldable glue to fill in the snap bushing from the outside of the case to help keep moisture from getting into the area with the circuit board. You could probably use silicone molding instead of the moldable glue - whatever is handy. Then I connected up the extension cord to the plug on the ac power supply and I went ahead and taped that connection together using gaffers tape to keep the connectors from coming apart accidentally. It works plugged into an AC outlet just as if it was running on the D cell batteries. You can actually still run it off of batteries if you want as long as you unplug it from the ac outlet and don't combine the two. Just don't plug it in and have batteries installed in the feeder at the same time. That would probably fry the circuit board. $17 in parts, a drill, wire strippers, a soldering iron and some silver solder, and about 15-20 minutes of time to put it together are all you need. Cheers and please use this how-to at your own risk!

This review is for the 5-meal feeder. EDIT: 3 years later. So, after a year with 2 feeders, the electronic eye on one of them failed. The device would occasionally start rotating and never stop. Removing the batteries was the only way to stop it. I started being diligent about making sure the underside of the white tray was clean and dry when reinserting in the machine, in case the slits were being blocked by debris/water. Not sure if this really helped or not. Nevertheless, after a few weeks of erratic behavior, the eye failed entirely and now every rotation was unending. I replaced the unit at full cost and things have been fine for another 2 years. Now one of the devices has the same eye failure. I took it apart and cleaned the eye, and still no luck. Unfortunately, the damn thing now costs $53!! It's been as low as $25, usually around $30. I can't really afford to wait for the price to drop so now I need to decide whether to buy this overpriced and flawed piece of junk again or a different one. >:( EDIT: just hours later, and I'm looking at the QPets feeder, getting ready to return these pieces of junk. But the QPets feeder's reviews sound pretty lousy and the programming sounds even worse than this PetSafe. So I'm reading some other reviews of the PetSafe and finally come across one customer who solved the faulty rotation problem! Problem solved! Oh my god, PWayne & R. Jensen, you are life savers! I was ready to return my third unit when I read your review. I took a closer look at mine, and EUREKA! It's fixed! Turns out you MUST push the white tray down into the device all the way, in order to align the tray lip with a sensor slot. It's easy to do wrong. To be clear for other readers: if you remove the white food tray, near the rear of the round area, just in front of the battery compartment, there is a small slit. It doesn't look like much. Now, look at your food tray. Around the outside edge of it, near the divider between each bowl, there is a small notch in the edge of the white plastic. I thought these notches did nothing, but in fact, they need to align in the aforementioned slit to allow the device to sense the tray's proper rotation. It's all too easy to place the tray on the shaft and close the door, thinking everything is fine. But in fact, the edge of the tray needs to be pushed down a little more firmly in order to slot into the sensor slit. Now your device will operate properly. 2 stars added to original 1 star review. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Ugh. 1 out of the 3 of these I've had shipped here in the past 3 weeks actually work properly. I wanted 2 for my 2 cats, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards. First, the primary defect: the motor to advance the trays to the next only advances a short distance, slightly less than half a tray's worth. Making the device next to useless. Of our first two, one worked most of the time. I exchanged the defective second unit. Now the new one is developing the same problem. And I've seen the first one fail to advance properly rarely, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it goes. I'll be returning them both, for probably the QPets 6 meal feeder, http://www.amazon.com/Qpets-6-Meal-Automatic-Pet-Feeder/dp/B005POODL8/ , which was my second choice when I was first shopping for these. To be honest, none of these devices gets great reviews, which is a shame, because it's clearly an unserved market. Beyond the rotation defect, even if this device worked perfectly, it'd still be oddly poor. I say odd, because it seems it'd be an easy thing to get right. My other issues with the device: 1. It claims to be a 5-meal feeder, but since one tray is always open, you can really only program 4 presentations of new food. 2. Despite feeding only 4 (or 5) meals, the unit accepts 9 programs. What for? I tried programming 4 in the morning and 5 in the evening, just rotating the same food over and over, but that was pointless. 3. A feature of the device is that you can manually push the trays to advance 1 slot. However, it takes a few pushes to do so, since one push only clicks over about halfway, (same as the defect rotation.) But the strength to push it is not strong enough to stop all pets from advancing it themselves. Thankfully, my cats are stupid and small enough to not figure out. Why even have this feature? 4. Programming the device is seriously annoying. And every time the batteries run dry, you will need to program the whole thing again from scratch. 5. There is a recessed area in the bottom of the device, to place an ice pack to help keep wet food fresher longer. However, the recess is too small and shallow for most standard size ice packs. Also, the recess is only beneath the main food opening. This is NOT where you need it; it should be under the other four covered trays! 6. Also presumably, especially with the (flawed) ice pack recess, one might want to use this device to keep their pets fed while going away for a few days. But the timer can only be programmed within a 24hr period, so no luck. PROS: 1. One of the only good things about the device is that it is rather sturdy and the white food tray is solid and easy to clean. 2. While not airtight, it is relatively well-sealed, and wet canned food in the device for a whole day was still moist on the surface, and not dried out as it would be if left in the open.