Whether you’re the proud owner of a dog, cat, or anything furry or feathered in between, we can all agree that we love our pets. We don’t know what we would do without them.
Unfortunately that doesn’t change the fact that pets can be a huge responsibility and the source of endless amounts of work. Vet visits, special diets, exercise, toys, training, supplies, boarding, you name it! It takes a lot of time and care to be a great pet owner, not to mention a lot of money as well.
What’s more, as a pet owner, you want to give your pet the best quality of life that you can. But when you have your own life and priorities, it can be difficult to manage these compromises. Nobody wants to feel guilty when it comes to how they take care of their pets.
This is where a smart pet feeder can become your (second) best friend. If you’re willing to make the investment, you’ll find that you can eliminate one part of the daily routine of taking care of an animal - without compromising their health and happiness. In fact, there’s a lot of reasons why making the switch to an automatic pet feeder will actually improve the life of your pet!
First of all, routine is proven to be one of the best contributors to the life and happiness of your pets. Humans like routine too. Think about how annoyed you can get when you don’t have your coffee on time, when an appliance breaks, or you’re an hour late getting home thanks to rush hour traffic! For a pet, a regularly scheduled feeding time can give them a sense of stability and lower their anxious behaviour.
Besides routine, a smart pet feeder also gives consistency in the amount of food that is given. If you are managing the weight of your pet, this can make it a lot easier to meet their nutritional needs while staying within dietary restrictions. The smart pet feeder will also let you take a hands-off approach to the feeding, so you won’t be swayed by puppy-dog eyes.
The great thing about a smart pet feeder is it will also make your life much easier and less stressful. How’s this strike you: not having to get up at 5 in the morning because somebody is whining at your door for their breakfast? With a smart pet feeder, your pet can get its early morning meal without having to disturb your precious and much-needed sleep. This same principle applies to other aspects of your life. You won’t have to feel guilty about going to that party, or finding someone to swing by when you’re out of town for a day. With a reliable product, you’ll feel well assured that your animal friend will be taken care of!
If this situation sounds like a win-win to you, then you might be exactly the type of person who would benefit from owning a smart pet feeder.
Bottom Line Up Front:
If you’re in a rush, here are some quick highlights and things we liked to help you purchase one feeder over the other.
1
PetKit Smart Cat Feeder
2
Petnet SmartFeeder (2nd Generation)
3
PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder
4
WOPet Smart Feeder
The Smart Feeder for the Devious One
PetKit Smart Cat Feeder
About: From the developers of the Eversweet Water Fountain comes a smart pet feeder that even the most determined cats cannot make work. It is designed to never get stuck, no matter what food you put into it, and to keep any food in it as fresh as the day that it went in. It’s durable, it plugs into the wall and connects to the Wi-Fi, making it easy to keep going. You can add batteries to this in order to make sure that your pets get fed even when the power goes out. The app features the ability to set up to four meals a day, as well as a feed now option, making it very convenient.
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VERDICT: The PetKit Smart Feeder is the perfect device for owners of devious pets. This is one of the only devices on the market that will keep even the most dedicated of pets out of the food because of the way it’s designed. It seals on both the top where you put the food in and the bottom where the food comes out. We had trouble getting it to connect to the Wi-Fi, something that other customers reported as well, and we wish that the customer support was better for this device, but once it starts working, it works really well. This would be one of my top choices for a smart feeder.
The Smart Feeder That works with Alexa
Petnet SmartFeeder (2nd Generation)
About: The second generation of Petnet SmartFeeders is even smarter than the original - working with even more devices, offering voice support and more notifications, as well as a simply better design. The company intends to continue modifying the software in this smart feeder, making it more useful based on customer feedback. The smart feeder can help bring you peace of mind and make feeding your pets much more convenient over time. It has a large amount of storage and keeps you up-to-date on everything that is going on within the device without being annoying with the notifications - a fine line to walk.
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VERDICT: The Petnet SmartFeeder has grown by leaps and bounds since its original iteration, but it still has a ways to go. I love the option to have breed- and size-based feedback on how much food you should be feeding your pet, as well as the notifications that tell you if something has gone wrong with feeding and they haven’t been fed. This would give me a lot of peace of mind whenever I went out of town. Overall, this would be a great cat feeder, except that cats can get their paws into the device to activate the rollers that dispense the food. The device can only put out up to a cup and a half of food at a time, making it difficult for multiple animals or larger animals, unless you are feeding multiple times a day.
The Smart Feeder With High Capacity
PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder
About: The PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder is a high-capacity, smartphone-enabled pet feeder that makes it easy for your family to make sure your animals are eating exactly the amount that they should be for up to 12 meals a day as well as offering a “feed now” option for whenever you forget to feed them yourself. As long as you have a stable wireless connection and power, this feeder will make it easier for you to make sure that your pets are fed. If you are looking for something to set your mind at ease, this might be the feeder for you.
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VERDICT: The concept of the feeder is great. The ability to have multiple bowls and wash it in the dishwasher makes this very attractive as a pet feeder option. However, the execution is not quite there yet. If your Wi-Fi ever goes out you will need to completely reprogram your feeder and app, and if your pet is really dedicated to getting their food, there’s nothing to stop them from triggering the device themselves. This would do much better as a pet feeder if it would alert you when it was empty or running low, something that could be easily added in the next iteration.
The Smart Feeder with a Camera
WOPet Smart Feeder
About:
If your dog or cat gets anxious whenever you leave them, this feeder might be the perfect thing for you. In addition to feeding your dog or cat at regularly scheduled intervals, the WOPet Smart Feeder offers you the option to call your and talk to your pet, as well as watch them on camera from your phone. Automatic pet feeders are the way of the future, and the addition of the voice and video recording on this feeder takes us yet another step into the future. This can take the need to hire a pet sitter away entirely for your indoor animals.
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VERDICT: Honestly, this is a fairly basic smart feeder with a fancy camera and speaker. However, until WOPet works out the bugs in their camera and speaker system, I wouldn’t recommend purchasing it. If your pet is very food motivated, it’s easy to damage the camera and thus render the unit more or less useless. The cord is easily damaged as well, which ruins the camera as well. I think that with some simple improvements, this could be an awesome smart feeder, but it isn’t quite there yet. Keep an eye on the company, though.
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