Cat Mate C500 - 5 Meal Digital Automatic Feeder with Ice Packs for Cats and Small Dogs

Not sure what all the negative reviews are about. This feeder works great. It keeps my oldest cat from gorging on food and keeps the others happy at 3 AM! Just replace the batteries periodically or especially if you are going on vacation ( assuming you have someone checking on your kitties) and it's fine. I have tried other automatic feeders from pet stores and they don't last as long. Easy to program and use. Just get it and you will enjoy sleeping at 3 AM!

I know I am being dramatic, but this automatic feeder saved my effing life. I switched my cats diet to wet canned food because I heard the horrors of how dry food not only leads to obesity (my girl cat is overweight) but also can lead to urine crystals for male cats (male cat is 5). Once I learned this and found out the urine crystal issue will either kill them or cost a $5,000 surgery I KNEW I had to switch to wet food.Anyways, I did so and it was hell at first because my male cat Joey kept waking me up in the middle of the night while I was sleeping because he would want more; he is nocturnal after all. I would wake up 2-3 times every night at around 2, 4, and 5am just to open up a can and get a plate out for him. It was DESTROYING my sleep and every day at work I felt like a zombie or like a mom of a newborn baby. I am only 24 so I was like I was NOT ready to be a mom like that except for 2 cats. Anyways, one night after extreme lack of sleep I thought to myself that there MUST be some sort of robot to do this for me, given that it is 2021. And indeed, there are multiple brands of automatic wet food feeders!I tried another one before this, but this one is by far the best option simply because it has ICE PACKS and that is what gives it the ability to keep food cold & fresh all night long during a nice typical 8 hours of sleep. So, if you're doing this while you sleep for 8 or so hours, here is what I recommend:Put the first meal in right as you go to bed, for me that is 11:30pm. I refrigerate the next (2) meals, which go off at 2:00am & 3:30am. The final (2) meals I freeze, which go off at 4:50am and 5:50am. I didn't create these times, my cat decided them and I am rolling with it. After enough nights your cat will have a perfect internal clock and memorize these times naturally anyways. For freezing the last (2) meals, make sure to take the wet food out of the can and put it into some other bigger container so that it is easier to take out. Taking out frozen meat from a can would obviously be difficult. I freeze the meat for just 1 hour and by the time it is 4:50am and 5:50am, it thaws out for my kitties. I also refrigerate the meat for 1 hour as well. And this is all with the icepacks also during their job too.Lastly, at first my cat Joey was scared sh*tless of the feeder because it MOVES automatically and one time his face was in it, eating, and it moved and he just freaked the eff out. So for about 10 days he would be too scared to eat from it, he would wake me up every time he was hungry and I had to coax him into trusting it. Basically I would take a spoon and put a little bit of the food on top of the feeder. He wasn't afraid of the top part, so he ate it. Then he'd realize there was a whole PILE of meat within the opening and it was just INCHES away from where his face just was, so I think his kitty brain realized, well I guess this must be safe after all. So after about 10 days of coaching him and helping him remove his fears of this moving machine, he is no longer afraid at all and absolutely loves that feeder.Now EVERY time the feeder goes off he runs to it, without any fear at all, and eats his heart out. Same for the girl kitty. Thank GOD for this feeder, it saved my sleep and therefore saved the quality of my life. 10/10.

*See update at the end of this review* I've only had this thing for less than 24 hours and so far my cat and beagle have no problems with it. Part of this review is my actual review of it and the other part is to call out another review that has completely misunderstood how this thing works.First off, I think it will take some time (maybe a few days) teaching them that they don't need to rely on us humans for food anymore and instead can go sit and wait by the feeder for food. That's why these feeders were purchased and that's why I've got my fingers crossed since they like to wake my husband and I up starting at 6am every morning and don't get fed until at least 7am. So they're whiny, meowy, and restless for at least an hour each morning and it's just gotten to be too much. And then when they want dinner they again start meowing and whining and getting restless around 2:30pm but don't get fed until 4pm. I will try to remember to follow up with their progress in a few weeks.As for the review with inaccurate information: A Courtney from the UK (international review) wrote a review back in 2018. They were complaining about two things. Number one, they said it wasn't clear that you could schedule the same feeding time over multiple days (1 meal a day for 4 days). That's literally the first part of the instructions under the "meal time setting". Maybe instructions from 2 years ago were different but the ones I received were so blatantly clear that I don't understand how they could misinterpret that section.Number 2, they state the timing function is over-engineered, whatever that means. It's not. Important: The display screen automatically displays the meals in chronological order. This is simply so you know the schedule. This does not indicate when the next meal will come. What's listed as meal number 1 is not necessarily the time that the next meal will come. What determines when the next meal will come is the clock on the feeder. Let's say you feed your pet at 6:30am, 10am, 4pm, and 9pm. Assuming you set the clock to match your phone/watch/anything else that tells time and you fill all the compartments up and give your pet its first meal just after 4pm (because you just got the feeder delivered at 3:30) the next time the feeder will rotate is 9pm because that's the next time that will occur that day. Even though it's listed as meal number 4 (because it's the last one of the day) on the display screen, it'll be the next time the feeder rotates based on a 12 hour day (if you choose, you can change it to a 24 hour day). Again, if you read the instructions it's very clear. Meal 1 is not the first time the feeder will rotate it's just 1 meal out of a maximum of 4 that you can schedule. It doesn't matter the order that you enter the meals because it automatically displays the times into chronological order from AM to PM and this is stated in the instructions.So another example based on my timing above: if you enter all the times mentioned above and then first feed your pet at 10am, the next time it will rotate is NOT 6:30am but 4pm because that's the next time that will occur during the day because that's just how time works. They're like alarms you set on your phone.I can't believe I'm getting this worked up over an automatic pet feeder. Maybe something should be changed about the scheduling if some people are having this hard of a time. Or maybe they just need to work on their reading and understanding skills.I just really hope my pets stop whining for food.***Update***It's been 11 days since we received the feeder and this is what I have to say: The cat realized pretty quickly that the feeder is what serves up the food each meal now and not the humans. Her whining as stopped HALLELUJAH. The dog does not whine either anymore for the most part, but she will still usually hop on and off the bed once or twice in the morning once she sees the cat approach her feeder down the hall (we live in a shotgun style condo, all one level with one hallway that goes from one end of the condo to the other). I think the dog does this for three reasons: 1) She knows her food is coming soon because the cat is on the move. 2) She is anxious because she knows the cat will try to eat her food if it is left unprotected. Luckily the cat's feeder turns like 15 seconds before the dog's so the cat is already eating by the time the dog's feeder turns. 3) She likes to be near us at all times. The back and forth between the bedroom and her feeder in the kitchen is part excitement, part protection, and part wanting to still be near her humans who are still sleeping. If my husband or I were to get up at 6am (they get fed at 6:30am), they would both still go nuts though and think that we were about to feed them because it's close enough to 6:30am and they can't tell time. The same happens in the afternoon. It's ingrained in their minds. Years and years of us humans feeding them will do that. I don't know if that habit will ever break but we completely ignore them if they do this. Overall, this setup is a huge improvement and makes mornings so much more pleasant for me.The ice packs. I think they are better than nothing. I wish the unit was made of a more insulating material. Luckily, since I bought two units and only one is needed for wet food, I use the two ice packs for the dry food unit as replacements for the wet food feeder. Ideally I'd say the ice packs should be replaced every 4-5 hours. I usually change it every 6-8 hours, sometimes longer than that. The smell of the wet food has never been an issue and the cat has no issues with the temperature of the food either. Overall, I'm not too concerned about the ice pack situation. The replacements are only like $17 for a pair so if you need an additional set that's not a bad price. Whenever I change out the ice packs, both animals freak out for a few minutes but then quickly chill out. I try to change out the ice packs within a few hours of them eating so that it's not close to the next feeding timing. If I changed them closer to the next feeding time (say 2pm and their next meal is at 4pm), they would remain anxious and restless for the next 2 HOURS until the feeder turns at 4pm.Restocking the feeders. My husband and I have a decent set up for this. Every other morning, the feeders need to be refilled. We scheduled it that way. I think we may eventually adjust to every other evening but we'll see. Anyways, husband takes the dog out for her morning walk, the cat is usually passed out on the bed again after inhaling her breakfast so now is my time to refill both of them. I lock the cat in the bedroom, lock myself in the second bathroom where her food bowl is kept (to keep the dog away, she'll eat it if we don't, side note - check out Door Buddy if your dog likes to eat cat poop or cat food) and fill up 4 out of the 5 compartments. Then I do the same for the dog food. Cleaning these things is easy. Water and a tiny bit of elbow grease get any wet food residue off. We decided not to use the exposed compartment so that we are never the ones actually placing the food down for the animals to eat. I want them to really get used to the feeder serving their food and not us. So after a refill, the feeders go back down with one empty compartment open and four full compartments covered. The dog comes back in from her walk and immediately knows that food has been dealt but can't access it (she's a beagle, everything she does revolves around what she smells and where her next meal is coming from. My husband thinks she can smell the fresh food from outside of our condo. I don't doubt it). She frantically sniffs around but then gives up shortly after. Sometimes the cat will hear me opening the cans and will be waiting by the bedroom door meowing like she's about to die (so dramatic) but once I come out and she sees there's no food out for her she'll go back to bed.Size of compartments. My beagle eats 1/2 cup of dry food each meal. This is the perfect size for that. You could probably fit 3/4 cup of dry food in there. Not sure about anything more than that. Cat gets half a can (size of the smaller tuna cans) and there is plenty of room in it - non issue.So, overall, the animals have figured it out and I am happy. Is this thing perfect, no? But it's a huge improvement on my situation. If you have animals that whine and meow and beg for food leading up to each meal, I strongly recommend this automatic feeder.

I love these feeders! I have two, plus an extra four cold packs. I can set up the next day's breakfast before bed and they'll get breakfast on time even if I sleep late. The same works for their dinner, which they can eat on time even when I'm gone for an evening meeting. My cats tend to hide when a stranger is in the house. With these feeders, my pet sitter can come in, clean and fill the feeders, and leave. The cats can then feel comfortable coming out of hiding at meal time. If you plan to use them, use them all the time. That way the cats learn to expect the compartments to open on schedule.They are easily programmable to fit your schedule. 5 compartments mean you can leave one empty and have up to 4 meals ready to be delivered at appointed times. The removable feeding trays and cold packs are easy to clean, tough plastic. They are powered by 3 ordinary AA batteries, so you don't have to worry about a power outage while you are gone. Mine have been running for 14 months on the first set. Get an extra set of cold packs so one set can be in the freezer while the other set is in use.I think they make another model with 3 compartments for those who only want to load 2 meals at a time.Even when I was home, my cats used to wake me up at 6 AM on a Saturday morning to feed them. Now they'll let me sleep. What a blessing!