Smart pet care: automatic pet feeders are on trend
1.12.2023
Translation: machine translated
A topic that cat households can hardly avoid: Automatic feeders. Here I tell you why they are so popular and why I continue to do without them.
"You open the flap, you pour it in here and you have to top it up every ten days or so." What sounds a bit like I'm standing in front of an open bonnet in a car garage actually describes my introduction to the world of automatic feeders. When I look around at my circle of friends, fewer and fewer are feeding by hand. Half of my cat friends have now switched to smart gadgets.
Automatic feeders are in demand
The figures in our shop also show this trend. When I enquired with the responsible buyer, he confirmed a significant increase in sales of automatic feeders in recent years. The Surefeed bowl, for example, generated almost four times as much turnover in 2023 as it did in 2019. The numerous positive reviews also show that it is very popular.
Its special feature is that it can be linked to a microchip and only opens its feeding hatch for the animal that has been saved. This way you can prevent one cat from stealing the other's food - if you have one good and one poor eater. If your pet is not chipped, you can use the collar tag included. This also activates the opening mechanism.
Makes everyday life and holidays easier
Of course, there are also vending machines with a large food container that replace the need for constant refilling. These are particularly popular with my friends because you can organise your daily routine more flexibly: You no longer have to be at home at the usual feeding time, but can simply set the feeder accordingly. A machine like this also makes it easier to cover for people on holiday. Because it takes over the feeding, visiting once instead of twice a day is sufficient when cat-sitting.
If this also appeals to you, you should take a look at the Petlibro. With its double opening, it is ideal for two cat owners. Each velvet paw has its own bowl.
And of course there are also smart dispensers like the Petkit, which you can control from anywhere with an app. Extras such as a voice recording and call function even make it possible to talk to your pet during feeding.
Still not a must-have - in my opinion
By the way, I still feed by hand the old-school way. The reason: firstly, I just like serving my cats their dinner myself. After all, it's one of the highlights of the day for them. On the other hand, I'm honestly a little suspicious of the automatic feeders.
As much relief as they provide in everyday cat life, they can also cause a lot of problems: For example, my one friend found that the individual brackets of her food variety were too big for her new feeder and so clogged up the machinery: so no food for the kitty. Another friend told me that her feeder had missed the set feeding time three times before she made a complaint. This made me so nervous that the next time I was on holiday I timed my cat-sitter visit to coincide with the feeding time of the machine. How else was I supposed to check that something was really coming out of it - without standing next to it (with a slightly pounding heart) and watching it spit out its brackets?
But don't worry: if, like me, you trust your hand more than a machine, you can of course also find plenty of normal and absolutely un-smart food bowls in the shop.
Cover photo: Janine Rademacher
Cat lady and coffee lover from up north. Always on the lookout for «News and Trends».
Pets
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