Sure Petcare SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder with Sealed Lid, RFID Collar Tags Compatible, Works for Wet and Dry Food, White, 4 x C Cell Batteries Required, Not Included

These are brilliant. Although they are quite expensive they really do the job. Had to get two as one my cats has to be on a special diet and medication. The training period was quite straightforward and they were both eating out of them without any problems after a week. Probably would have been sooner but I didn’t want to rush it for them. Would definitely recommend them if you need to ensure that a cat can only eat out of one bowl.

We purchased two of these cat feeders to solve a specific problem, which it solved and unexpectedly, it also solved two other problems. We took on a rescue cat, with her kitten from the Cats Protection League in 2012. We knew we might have a few issues with a neglected & ill-treated cat, but we were not expecting the cat to eat all of her food and then eating all her kitten’s food. We had to intervene and very quickly got to the stage where the kitten would be fed in the kitchen, then when she had enough to eat, the mother would be fed. The mother will then eat her own food and what was left of the kitten’s food. As the kitten matured, we would warn off the mother from her daughter's food (a hard stare worked) and we managed to arrive at a point where the kitten got enough food, but the mother was getting too fat. The vet did not view this as a problem, but health problems would be coming if we did not act soon. The mother was too fat to clean her own back and we had to brush her, so action was required before health conditions from over-eating arrived. We moved house, where we had fields at the back of our house and this led to many flies landing on the cat food, which was clearly not good. The wet food would also dry out and would become inedible.We got these cat feeders from Amazon and used the two sided bowls, one for dry food, the other side for wet. We spent about 3 weeks training the cats with the training modes within the cat feeder, which made progress easy, but steady. This was all worth it, the food is covered and the flies cannot get to it, but more importantly, the mother cat only gets her share, she is losing weight and her daughter no longer has to eat all her food at once, or face the reality of losing most of it. The cats are now relaxed as the feeder lids open and they eat their food happily. The wet food is fresher and you can see that it retains moisture throughout the day, as condensation forms on the inside of the lid, which the food fresher most of the day.This has been a very effective device to keep our cats healthy & happy. It is battery operated, so it can be sited anywhere in the home. Setting up was easy, the instructions were easy to follow and helped a great deal.We knew that taking on an ill-treated cat would come with issues (photographs after her rescue show a very skinny & scared cat), her over-eating is clearly the result of cruelty and not a reflection of her true self. Things have progressed well, she can now clean her own back. Incidentally, it took two years with us before she would purr, so the neglect and ill-treatment cast a long shadow for her and this feeder is putting to rest the last vestiges of that long shadow.

This was our last resort as we have 2 cats on renal diet who were either being nudged off the food by the others or leaving some for later only to come back and find it gone. According to the vet, renal is high in carbohydrate so not good for normal cats and even they said it's very expensive food to feed every day.We tried to take the food up when they had finished but it wasn't possible to watch it all the time every time. Similarly, if we did take it up and were't there to put it back down when they came back, they wouldn't get any. One of the cats is less bold cat and we could tell that he had started losing weight.Even after reading product reviews, we were slightly concerned that this wouldn't work; a combination of our experiences with an RFID cat flap that just doesn't detect the collar tags (we ended up sticking a disc to the flap) and the fact that the vet struggles to find their chips with the detector sometimes. An £89 gamble.Arrival as usual was prompt and, equally as usual, it came in a box about twice the size it needed to be in which one cat immediately set up home. We ordered the 4xC batteries it needed at the same time.Unpacking it, the unit needs no assembly and is a one piece. The arch that detects the cats is tilted back at about 45 degrees and the side triangles below it are sealed off with clear plastic. A clear, square lid covers the food, which is hinged left to right in its centre and, when open, folds back to block access from the back, so only the cat who entered from the front through the arch can get to the food.The batteries were easy to insert (2 in each side). It comes with a single grey tray in the feeder. A separate box contains a grey mat which sits at the front of the feeder and a second tray with a split down the middle so you can put dry in one side and wet in the other. Full, clear instructions are provided and there is also a collar disc to use if your cat isn't microchipped (if you need more than one, extra can be bought separately though probably as cheap and more useful in the long term to get your cat chipped).There are three buttons around the back; a big Open/Close (for filling/cleaning), Learn (to identify the cats using it) and Training (to get the cats used to how it works).We had one cat using the collar disc (he has no chip) and the other one has a chip. The unit easily learnt both cats and despite what the book says about using treats to get the cats to go in the arch, we found carrying them and just putting them through the arch and back was enough for the unit to identify them first time. The first fears about the unit not picking up correctly had been allayed. We've noticed that it seems to pick the collar disc up from a little further away than the chip but there's not a huge difference.The training mode has a three stages, all explained in the leaflet. The first stage has the door is fully open so they can get used to eating within the arch. The second stage leaves the lid slightly closed (about 2/3 open) then opens fully when they enter and are eating so they get used to the lid moving. When they finish eating, it closes to 2/3 open again. The final training step is the same but with the lid beginning only 1/3 open.We ended up not really using the training modes, largely because the other cats would come and eat the food, so we just opened it manually when they came up. One ate straight away but the other didn't like being in the enclosed space so we had to move the bowl out in front of the feeder where he eventually ate. By the second day, the bolder one was activating it himself and eating. We think he may be a bit hard of hearing so the sound of the door possibly didn't affect him, and he just didn't mind the movement. The other cat was very spooked by the lid movement and sound and we had to keep putting the bowl out to the front of the feeder with lots of strokes. Each time, we'd get the bowl closer and finally into the feeder where he would eat but still be spooked by the door. He finally got used to the noise and movement of the door when we opened it manually and after seeing the other cat eating. After only a couple of days, he was also activating it himself.They now come and go as they please, knowing there will be food there (renal cats eat little and often). The lid makes a whirr noise which isn't very loud but can definitely be heard and we now realise how often they must have been looking for food only to find the others had eaten it.There has been one incident of tailgating; the feeder is wide enough for two cats side by side (if they put up with each other) so one of the non-renal diet cats managed to sneak in one time. This isn't a common occurrence though and there's no system that would prevent that.It has been ultra reliable and the weight loss we were worried about seems to be reversing itself. The other cats don't try to paw their way in to the food despite being able to see and presumably smell it, so have reluctantly accepted that they can't have that food.Can't comment on battery life as we have only had it a week or so but at £7 a time, we are hoping to get a good few months out of them.In summary, we were doubtful about this but didn't have many other ideas. It has been a huge success. It's perfect for cats on a special diet and should be good to stop cats overeating. The only minus is the cost. If it was cheaper, we'd definitely get one for each cat to make sure they're getting the right amount of the right food each day. For now, the special diet cats are sorted and we will feed the others manually.It's a shame their other product, the Sureflap cat door has poor draught-proofing and doesn't have a timer (to only allow exit between certain times). The Catmate door we have has good draught-proofing and the timer but doesn't sense the collar discs it comes with yet alone the cat's chips. The two companies should get together as that would be the ideal product combination.

I bought this for my 2 cats to use. I serve their food in ceramic bowls at meal times and then any food left over I put in the feeder for later, as we have at least 3 "invader" cats that will steal food left out in the blink of an eye. The feeder works well now, though I had to program our cats' microchips in twice for the feeder to learn them. Even then very occasionally it didn't "see" our cats - maybe they didn't lean far enough in. To solve this I added a sureflap RFID collar tag to their collars for a belt and braces approach. Our cats didn't mind the moving lid at all and the training went well- the instructions were excellent. Then we went on holiday and a friend came in and put food in it and left and so our cats had no choice but to use it with no one at home, so now are very confident using it. So I'm very pleased, it gives good peace of mind to know that my cats are getting all their food. I'm sure they are less skinny now.