The Best Automatic Feeders for Cats, According to Cat People

What to look for in an automatic feeder

PetLibro’s Granary feeder has just about every feature you could ask for. Danahy uses it with her own cats and told me many of her clients use it too. (We also recommend it in our guide to the best automatic feeders for dogs.) It has a five-liter capacity and works with most dry food — PetLibro’s maximum recommended kibble size is 15 x 15 millimeters. With the PetLibro app, you can schedule up to ten separate meals per day; for each meal, you can customize exactly how much food is dispensed. Being able to schedule specific portions can be very beneficial for cats that are on a specific diet. Danahy says that since creating a schedule for her feeder in the app, she rarely looks at it, so it doesn’t require constant monitoring. But if you’d like some reassurance that your cat is eating its meals as expected when you’re away, there is a built-in camera that can help ease that anxiety; the Granary also has a motion detector that can send you alerts when your cat walks nearby. An audio feature allows you to “call” your cat, but most of the experts I spoke to warned me that using it is more likely to scare cats than comfort them. The app will also send you alerts when the food supply is low or if there is a malfunction or a power outage.

The Granary is primarily powered by plugging it into an outlet, but it has a battery backup option, which is a feature Van de Kieft recommends looking for in any automatic feeder that you’ll be relying on while away from home. And while most of the device is made of plastic, it’s nice that the food bowl is made from stainless steel, which tends to be more hygienic than plastic and less likely to cause cats to develop chin acne. (PetLibro also makes a two-bowl version of the Granary, though Van de Kieft cautions that cats generally do not like to eat closely to one another, so dual feeders can cause unnecessary stress between cats.) Overall, the Granary is a splurgy option that likely offers more features than the average cat owner requires, but for those who need to specifically portion their cat’s meals, who want the ease of app-based controls, or who appreciate having a built-in camera to check in while away from home, it’s a solid choice.

If you want an automatic feeder with the majority of important features the experts recommend without spending more than you need to, the Oneisall is a great less-expensive option. Kerrie McKeon, lead feline-care specialist at Bideawee, used it during a cat-sitting gig and says it works well, is easy to operate, and was loved by the cats. It’s a little smaller than the Granary, with a 3.5-liter capacity. But it shares many of the same features, like a stainless-steel bowl, app-based controls that allow scheduling up to ten meals per day, and a battery backup. The single-bowl version of the Oneisall does not have a camera or any motion-detecting capabilities like the Granary does. There is a two-bowl version, which has a camera and audio, but again, dual feeders aren’t a good fit for most cats.

For multi-pet households, a microchip-activated feeder can ensure each pet eats its food and its food only. Danahy says this can be especially helpful for cats on a specific diet, cats that need medication with their food, or cats that eat each other’s food. The SureFeed is a microchip-activated feeder that comes recommended by Wilson, Delgado, and senior editor Michael Berk. “In a multi-cat household like mine, food competition and resource access can be significant sources of tension,” says Wilson. “A microchip feeder can help reduce that competition by giving each cat reliable access to their own food.” Delgado says it keeps her “hungrier” cat from eating all of her sisters’ food and allows her to track her cats’ eating habits in the corresponding app. The lid of the sealed food bowl lifts only when the pet whose microchip is connected to the SureFeed approaches it. (You can also use an RFID collar tag from PetSure if your cat is not microchipped, but Delgado says she prefers the microchip method, as a tag can fall off a collar.)

Berk says he likes that the SureFeed has a lot of flexibility for training cats to use it, as the moving parts can be off-putting at first. The feeder has a “Training Function” that allows cats to get accustomed to eating from it by slowly incorporating the lid opening and closing until they come to expect the lid to open when they approach the feeder.

Unlike the other automatic feeders on this list, the SureFeed doesn’t hold a reserve of food, so you have to manually add each serving to the dishes. In the app, you can set portion limits by weight and the feeder will let you know when you’ve added the correct amount of food, which is helpful for cats that need to eat strict portion sizes. The SureFeed works with both wet and dry food, since it has to be refilled for every meal. Berk notes that you can swap out the bowl if you want — SureFeed sells stainless-steel and slow-feeder versions of the bowls that slot into the feeder. He also recommends adding the back shield if you have a very persistent food thief trying to edge in from the wrong side.

Most automatic feeders are designed for dry food, so if you want to provide your cat with timed portions of wet food, you’ll need a feeder specifically designed for that. Senior writer Michael Zhao likes this wet-food feeder from Closer Pets, which he started using after his cats learned to break into the simple mechanical timer feeder he previously tried. “One of our cats in particular will eat until he throws up if we leave out too much food,” Zhao says, “so we have to make the feedings small and space them out.” This feeder allows him to preportion meals and set the time when they are served. The controls are on the feeder, rather than in an app, and it runs on batteries. It can hold up to five servings — each compartment in the bowl has an 11.6-ounce capacity — and the bowl is dishwasher safe. The feeder also comes with ice packs to keep the food cold if needed. Van de Kieft says some cats won’t eat their food if it’s too cold, so she advises testing how your cat reacts to chilled wet food before using this type of feeder. And depending on the intervals of the meals, Zhao says the ice packs aren’t always necessary. Conveniently, while this feeder is geared toward wet food, it can also be used with dry food if you serve your cat both types.

If you’re looking for a simple, inexpensive feeder, Delgado recommends this one from PetSafe. She doesn’t give her cats all their meals in it, but she likes using it to schedule a snack in the morning to keep them from waking her up early begging for food. The feeder runs on batteries and has a simple mechanical timer that you can set up to 24 hours ahead. The lid simply pops open to give cats access to their meal. The bowl has two compartments, which each hold 1.5 cups of food. It is also dishwasher safe.