C500 Five-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder with Stainless Steel Bowls

This works perfectly for our needs! We use it to leave wet food for our cat's lunch while we are at work, and occasionally her wet food dinner if we're going to be away for the evening. Reviews that mention that the ice packs don't stay cold very long are correct; I wouldn't leave wet food in there for any longer than 24 hours. Like if I was going on an overnight trip, I would use it, but not if I was going to be gone more than one night. It's loud, but we like that because it cues us on weekends and evenings that it's lunch/dinner time. It REALLY helps our very regimented cat stay on her schedule that she is quite devoted to. I'm still using the same batteries I put in back on August, so battery life seems good to me, too. One thing I really love is the removable stainless steel bowls. I pre measure her wet food servings during the week and put the bowls in the fridge with fabric bowl covers. There is no smell seepage and it's super convenient to just pull it out of the fridge and pop a premade serving in the feeder when we leave for work soooo early. This also is why we don't really need to depend on the ice packs.

Works well. My dog is 8.5lbs. She was unsure at first but got use to it quickly.

Easy to program. I like the removable bowls over past solid models. They're easier to clean. Great when we need to be gone for more than one meal or overnight. We keep spare icepacks for long weekends so our sitter can re-fill easily.

After much research on automatic feeders, I finally decided on the “Closer Pets Five-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder with Stainless Steel Bowl Inserts and Ice Packs (C500) (Also called CatMateC500)” History: Dog 1 is large at 62# & has severe IBD, basically allergic to food proteins. She is on an extremely strict prescription diet. She takes meds 7 times a day! Both meds & meals must be given at precise times: some on an empty stomach, some with a meal, some twice a day, some once a day. The empty tummy meds are always given with a tiny bit of kibble. One of her meds is a probiotic that must be refrigerated for full efficacy. We’re very lucky that she loves medicine time! Although she is on kibble right now, in the past, she was on home-cooked, sweet potato and tilapia. If we ever have to go back to a home cooked diet, then I would need the ice packs to keep the food fresh. This was a very strong consideration and why I chose this particular machine for her needs. (Note: She’s a hungry hippo and would eat ALL food at once with a chip reader RFID machine.) Pros: - 5 trays - Slots hold 1 cup small kibble - ice pack for wet/home cooked food or if has meds that need chilling like probiotics - set time for 4 slots - slots can be set to up 15 minutes apart or several hours apart. Cons: - No RFID chip reader - no WiFi - no way to dispense food remotely via an app. - no camera - no personal recording to call pup. - Trays are small since it’s designed for cats. - larger dog kibble would need to utilize 2 separate trays - 1 slot is always open, so can’t program 5 feedings, only 4. not that I’d leave her that long! This would be useful when I’m on vacation and have a dog sitter so I could program all 7 meds & dinners so sitter wouldn’t need to worry about that. I would need 2 separate feeders to accomplish this. IF you need a slow feeder for your pet, you’d have to schedule a few small meals 15 minutes apart to make them eat slow. Noting this because my Pup is a gobbler and can vomit from eating too fast. Since I’m currently only using for 2 meals, I may schedule her 5:30 dinner at 5:30 & 5:40 to spread it out some as I cannot risk her getting sick. Test day 1: We left her alone & she opened it up herself. Ugh! Day 2-3: Desensitization! I put some food in it set for 5pm & 5:30pm. I placed it in the living room where I could supervise all interactions. She was allowed to inspect it, but not paw at it. If she tried to claw or bite it, I made a loud noise to stop her. She pretty quickly got desensitized to its presence. She also learned quickly that when it beeps that food magically appears. Day 4-6: I then moved it to her feeding room for the final desensitization. We were just able to do a true field test with us out of the home at feeding time on Sunday. She did very well! She inspected it several times, but did not claw it or break into it with teeth. This girl has a precise belly clock! At 5 PM she was ready and waiting for her medicine & tiny snack. She then stared at the magical food machine until it slid over & dispensed food at 5:30. I’m very lucky that she loves taking her medicine. Her 5pm feeding is a med & a few kibble. I’m able to toss her Cisapride with a few kibble and she gobbles it down. 5:30pm is dinner time. I place her Visbiome Probiotic, which must stay chilled for full efficacy, in the bottom closest to ice pack, then food, then Proin incontinence med on top. I have not set up any other times yet, but will if I’m gone all day because I can dose her 9:30am & 9:30pm meds with a few kibble, which would be 4 slots. 1 slot will never be used and is therefore useless to have. —————————- I do have another dog. She is not a hungry hippo like Dog 1, so does not care if dinner is late & has zero clue Dog 1 is eating dinner. I do plan to buy one for her. I may get the same but smaller C300. I’d have to keep them in seperate rooms. The beeping is so mild that I’m afraid that Dog 2 would sleep through the food dispensing & IBD dog would eat her kibble & she’d get violently ill. I’d really like to get an RF ID machine that would only open for Dog 2. Portion Pro Rx is what I’d really like for her, but it’s overkill since she only eats 2 meals a day. That is $200 and a tad out of my price range right now. ——————————- I’m attaching pics of her meal settings and 1 video of her eating her med snack.

This feeder has worked out real good for being gone for a night or two. Really like the way any residual food gets covered as the cover rotates at the times you set for feeding times.

This is perfect for our little dog. No more missing feedings. Set it up in the morning and she's good to go all day!

I like that the automatic feeder uses batteries so there are no wires, and that you could set 4 feeding times plus 1 more feeding spot that is currently available for the cat to eat right away. You can also feed the cat wet food with the provided ice packs. I definitely recommend this product!

This product is misleading, ineffective, and useless for wet food. The food dried out and was warm after a few hours (I put the wet food in with the fully frozen provided ice packs around 10pm and set the timer for 5:20am). This product should not be marketed for wet food because it is dangerous for the pet since the food will grow bacteria from not having proper cold temperatures and is it not air tight. I’m very displeased with this product. This product and others like it that market for wet food feels scammy and reckless. Also this price range is ridiculous!

Estupendo si pasas el día fuera de casa y quieres dejarle comida húmeda a tu gato. El frío se mantiene muy bien y programarlo es sencillo

Génial. Basic. Fait bien le job. Mon chat l’a vite adopté. Je pense reprendre des packs de glace car je l’utilise h24 et ça n’a pas le temps de se refroidir dans le congélateur.

What a fantastic device this is. Our three year old Bengal boy has become a night cat, and demands his food in the very early hours, meaning an often broken sleep for my wife (chief feeder, in separate room) . We can now load the feeder up before bed, and time his meals to not only spread them out, but to avoid prolonged pestering through the night. It took a few days for him to get used to it, but now he knows the food is there, and coming soon. The noise it makes, and movement, hasn’t been an issue. He barely flinched. My wife no longer has to get up at 3am every day and is now sleeping much better. I have zero negatives for the feeder. He seems to make less mess with this than his bowls, it’s easier to clean, and simple to use. We don’t bother aligning the zeros as we always know exactly which meals are next and in which order. I recommend ordering a spare pair of ice packs so you can swap them over each day. We’ll load up his next four meals today for the usual times whilst we’re out. No more asking for help feeding or feeding outside of his usual routine. It’s honestly great and been a revelation for us.

Bit fiddly to set up .Contacted customer service first day and they still have not responded after approx a month.Figured it out eventually. The individually trays are small they could be a big bigger to allow the cat to get the food when the food moves to the walk of the tray. Use the ice packs during this summer as get home late on ocassions.Works good. I will use the icepacks and also freeze the wet food so it can thaw out and keep fresh. for the day. The individual trays are very convenient.Great little purchase but felt price a bit high.

Podajnik świetnie się sprawdza, użytkuję około miesiąc. Wcześniej miałam taki z jedną komorą otwierany na zwykłe pokrętło i nasz kot wariat ciągał go po całym pokoju kiedy zbliżała się pora karmienia. Ze względu na to że wyjezdzam niedługo na cały dzień potrzebowalam podajnika z kilkoma komorami. Na razie podaję 2 porcje w ciągu dnia w zależności od potrzeb, można ustawić konkretną godzinę bez problemu. Do podajnika wsypuję tylko suchą karmę, gdyby mój kot był normalny dostawałby z niego mokrą, ale chyba zapach za bardzo go kusi, więc nie testowałam. Przykręciliśmy urządzenie do deski, na razie stoi w jednym miejscu 😂. Miski są wyjmowane i bardzo łatwe do wyczyszczenia. Wkładu chłodzącego nie testowałam, ale myślę że bez problemu by się sprawdził w ciągu dnia.