Pet Food Dispenser

Automatic Pet Feeder-What Should You Consider?

Alfonso Thornton

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Last Updated On October 1st, 2016 at 07:31 am

Unlike the humans, the pets are unable to express their moods and hunger needs. But, the food is an essential part of their life too. A constant supply of nutrition in their food will make the pet grow healthier wherein improper nutrition or malnutrition will result in unhealthy conditions as they lack the capacity of expressing it by verbal communication.

This will, in turn, result in obesity in the case of excess food consumption or develop diabetes according to their improper food habits. An automatic pet feeder facing the feeding issues of the owner is the best one to consider purchasing.

How Do They Work?

An automatic pet feeder works with the help of the timer present on the device itself or it is by controlling it with the help of a Smartphone device. The automatic pet feeder comes with a single compartment or multiple compartments depending upon the manufacturer to dispense the wet food, dry food, treats, and medicine if necessary.

The hopper attachment present to the top of the device keeps the food safe and fresh. The food safety is achieved with the help of the lid that is always closed to guard the meal without getting stale. In addition to this, they come with an inbuilt shutter for feed dispensing at regular intervals. It shuts as soon as your pet finish feeding; without permitting it to consume excess food.

What Are The Things To Consider When Choosing The Best Automatic Pet Feeder ?

When it comes to purchasing the best automatic pet dispenser, there are certain factors which you have in mind; with respect to which you have to choose the one suitable for your pet or pets. They include the following

Timer Setting

An owner with a number of pets suffers from feeding the pet at the regular time schedule. This issue is addressed by the automatic pet feeder, with the help of the timer setting. The timer can be set from a minimum of 24 hours to a maximum of up to 30 days ahead.

With this feature, the pet owner can set the device for a single time and forget about the stress of rushing home to provide feed. Consider purchasing an automatic feeder with maximum hours of setting to obtain benefits in case you leave your home on vacation for a long period of time.

Feeding Intervals

The ordinary pet feeders will be provided with a bowl to which the owner has to manually fill the meal required for the full day when out of the home. But, this has a drawback of the pet consuming the entire meal in a single time which in turn will result in puking of the pet.

An automatic pet feeder device solves this issue as it enables setting required intervals of feeding time according to the number of meals you wish to provide your pet. The best automatic pet feeder will let you feed the pet up to a maximum of 6 meals a day; this would be a better option as it is always healthy to consume meals by splitting it into a number of parts and avoid consuming it at a single time.

Quantity Of Meals

The pets as already mentioned are generally advised to be fed at regular intervals and with an equal quantity of meals. With an automatic pet feeder, you can control the quantity of the meal you wish to feed your pet each and every time. Each feeder differs in the quantity that it can feed at continuous intervals.

Consider purchasing the feeder according to your pet’s diet and also depending on the number of pets you own at your home, as the feeding habit of each pet is different from the others. The feeders can be set to close the shutter when the cat completes feeding the preset quantity.

Hopper Size

The feeder as already mentioned is used to store the meals in the hopper that comes fixed with it. The hopper sizes differ according to the brands. In case you are an owner of more than one pet or you travel often leaving the pets idle, consider choosing the feeder with a large hopper size so that you can be free from filling it often as and when required. Most of the pet feeders come with a transparent hopper tank for monitoring the meal and refill when it runs low.

Type Of Feed

The feeders these days come with an additional facility of holding different types of feed. The normal feeders are capable of storing only the dry foods whereas the best automatic feeder comes with an additional advantage of storing wet and dry foods.

Each type of food can be individually stored in separate compartments and is dispensed according to the setting you provide at the beginning. However, avoid leaving the wet food to remain in the feeder for more than 24 hours of time.

Power Source

The automatic pet feeders usually come with a design for plugging into the electric socket for functioning. Also, there are feeders that can function with the help of the batteries too. In case if you purchase the one which runs on electricity, you have to make sure that you will have a continuous power supply in your locality.

If you purchase a battery operated model, monitor to make sure that your batteries never run out of energy. But, it is a good choice to purchase a feeder running on electricity and inbuilt batteries for the backup feature. Consider purchasing one which performs the operation in both the modes when you are out of town and feed your pets on time.

Pet Size

This is one of the essential factors to consider when choosing a feeder for your pet, make sure that the feeder you buy will be suitable for your pet as some feeders can hold only a smaller amount of food and cannot feed the adult pets properly.

Also, you should choose a feeder with respect to the height of the feeder and according to the type of the breed. If you go for a smaller feeder size, the taller pets will have a tough time in tipping.

Other Features

Apart from the features mentioned above, you can purchase a feeder that has a web camera to monitor your pet’s activity. There are feeders with features capable of controlling it with the help of the Smartphone through a downloadable app.

In addition to this, certain best-selling automatic pet feeders come with an inbuilt voice recorder to convey any message or call your pet for the feed at its meal time. Some sophisticated feeders come with an LCD display which will greet the pets when the sense the motion and can give you alerts if your pet does not feed properly.

Summing It Up

These are the essential features to consider when choosing an automatic pet feeder. There are feeders that come in attractive colors and with other inbuilt features. Read our article on the best automatic feeder to choose one among the other models by comparing its features.