SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder

This is a lifesaver for me. I have a fat Maine Coon who weighs over 11kg and needs to be on a diet, unfortunately his brother likes the diet food too and wolfs it all down and as it is very expensive this is not good. To date I have had to feed the diet food and watch while he eats then pick it up. As cats are grazers this is not working well for any of us and I cannot leave food down whilst I am at work all day. This little device is fabulous, Stringer picked it up straight away and was not nervous at all. It saves me getting up and down and stops Dylan eating all the diet food. I am now going to purchase another one for my other 2 Maine Coons so their food is safe from Stringer.The only slight problem is as the Maine Coons are tall they have to stoop right in to open the lid, a larger version for big cats and Spaniel size dogs would be great, surely dogs have this problem too? I am still giving 5 stars though as it is a fantastic product.

This is so good I now have four. Just to let you know that if you have any issues or queries with the feeder you can contact the very helpful customer service, there's also a forum too with questions and answers. For the owner with the issue of another cat trying to steal food, there is a way of setting up the feeder so it closes when another cat puts its head in, even if the allowed cat is eating at the time. Useful if you want to be absolutely sure a greedy cat isn't eating a prescription diet.

I have two cats ,one who is on a diet .The Surefeed Microchip Pet Feeder is brilliant, I did think twice at buying it as i thought it was expensive,but i am so glad i bought it.No more keep putting the food a way,or forgetting to put the food way,or worrying who has ate what,.I must admit i did try to hurry the process of the training mode, and had to go back to the beginning,as my cat took a while to get used to the movement of the lid.so its best not to rush the cat, but the Surefeeder is very easy to use with simple instructions. So now she is a very happy cat,and im a very happy person, so pleased with the feeder.

Its very pricey which made me hesitate at first but so pleased I did buy one as its been wonderful. It took my cat a couple of weeks to get used to it,but it does explain fully in the handbook how to train a hesitant cat to use it. Now he loves it and it enables me to fully monitor how much and what he eats (he is on a specific prescription diet and can only have small amounts often) . I recently sent for another feeder so impressed, he now has one upstairs and one downstairs. My other cats cant access his expensive prescription diet so this feeder will pay for itself over time.

I got one bowl so that I could make sure the prescription thyroid diet only got eaten by the one cat that needs it, not the very large one who eats it just because. Works brilliantly, except the greedy one has learned that if he runs at the bowl as the other cat walks away, he can ram his head in and stop the flap from closing. I'm solving the problem by buying a second one so that he can hopefully stick to his own dish - as housecats they're not chipped but 'training' the dish is a piece of cake with the included tag and it took about 5 minutes for my really quite dim cat to lear how to use it. A brilliant idea!

After reading the reviews I thought I'd give this a try as I have one cat on a special diet and a greedy youngster that eats anything going. I didn't use the training mode, which keeps the lid up, then the next stage is it moves slightly..as the other cats would have got used to sticking their heads in it too. I manually pressed the button at the back to open the lid when my cat on the diet was near. It took a couple of weeks, then she was using it all the time. I've made the time it takes for the lid to go down longer, which seems the best setting for her. One of my other cats, who is pretty nervous, is now also used to it so may buy another for her so she can graze at will too. This is quite an investment, but for me definitely worth it. Excellent for cats on special diets or to allow them to graze without greedy cats eating everything.

this is a great product. I bought two of these as one of my cats eat too much and I was fed up watching them as the other cat is a nibbler. so fat cat was finishing it off. now nibbler can go back and forth till his hearts content. only thing that could be improved on is the split tray. the middle needs to be higher so to seal the wet food from the dry when closed. as after a while the dry food gets damp and spoils. but great for serving one type of food

This is one of the best things I have ever bought. One of my cats steals the other's food . She is overweight and trying to keep her on a diet has been a nightmare. Now I don't have to worry as she just cant get into this dish! It took my boy a few days to get used to the lid opening and closing as the movement is quite noisy but now he uses the feeder with no problems . Instructions are clear and it is easy to set up. My only gripe is, that as the feeder is so expensive it should come with batteries supplied. I would recommend this product to anyone in a multi cat household !

I have an older cat on a Hills prescription thyroid diet who needs to keep her weight up, and a younger cat who cannot stop eating! This feeder has been a godsend. It means I can now leave food down constantly for my older cat (who likes to graze) and the diet food for the greedy younger one. The food stealing was becoming anightmare and I was at my wits end. The surefeed was easy to set up and read both of their chips with no problem. My only grumble is that it didn't include a set of batteries, which given the price I would have expected. That said, it's an ingenious idea - I just hope the mechanism lasts!

We have three rescue cats. One of them eats all the dried food due to panic over the availability of food. A remnant of life at her old owners when they chucked her out to live in the garden 24/7 with no shelter so her food got spoiled if she didn't eat it all in one go. Our three rescue cats had three bowls of dried food in separate rooms but Lucy still panicked and ate it all meaning the other two, one of whom is skinny, got no dried food unless the bowls were constantly filled up again. When Lucy became super obese (over 7 kilos!!!) we knew we had to do something as she struggled to get in the cat flap and a doggie door was not the answer!! So we bought one of these for the skinny cat, Whitby, and he trained himself to use in only 4 days. There is a really easy self training program set up within the feeder and it can even recognise microchips that have moved as Whitby's is behind his ear now. It is really easy to scan the cat in. Press the button to get the feeder to look for a microchip, put the feeder near the cat you want to use it, have their favourite treat in the bowl and when they put their head forward to get the treat it reads their chip! The feeder comes with a unique tag for their collar if your cats are not microchipped but that means they have to wear their collars 24/7 to access the feeder without a microchip. We didn't use the tags as our cats go without their collars when they are locked in for the night. Sadly having just one Surefeed feeder meant that Lucy still stole all the food of our other rescue cat so we then bought two more surefeeds so each cat has their own and we can strictly control their food intake so that Lucy can start to loose weight and Whitby and Leipzig can get the right amount of food. The Surefeed seems expensive but if really cuts down on food bills as each cat gets the right amount and no stealing and it is a lot cheaper and easier than a cat with obesity related problems like diabetes! We are just training Lucy and Leipzig to use theirs now and they are not phased by it at all despite both being suspicious cats. Batteries are not included, you need 4 x C 1.5 volt batteries for each feeder. The only downside is the price as if you need one of these for a multicat household you need more than one so it is a shame there is no bulk discount for buying more than one at the same time. If this had been invented when we had rescue cats on separate prescription diets this would have made life a lot easier for the humans in our household! The surefeed comes with two bowls. One with a divider in it so you can put wet and dried food in at the same time and one bowl with no divider in it which is super for dried food. It is quiet when it operates and as long as you don't rush your cat through the training they will learnt it easily, but if the next stage is too much you just go back a stage which is really easy and then wait to move to the next stage when they are ready. It runs on batteries only so you can place it anywhere. No need to be near a plug socket. Another bonus is no smell of dried cat food! The lid on it keeps the dried food fresh so out cats are happier to eat the dried food as it stays fresher during the day. This is a brilliant invention and my only regret is that it wasn't invented sooner.

This is a great product, one of our cats is getting old (19) and needed different food to our other cats. He took no time at all to get used to the feeder, he didn't need all the training that the booklet suggested. Maybe if you have a slightly nervous cat, you would need to take it slow, but the product is great!

I have three cats, one of whom is a very greedy young lady and another is a very fussy old lady. The youngster would Hoover all the food from the senior citizen's dish, causing a problem on two fronts. The old lady has a different diet to the raw fed kitten, resulting in upset stomachs and excessive weight gain. This product has cured all that, although reluctant to use it at first, my older cat is now hassle free at meals times. Product is well constructed, my only gripe is there are no batteries included- at this price there really should be!

Our young cats would forever bully our lovely 17 year old delicate lady off her food so she would miss out, but now she takes great delight in thumbing her nose at them as she walks away and her plate closes, denying them entry. And believe me, they have tried every which way to get in. It's an expensive plate, which put me off at first, but the amount of money I have saved in having to constantly re-feed the older cat has probably already paid for it. Worth it's weight in gold!

an absolutely brilliant item to have in a multicat household where one of them needs to eat different food to the others. Very easy to use and if you do exactly as instructions your cat will be eating from it in no time at all. so gald it was invented!!

The cat flap opens from the inside without any issues. From outside to inside, it should react to the chip straight away and open. But it doesn’t do that. It opens with a big delay, so my cat won’t go from outside to inside. Unfortunately, I’m not happy with it.

Costs a bit, but you get something good in return! My cats needed a little time to get used to the feeders, but now it's great—no more eating from each other's bowls, and they can just eat whenever they want without the other cat joining in.

At first I had to practice a bit and it took a few days for my cats to figure it out, but now it works brilliantly and takes so much stress off all of us. I chose the larger flap. I have a Norwegian Forest Cat mixed with Maine Coon and apparently a purebred Maine Coon. In any case, I think the size is perfect for both of them and I’d definitely recommend going for the bigger flap if you have larger cats. And yes, the mechanism is actually a bit noisy.

I've been using the machines for 3 months now. The bowls are too deep and the divided one (which I unfortunately need) is way too small. Otherwise, everything is plastic, the required batteries are from the last century – a rechargeable version would be much better – and one of them only works when it feels like it. At least each cat only eats the food meant for them... Price/performance is completely over the top.

After training to get my cat used to being comfortable with the flap opening

Very good feeder, both of our cats immediately accepted their own one.

Kibble stays dry, pâté always moist. No more flies buzzing around, no more stealing each other's food. Brilliant.

Works as described. All the cats got used to the feeders very quickly. All it took was to put their favourite pouch inside and let them sniff it. They knew it was there, they just had to figure out how to get to it. A couple of times they jumped when the lid opened, but their desire for their favourite pouch was stronger. There’s no smell of food at all in the flat. I already have 3 feeders for cats on different diets (one tomcat on urinary, another tomcat on no special diet, and two cats on gastrointestinal).

Cleaning is a nightmare, there's mould and you can't remove the side windows either. I paid 170 CHF for it, and it's definitely not worth it.

8 out of 10 times, the cats' chip isn't read, even though the batteries are brand new alkaline ones. The app is also useless, as updates are delayed by several hours. To be sure the cat can get in, you have to disable the lock and use it as a manual cat flap, which you might as well have bought for 100 kr.

Easy to install. Works well. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a LARGE version available.

The little door works well.. It almost completely lacks instructions for setting the opening and closing times.. It doesn't show whether the cat has gone through and whether it's inside or outside..

I've had the feeders for 2 years now and they work perfectly! I accidentally dropped one on the floor and it broke, but that was my fault. The batteries last a really long time, and the cats accepted the feeders straight away! Now my cat with the special diet can't steal the other cat's food anymore, and vice versa ;-) Best investment ever!

Cat flap in use with 2 cats for 11 years. Scanning the microchips is easy to understand and do, the flap was installed quickly and works reliably. After 11 years, the 4-way lock has worn out and falls out if a cat goes through too quickly. Had a chat with extremely friendly customer service, and now they're sending me a replacement lock free of charge. There really is still quality and service in Germany. Thanks.

Works great.

Plastic nightmare with completely unsuitable bowls. Constantly breaking and unreliable.

I've had them for 8 years now and they're really brilliant! The only thing is that cleaning can be a bit tricky because of all the nooks and crannies, but once you get used to it, it's grand.

I had to order new bowls because the old ones were really worn out over time (8 years), but the new bowls don’t have the divider like before, which is a real shame. The water from the wet food runs into the kibble and the kibble ends up looking awful. So my cat doesn’t want it anymore... I have to throw the food away, which really bothers me.

After I adopted a fairly young wildling (~1.5 years old) from the area, word apparently got around in the cat community that there’s a 5-star walk-in buffet at my place, and managing that overnight was pretty time-consuming and cost me a lot of sleep. The Surefeed worked brilliantly – the troublemakers are left standing in front of a locked flap, and the little rascal is much more relaxed now that he knows there’ll still be food later on.

My senior likes to pace himself with his food. For the past few weeks, we've had a new rescue who inhales anything edible in seconds. No chance Grandpa can leave his bowl for later anymore. The automatic feeder was our hope… It took less than 10 minutes for the senior to figure out how it works. Lid up – favourite treat – done. The feeder is super quiet and registering only took a few seconds. I'm thrilled.