PortionProRx - Automatic Pet Feeder (for Dogs and Cats) - Prevents Food Stealing Among Multiple Pets and Delivers Scheduled Meals

When I bought this bowl I really really wanted to like it. It's pretty much the only available automatic feeder that also features an rfid-controlled locking mechanism and as an owner of 4 cats with incompatible diets I was psyched when I found out this existed.Unfortunately the problems started when I tried it for the first time: when the bowl is configured to only open for one cat (which is what I thought I needed, since only one cat had to have access to that particular food), it is very easy for another cat to sneak in and steal the food when the configured cat leaves the bowl (it takes around than 10 seconds for the bowl to close once the configured cat exits the range), plenty of time for a hungry cat to eat a lot of tasty forbidden food), or indeed when it just seats close by (the range of the rfid is something like 1.5 feet), making this configuration unfeasible.So I thought of configuring the bowl to stay open and program the tag to close the bowl when in proximity, this way the bowl closes promptly enough when the forbidden cat comes around. Alas this solution also has problems: you'll need one tag for each cat that cannot eat from the bowl, in my case this would mean buying two more tags.. which wouldn't even be a problem, if not for the fact that:a) these tags contain non-replaceable battery powered rfids, which means that every year (that's how long the vendor says the battery will last) I would need to replace the three tags, for a cost of 60$ (per year).b) the tags are bulky and quite heavy for a medium to small sized cat (see picture). Seeing my poor friend constantly bump it on the ground or on the bowl when trying to eat or smell around was a sad thing. Considering I was coming from a bowl that worked with passive rfids, which meant I didn't even need a tag because it worked with the chips used for ID, this was a major let down.The second problem of this configuration is that if the cat with the forbidden tag comes close to the bowl when the configured cat is eating (which is not an unlikely scenario), the bowl will close and the configured cat won't be able to eat; multiply this for three forbidden tags and my configured cat would probably starve!In short I'm really sad to say this bowl just wouldn't work for my situation.. and considering it is advertised as a solution for owners of multiple pets, I'm not sure who would it work for, aside for someone with only two (quiet) cats.Two stars because support at least tried to fix things by offering me three additional tags free of charge; which I did not accept for the reasons listed above.

This is my fifth auto feeder in five years and since I have two food obsessed cats who each require a feeder, so far that is 10 feeders and a huge expense. The best part about this feeder is the chip control since food bowl stealing has always been my biggest problem. But if the chips don’t last as some have indicated I will be dropping to a two star rating.On the downside, both cats learned within days to pick at the flap covering the food conveyor and extract extra kibble. This flap is NOT pickproof if you have determined cats. In addition, they sense when the food is due to be dispensed or when they think they want to eat and every time they approach their own feeder or the other feeder, the bowl covers open and shut constantly. The mechanism is fairly loud and if you can’t place the feeders in a back room, the opening and closing when either cat approaches or walks too close is incessant. So far I have moved mine three times and if I had a basement they would be down there. I have also discovered through trial and error that the feeders which dispense food from an upper spout via conveyer belt are the only ones able to keep extra kibble out of reach. Unfortunately, none of those feeders have a mechanism to prevent food bowl stealing. Sadly, hundreds of dollars later I am still waiting for someone to invent a really great automatic feeder that solves all the issues instead of merely one or two.

We have two cats that both shared a gravity feeder. They both would be afraid the other was going to eat all the food so they would eat so much they would vomit all the time. We had to purchase two of these, one for each cat. I set them both to stay open unless the wrong cat comes close, the food bowl that is not theirs closes. At first I set the amount of food way to high and it was over feeding. I now have one set for a total of 1/2 cup of food split up between 6 feeds a day and the younger more active cat gets 5/8 cup split between 6 feeds a day. I have them placed close to each other with a water bowl in between them. Both cats wont be able to eat at the same time because the bowls will close if they are that close but its no issue because they dont want to eat at the same time anyway. It took a few days to get the amount set correct so they weren't starving or the food wasn't starting to overflow. I would suggest starting low and working your way up as its much easier to add food to the bowl then to get it out if its overflowing. I went from 2 or more vomits a day to just 3 vomits in the last 3 weeks. I also think I will save considerable amounts of money on cat food because it is no longer a contest of who gets the most food. If these last a few years they should pay for themselves with the savings on cat food alone. The amount of time spent cleaning up vomit has been the best part for sure. It is also nice to be able to monitor the amount of food each cat eats. Some days the bowls are empty all day as the cats eats everything right away and other days the food starts building up a bit as they dont eat as much that day. They got used to the sounds within a few days and now expect the other bowl to close as they enter the feed zone and dont even flinch anymore. You can set them to stay closed all the time unless the right cat comes close then it would open and allow that cat to eat which would be good if you had dogs or kids that get into the bowls as it would keep them out as it would only open when the cat with the color came up to it. I put different colors of post-it notes on the bowls to help during the transition to help them know which one is theirs.