Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. Products

Best automatic pet feeders for 2019

Keep your dogs and cats fed on time without overfeeding

By

Many pet parents worry if their cats or dogs are eating the right amount. Too much food and there’s the risk of diabetes and obesity. Too little food and your pet can be malnourished. We’d probably all love to be able to measure out the right amount of food at exactly the right time every day, but busy lives can get in the way. Pet tech to the rescue! An automatic pet feeder that doles out the proper amount of food throughout the day can take care of feeding problems. Here are our picks for the best automatic feeders for cats and dogs for 2019.

Best overall: PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder is super high-tech and gives a bevy of options that keep you in control of how you feed your pet. It features a low food sensor and will automatically reorder food using the Amazon Dash Replenishment option. Using an Alexa enabled device, you can feed your pet from anywhere, or set up a feeding schedule of up to 12 meals using the Smart Feed app. Meals can be portioned out at one-eighth cup to 4 cups at a time. If your pet is a fast eater, you can pick the slow feed option to dispense a meal slowly over a 15-minute period.

Recommended Videos

Best affordable automatic pet feeder: Wopet Automatic Pet Feeder

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Wopet Automatic Pet Feeder is affordable, easy to use, and has a lot of great features. It holds up to 20 cups of food at a time, which means you won’t need to constantly refill it. And with the built-in programmable timer, it allows you automate up to four feedings per day for your fur baby. All you have to do is punch in the meal times on the LCD screen. It also has portion control. You can program it to release 2 teaspoons to 4.5 cups of dry food at a time. Want to feed your pet a little more in the morning and less in the evening? The Wopet Automatic Pet Feeder can have different portion sizes for each feeding time. You can make an audio recording so your pet is called by your voice when it’s time to eat, too.

Related

Best for dogs: Dogness Automatic WiFi Smart Camera Feeder

The Dogness Automatic WiFi Smart Camera Feeder is perfect for canine companions because it can hold a larger amount of kibble and it can provide one-on-one attention that dogs crave. It can hold around 6.5 pounds (3kg) of dog food, so you’re not refilling it every other day, it can be programmed to dispense just the right amount of food throughout the day using its app. You can talk to your dog in real-time using the app. Even better, the HD camera and microphone on the feeder allows your dog to talk back.

Best for cats: PetSafe 5 Meal Pet Feeder

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Let’s be honest, your cat probably won’t talk to you through a camera, and probably won’t care if it hears your voice during feeding time. It just wants food. So, something affordable, easy, compact, and automatic makes sense. The PetSafe 5 Meal Pet Feeder is ideal for the job. It has five dispensing slots that you can fill with up to one cup of food each. Its built-in digital timer rotates the feeding slots so that a full one is presented to your cat at the meal times you designate. No muss, no fuss.

Best for wet food: Cat Mate C500 Automatic Feeder

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Feeding wet food using an automatic dispenser is tricky since the food will need to be refrigerated to prevent it from spoiling. So far, the pet industry hasn’t come up with a very high-tech solution. The best auto feeders for wet food require you to insert ice packs every few hours to keep the wet food cold. With this in mind, the best wet feeder is the Cat Mate C500 Automatic Feeder. It can serve up to five servings of dry or wet cat food (as long as you use the ice packs) and has a digital timer that serves the food at just the right time. Although it’s called Cat Mate, it can also work for small dogs, but the portions can’t be larger than 11.5 ounces each.

Best for multiple pets: SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Feeding multiple animals at once with an automatic feeder is hard because the feeder needs to be able to somehow identify each pet. The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder has this problem figured out. It scans your pet’s microchip or RFID collar tag to identify who’s who and can remember up to 32 pet identities. When the right pet is scanned, the bowl opens up and allows the pet to eat.

Editors' Recommendations

Alina Bradford
Alina Bradford
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Alina Bradford has been a tech, lifestyle and science writer for more than 20 years. Her work is read by millions each month…
Best Buy Spring sale: Save on TVs, laptops, appliances, and more
Best Buy BetaÙ

Best Buy is currently hosting an absolutely huge Spring sale. There are countless items on sale here with seemingly everything you can think of available. That means fantastic TV deals like being able to grab an for just $230 to astonishing laptop deals too. There are even plenty of refrigerator deals and other major appliances. There are so many items in the Best Buy Spring sale that you really need to check it out for yourself. The options are near endless. However, if you’d like to know what we’re recommending, keep reading and we’ll take you through your options.

What to shop for in the Best Buy Spring sale
If you need to kit out your home with better appliances, the Best Buy Spring sale will delight you. You can buy an for just $800, saving $300 off the regular price of $1,100. The washer has TurboWash 360-degree technology so five powerful jets spray clothes from multiple angles to give you a complete clean in under 30 minutes. There’s also built-in intelligence with AI selecting the optimal wash motions and settings for your washing. ColdWash technology is perfect for penetrating deep into fabric too.

Read more
Best security camera deals: Ring, Arlo, Blink and more on sale
These are the best security camera deals available right now
Prime Day 2022 security camera deals graphic.

Home security is one of the most important things for peace of mind, and putting out a few home security cameras can certainly help alleviate any fears and issues around that. They can also sometimes act as deterrents for would-be trespassers while also working as a great two-way communication device for delivery folks. There are quite a few options for home security cameras, whether you want something wired or prefer to go with wireless security cameras so you don't have to pull cables. Either way, we've gone out and collected some of our favorite home security camera deals for you down below to save you the hassle.
Chamberlain myQ Smart Garage Security Camera -- $45, was $50

While this is ostensibly made for your garage, there's no reason the Chamberlain myQ Smart Garage can't work for other uses as well, especially if you don't need the highest quality of recording. It has an HD camera, which isn't a ton, but it does have an impressive 130-degree field of view. The MyQ also connects through dual-band Wi-Fi for a better connection, and it even has two-way communication, which is impressive for something at this price bracket.

Read more
Best air conditioner deals: Portable and window units on sale
The GE 10,000 BTU portable air conditioner cools a living room while a woman reads.

As summer quickly approaches and temperatures rising the last few years, you're probably thinking of investing in an air conditioner to help get you over those very hot days. While most folks may have a hard time installing a split unit, there are a lot of other options, including air conditioners you can put in a window, as well as portable air conditioners, that you can fall back on. Luckily, you don't have to spend an arm and a leg on them, as even some of the best air conditioner brands have solid deals on them, which is why we've collected our favorite air conditioner deals down below.
Evapolar evaCHILL — $84, was $99

The Evapolar evaCHILL provides personal comfort on a small scale. At just 6.77 x 6.69 x 6.69 inches, it is highly portable and perfect for taking with you on camping trips or other excursions. To use it, just fill up its 800mL tank, which provides about 8 hours of continuous use (though customers report lower times for high-heat scenarios). This makes it perfect for getting to sleep. Plus, since it uses water as a source of chill, it can double as a humidifier. The Evapolar evaCHILL charges via USB cable and consumes less than 10W of power.

Read more