If there’s one thing cats love, it’s food. Honestly, they probably love food more than they love us. However, we can’t always be at their side to feed them at mealtime, as much as we wish we could be.
If your cat has become accustomed to regular meal times throughout the day and your schedule doesn’t quite line up with that, an automatic feeder is a smart investment to keep your cat fed without creating a disturbance. While we can’t guarantee that an automatic feeder will help your cat be cool with you leaving them home alone — you might consider getting them a gift to help with that — at least you can rest assured that they won’t go hungry while you’re gone.
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What to consider when buying an automatic cat feeder
Whether you’re looking for a no-frills, basic gravity feeder, or a full-fledged product to program perfectly timed and portioned meals, we’ve found the best automatic cat feeder options to fit your (and your kitty’s) needs. Here are some things to keep in mind:
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Wet or dry food: Which food type does your cat usually eat? Wet dispensers will require daily cleaning and more attention than dry food feeders.
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Your cat’s needs: While automatic feeders should never be a replacement for human interaction, consider your and your cat’s routines. Would the feeder be useful for days when you’re busy in meetings, or are you planning to leave the house for a while? If it’s the latter, your feline friend could develop separation anxiety(opens in a new tab) so it’s important to pick one that best suits their needs (like one that allows you to leave voice recordings).
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Overall functionality: If you’ll be using the feeder often and have a dishwasher, look for dishwasher-safe containers or bowls so you aren’t stuck hand-washing each week. If you’re someone who often mixes up times, pick a programmable feeder that will remember for you. If your cat will continue to snack all day long, opt out of a gravity feeder and go for one that dispenses a specific amount of food.
So, which automatic cat feeder is best?
Imagine being able to sleep in late without cats pawing at your face because they’re hungry, or working overtime without feeling guilty about missing kitty’s mealtime. With one of the best automatic cat feeders, you can make that a reality, and your cat will most certainly thank you for it.
To help you figure out which option is right for you, we researched the internet’s favorite models and hands-on tested others, breaking them down based on the features cat owners care about most. Find the best automatic cat feeder for you and your cat in 2023 right here.
How we tested
How we chose
While we haven’t hands-on tested all of these automatic cat feeders, we put forth hours of careful research to find a variety of quality automatic cat feeders, and specifically sought out options to cater to different use cases.
First, we prioritized automatic cat feeders from well-known brands to come up with a list of options that are widely regarded to be dependable and well-made, with customer service and warranties to match. We then narrowed down the field by focusing on items that were well-rated and had no glaring issues with their functionality (at least not that we could find among a large portion of user reviews). Each of the automatic cat feeders on this list has hundreds, if not thousands, of automatic cat feeder reviews—a generally reliable sign that the product is often in stock and available for purchase.
To ensure a varied range of options for different types of pet parents, there were a number of factors that we took into consideration while researching automatic cat feeders, including:
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Capacity: One of the benefits of an automatic cat feeder is that it takes the hassle out of having to feed your kitty multiple times a day. If you’re constantly refilling the hopping, it sort of defeats the purpose. The best automatic pet feeders can easily hold a week’s worth of food and have a tightly sealed system to keep it fresh.Â
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Cost: While most of these automatic cat feeders fall in the $100 range, we wanted to include options for shoppers who were looking for a more budget-friendly (but still high-quality) item, as well as those who were looking to treat their feline companion with a splurge-worthy gadget with all the bells and whistles.
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Ease of programming: An automatic cat feeder should be easy enough to program (and adjust) that you won’t throw in the towel halfway through and just go back to delivering every meal to your precious feline yourself. The best models had intuitive controls and were easy to adjust.Â
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Multipet functionality: For homes with more than one cat, having the option to program an automatic cat feeder to recognize different dietary needs is essential.Â
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Clean up process: Cats might keep themselves fastidiously clean, but that’s not always the case for their food area. The ability to pop their feeder (including hopper and bowl) into the dishwasher for quick and easy cleanup is a must for busy pet parents.
