Automatic Pet Food and Water Dispensers

[southerngale]

Does anyone use these? I was looking at the electric ones and also the ones that require no electricity or batteries. When I go on vacation, I have someone who will keep my dog, but I think I'm going to leave my cat home and have someone check in on her. I've ordered an electronic litter box to take care of her potty breaks, but am now thinking about getting automatic food and water dispensers. I could just set out a bunch of food and water, but the non-electric ones are pretty cheap anyway and get pretty good reviews. Just wondering if any of you guys use them.... any input would be appreciated.

[CajunMama]

I know if i used the nonelectric one my pets would eat everything the first day! I don't know if i've ever seen an electric petfood dispenser.

[southerngale]

I just have one cat and we keep food down for her all the time anyway, so she's used to having it "on demand" - that wouldn't be a problem. She doesn't seem to overeat and they're a lot cheaper than the electric ones. I'd be worried about leaving an electric one anyway, in case of a power outage or something. I don't know... it might just be easier to put down a bunch of extra food and water and skip the automatic dispensers. I will still have someone come in and check on her, regardless.

[Miss Mary]

My brother-in-law tried one with her therapy dog, a Golden (since my BIL is disabled) but his dog ended up being freaked out by it. Each time he'd take a drink, the tank would make that gulp-gulp sound/motion. So now my BIL keeps 4 plastic jugs filled with tap water filled on his counter and he can just keep filling the dog's water bowl that way. My own Golden is very skitzy and afraid of her own shadow at times. She's odd about bowls (we use a special mat that I ordered from LL Bean so her ceramic bowls do not scoot around as she drinks and eats). Pets can be funny this way. I know my own dog would hate an automatic dispenser. It may be something you have to purchase when the pet is very young so they get used to it.

This is my experience with this type dispenser. And they're not cheap either!

[azsnowman]

We have an automatic feeder/waterer...."ME!"

We don't use any type of feeder, when ever we leave, we hire a pet sitter....our babies could not POSSIBILY be left ALONE Spoiled you might say!

[southerngale]

Thanks, Miss Mary. The dispensers I am thinking about aren't too loud since they're not electric. She doesn't seem to scare easily... it's pretty hectic around here and she's used to a LOT of noise, but we'll see about the electronic litter box. It just arrived this morning, but I haven't opened it yet. It doesn't rake it clean until like 20 minutes after your cat leaves and then would stop upon a heavy object entering it as well.

Dennis... I wouldn't leave my dog alone either and she's going to stay at my parent's house. They'll be house sitting 4 dogs. My mom is allergic to cats and I think she'll be fine here, anyway. We'll keep a radio on and she'll have a visitor occasionally. I think she'll be happier at home than being boarded and unfortunately, bringing pets isn't an option.

[brunota2003]

Well, I know we had one of those water and food dispensers you can buy at Wal-Mart (separately). I know the water one worked fine, was just too small (3 dogs).

The food one we had to stop using because the bone heads would gorge on it, so I do not remember much about it...they get fed twice a day now to help keep their weight at suitable levels (Though they SWEAR we are starving them to death and demand to be allowed to eat with us, too).

[ohiostorm]

My cat has an automatic feeder. Nonelectric one though. She could probably last a few days alone if need be. She tends to play with her water and food alot though by spilling them out onto the floor.

[Pburgh]

I always board my dog and put many, many bowls of water and food out for my cat. I put 2 litter boxes out for him and also have a neighbor check up on him every couple of days.

[Persepone]

Cat's won't overeat, so you are okay with non-electric "automatic" pet food dispensers (gravity fed) and automatic water dispensers (also gravity fed). I'd do a couple of the water dispensers in case one somehow malfunctions--or unless cat has some other source of "drinkable" water... Just being paranoid. The bottom line is that a cat can live a couple of days without food &/or will catch mice or something.

Note that dried cat food can attract pantry moths... So you may want to think about having huge bags of the stuff around. On the other hand, if you do need to go for a few days, you might consider leaving a bag (not box--cats can't open the boxes with their claws as they can bags) where the cat can get at it.

As for emergency water--a drippy faucet (very slow drip) into a bowl--but make sure drain stays open--use a slow drip into a bowl in the bathtub or large kitchen sink so that if drain does plug, there is an "overflow' drain--cat can either drink out of the bowl, stick tongue under drip, etc.

As for electric kitty litter cleaner thingies, I've never seen one that worked. And they are hugely expensive! Why not just put out several kitty litter trays? That way, when cat considers one too full to use, it will move on to the next. Not very pleasant for the owner of course (you may need a gas mask to get back in), but from cat's point of view that will work...

The bottom line for me, I think, is that dogs need to go to dog-sitter, kennel, etc. but cats generally prefer to stay home--and as long as they have food and water (and they really don't need a lot of either--not like a big dog), they are fine. They will not overeat. If you don't leave sufficient litter, you will be sorry--but the cat will be fine and will just do obnoxious things like use your houseplants, the bathtub, etc. as an alternate litter box...

[coriolis]

We have the dollar store version of the (non-electric) feeder for our cats. They do fine with them. We have one huge bowl of water that the cats and the dogs both use. I don't like the automatic water dispensers because they get slimy real fast and they're a pain to clean.

Sometimes our cats will eat the dog food and sometimes the dogs will eat the cat food. They don't care. I buy jumbo sizes of both and they end up being about the same cost.

I'm going off on a tangent here: We got three kittens that were very young siblings. Our pit bull's adopted them. They all get along like family. Our female dog would clean them and the kittens would follow them around. The one cat like to go out but the others don't. When he comes in, the dogs come and sniff him all over to see what he was up to. One of the other cats likes to play with our male dog. The cat runs back and forth and teases the dog like "bet ya can't catch me." Pretty soon the dog takes up the chase and the cat will run into some small place that the dog can't fit into.

We always have food out and they just pick at it all day without overeating. As a result, I think, there's never any fights over food. The male dog will sit there and wait till a cat is done eating and then go eat himself. It's all pretty comical.

[Miss Mary]

Ed - your household just sounds like one busy, crazy but fun home! Had a few laughs reading about your pets' antics.....too funny. Growing up we always had cats and dogs - together at the same time. And almost always the cat had the upperhand. The dog(s) knew it too! We had to feed our cat up on a table, that my mom kept a dishtowel on. She would wash it every few days. The dog would eat the canned cat food and wouldn't touch its own food. LOL Back then my parents fed both pets canned pet food. Now all we feed our dog is dry food. Times change I guess......

Pets are very entertaining, to say the least. I always joke during power failures - eh, who needs TV, the computer, etc. We have a Golden ready to entertain us.....LOL