Cat Mate C500 Automatic Pet Feeder Cat or Small Dog Bowl with Digital Timer For Wet or Dry Pet Food, 5 Meal Carousel, up to 330g in each, with Twin Ice Packs for Food Freshness

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I don't see what happens because I'm gone, but a few times the unit was moved a few feet away from where I placed it. I don't know if one of my cats is trying hard to get to the other compartment's foods before it's time, or if the unit is getting pushed around while they are trying hard to eat the food from the bottom edges. The unit has never been tipped over though. It also works with dry kibbles and is helpful in rationing meals to pets that may eat too fast or can’t wait for their cat mamma or papa to get home. Many owners use it to prevent getting woken up when their cat wants to be fed in the early morning hours.

This then made the feeder automatically feed at those times on both days; I don’t know if they just keep turning if you don’t turn it off, my sister has the 3 feeder and she says hers will just keep turning at the set times so need to turn off or remove batteries in between uses if only using occasionally.

The price of this automatic cat feeder seems like a good value compared to other models with similar features. It costs more than a basic gravity feeder but less than feeders including more advanced smart WIFI and camera features. Also, those other feeder types can’t use wet cat food so it has them beat. If you’re able to use this feeder to reduce the number of times a cat sitter comes it will probably pay for itself after one weekend. The biggest issue I had was that I really struggled to get this thing to work. I am not one for reading instructions, however even I had to admit defeat and try and get to grips with the manual. That was a complete waste of time. Thankfully, I found a Spanish YouTuber who thoughtfully uploaded the basics onto a 'how-to' guide. I'm guessing that she found the instruction manual as useful as I did as it was rather basic on how to program the damn thing. We bought these feeders because one of my cats can’t eat dry food and he is the most annoying creature in the world. For the last few weeks he was waking me up at 4am to be fed. Depending on use, quality alkaline batteries should last about 12 months. A low battery indicator will alert you when it’s time to change batteries. Rechargeable and 1.5 v lithium batteries can be used but the low battery indicator will only work correctly with standard alkaline batteries.

E) as today I only want to feed at 18:00 and 10:30. Do I have to cancel the first two programmes and just keep the last two times and put food in bowls 1&2? Eventually I managed to figure out how to program it with the help of my Spanish friend however I have not figured out how to stop it working when I'm home. Each and every day, at four separate times, the cats and I are startled when we hear the thing come alive and it starts spinning the carousel. I understand that if I take the batteries out, I will lose the programming and let's face it, it's not worth starting over so we live with the sound of the cat-feeder coming to life, four times a day. If someone knows how to stop this, please write it out clearly, as I'm at a complete loss.

Easy to set timers, a bit loud when it turns but that’s not a problem, if anything it’s a plus for me as they hear it and come running.

The Cat Mate 500 is a carousel of delights for your cat. It utilizes a sectioned-off food dish, with space for five individual portions, which sits on a rotating mechanism underneath. When activated, the mechanism turns, revealing the next portion through the wedge-shaped hole on top. The observant among you will notice that this only actually leaves room for four covered portions, so the first feed of five has to be an immediate one. It's a bit pointless having the always open segment, which makes it a 4 stage feeder instead of 5, but being able to do 4 different days worth of feeds at 1 specific time of the day is almost unmatched in this sort of product category. Definitely recommend this as a feeder for wet food. Cat Mate do an equally good dry food automated dispenser for non-wet food. This automatic cat dispenser uses a digital timer with a LCD display to program feedings. Although there are 5 serving compartments, a maximum of 4 feedings can be scheduled each day. The first meal compartment is uncovered and available immediately. All 4 programmed feeds are displayed on the LCD display so you can easily see the day’s feeding schedule.

Super easy to use, program, re-program, and wash. (For those reviewers that have issues with the trays not aligning, it's because you didn't read the simple instructions. There is a very easy fix that re-aligns them perfectly every time. This unit is extremely user friendly.)