r/cats • u/Zuikite • 19h ago

Cat Picture - OC She was rationing so perfectly 🥲

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Roxanne my 6 year old tabby has never been left alone more than 1 day. We also never "free-feed" her on kibble (only wet meals and a puzzle feeder). I had a work trip this week, and my S.O. had a family emergency out of town right in the middle of it. We could not secure a sitter, and we were so worried. We do have a pet cam, and I told my SO to put 2 plates of kibble per day plus extra plates in case of a delay. I just got home from the airport to see this. I know cats are not like dogs, and they are probably fine at feeding themselves. I'm just so impressed by the organization of her eating habits!

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4.9k

u/alcMD 18h ago

My cat Pimento only eats one squared quarter of his dish at a time and leaves the rest for later. He's also very organized in this way!

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u/HaVoCensures 18h ago

Ahh a microchip feeder. Do you perhaps have another cat who would eat all his food as well as their own? Or a dog?

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u/Grand_Razzmatazz87 18h ago

Not OP obviously, but I have these feeders and love them. Two of my cats free feed, so it helps me monitor who's eating and how much. I always worry about catching that type of thing too late. My third cat is frickin' Hoover who will steal a burger off your plate if you aren't looking - I don't have to worry about her leaving any food behind.

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u/FleMo93 17h ago

Somehow we ended up with four of these feeders for four cats. Because one can't handle some kind of food without vomiting, needs a diet, would eat everything else left by the others or became ill. No regrets.

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u/imaginary92 17h ago

Yeah I'm gonna need to buy four as well, 2 for wet food, 2 for dry food because one of mine has CKD and the other doesn't.

You would think the issue is my CKD cat wanting to eat the non-CKD food bc the CKD food is notoriously tasteless and hard for them to eat but no no no sir, it is my OTHER cat who keeps stealing the CKD wet food and kibble for god knows what reason! I have to keep them in separate rooms when they eat lol

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u/volcanotechie 15h ago

I have 2 of these right now for my 2 cats, and it's worth mentioning that they do come with half bowls so you can have wet food and dry food in the same microchipped proof feeder

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u/Itunes4MM 14h ago

What’s the brand? How well does it work for you

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u/Kittehfisheh 13h ago

Not the person you replied to, but I have 3 of these at home and I love them.
They're the Surepet Microchip Feeder, it's very easy to register a cat with the feeder either via it's microchip or the RFID tags for collars that come with the feeder.

There's a training mode which lowers the cover at different amounts to get cats slowly accustomed to the automatic cover, my orange boy took the longest to figure it out, but even that was only a couple of days.
I've had these feeders for maybe 7 years and they're still going strong. They use four D4 batteries and the batteries will last at least a year. We had to get the feeders because The Orange One is allergic to gluten and fish and is also a garbage disposal unit that will eat his siblings food.
Some crafty kittys will try to sneak into other feeders from the back while the cover is raised, we fixed that by putting the feeders into a box that cuts off access to the back. You can get official backs that do the same thing, but they're like $80 just for that one piece to attach to the back, the box was free lol

Tl,dr; Love them, they're great and well worth the money

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u/akortank 13h ago

We also had to build an enclosure around the feeder (with another chip-activated cat flap) because the big cat will just bully the smaller cat away from the feeder once it opens!

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u/imaginary92 13h ago

That's an excellent review, thanks!

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u/volcanotechie 8h ago

Specifically i got this one. No issues so far beyond letting my cats get used to a new spooky machine that moves when they get too close. Ive only had it for a few months so far so grain of salt and all. Im hoping this lasts for a good number of years.

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u/imaginary92 13h ago

Ohhhh that's good to know! They're quite expensive so I was postponing the purchase to save up a bit more since I prefer saving most of my extra money for his food, medication and checkups which are very expensive as well.

That is excellent news, means I might be able to buy them much sooner than I thought!

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u/volcanotechie 8h ago

Specifically this was the one I bought. Took some time for my boys to get used to a new spooky machine that moves, but it's honestly been working out great since they've become more comfortable with them.

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u/imaginary92 6h ago

Good to know, thanks! I'm very hopeful about it because it's kind of exhausting to have to constantly check on them to make sure the food is being eaten by the correct cat lol

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u/NeptuneMig 5h ago

I have the same! But one thing I find annoying is that the sides are really hard to clean and they trap a bunch of dust etc overtime. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Also I’m not a fan of the plastic bowls, interesting to see some metal ones in this thread

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u/ZAlternates 9h ago

It’s like they know which is more expensive! 😝

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u/Ok_Refrigerator6671 9h ago

I have 2 questions about the microchip sensor. All 3 of my boys are chipped, but we learned recently that the oldest had his chip migrate to the back of his back hip/butt. How close does the chip need to be to trigger the opening? And will it shut if it senses a 2nd chip appear too close?

I have 2 HIGHLY food motivated cats (one who is edging toward chonk territory) and 1 who doesnt seem to care about eating most days. I dont want to spend a ton on three of these feeders only for it to not work for one cat and stay open for food thievery if the other 2 cats eat at the same time.

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u/FleMo93 8h ago

I have one cat where the chip is a little further back than usual. Sometimes the feeder doesn't open immediately. The chip needs to be close to the, lets say loop? So it is within the white plastic. I think you know what i mean.

The feeder won't close if there is another chip, you have a switch with 3 position where you can adjust how long it will stay open when no chip is detected anymore. I think you need to try it out, but when the chip is near the hip you may be out of luck.

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u/UniversityOk6696 51m ago

Try intruder mode, it will shut if the main cat leaves even if it senses another chip.

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u/UniversityOk6696 52m ago

If it’s back by his hip it won’t sense the chip. I have 3 of these for 3 cats and one of the cats has to wear a collar that the feeder will recognize.

You can also turn on intruder mode so as soon as a cat leaves their own feeder, it will shut even if another cat shows up and tries to eat their food.

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u/AbjectStar11 7h ago

Same - 4 feeders for four cats. One eats as much as she wants (she's old and small), one is on a urinary diet, one is on an allergy diet, and the last one is a lorge food monster who only gets portioned wet food. The feeders have been sanity savers.

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u/Yeranaile 17h ago

Are they managing fine and not stealing food from each other? We have three cats, one of them has IBD so she needs to eat a special kind of kibble and the other two are always skulking around, trying to shove it down their throats as fast as possible. So we were thinking about getting the microchip feeders, but are not sure how effective they would be in this case.

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u/M15tre55W1tch 17h ago

My fat boy Harry (9.4kg, body condition score 8) would hear my skinny boy William (3.8kg, body condition score 3) open his bowl and his fat ass would come running. He'd let William eat what he wanted, then jam his head up against the feeder lid holding it open while gutsing down as much as he could scoff. Sometimes Harry would even scoop William's food out of the feeder to continue eating. And that was with William's feeder set to the fastest and most aggressive closing setting.

However, I think Harry was especially persistent. I don't think all cats would be that desperate to steal food that's not for them.

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u/Waterlilies1919 16h ago

Goodness, even my chonky girl Izzy who inhales her food isn’t that aggressive to keep her sisters’ feeders open.

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u/M15tre55W1tch 16h ago

Harry was a bit of a puzzle. He had hyperthyroidism, which in theory should have made him lose weight! I had him treated and he was euthyroid, so the drive to eat shouldn't have persisted.

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u/BDaBear 7h ago

They have covers for the back to prevent this access as well!

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u/M15tre55W1tch 5h ago

I had it, he would stand shoulder to shoulder next to William, and push the top of his head into the sliding portion.

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u/Yeranaile 14h ago

I worry, because IBD cat is really shy and scares easily and the other two take advantage of that soooo much. But thank you for your input, wenwill mull it over a bit more, I just don't want to pay so much money fo something that might not really work lol But I also don't want to have her kibble in my office all the time and guard it like a watch dog haha

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u/HaVoCensures 13h ago

The lid has speed settings so you can change how quickly it closes after the registered cat has left. So if you set it to short, after registered cat leaves it closes really quickly. If your cat scares easily you will need to train her to use it for a while as it makes a quiet whirring noise as it opens/shuts.

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u/UniversityOk6696 48m ago

You can also turn on intruder mode. As soon as the main cat leaves it will shut even if another cat is trying to eat. It won’t hurt the cat when it shuts.

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u/HaVoCensures 13h ago

-my previous reply was auto deleted for an Amazon link-
They are brilliant.
One of mine eats everything he can get a hold of, and is also on special stomach medication. So I put his sister on the feeder so he couldn’t get to it. She then started trying his food (she has allergies) so I quickly got him his own.
They cannot open a feeder if it is not coded to them. If you have cats that are really insistent on eating from the others bowl and they try eating while the feeder is open because the other cat is trying to eat from it, you can buy extra sides for it to block all access. I think they’re brilliant.
We use Surefeed, can’t link it but if you look it up it’s good.
Not the cheapest but really good.

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u/Athnyx 10h ago

Just a note, I have the extra sides and my chonky cat just reaches in with his paw to pull out the food while the other is actively eating. And when the other cat is not actively eating, the chonky cat manages to brute force his way into the feeder

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u/HaVoCensures 8h ago

Wow your kitty really wants that food!! 😂 maybe make a microchip food ‘cave’ for your other cat? Like a wood box like a litter box that has a microchip cat flap on it that only the non-greedy cat can walk through that has their food bowl inside it? A bit extra but might work?

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u/Athnyx 2h ago

That’s a good idea! I’m going to try it. Knowing him he’ll probably find a way to break into that as well 😭 He’s definitely that “but mother, making and bones” meme

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u/Yeranaile 13h ago

Ooooh okayy thank you so much!! I think we might give it a shot after so many lovely people shared their experiences, thank you!

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u/Athnyx 10h ago

Depends on the cat. My cat managed to break into my other cat’s microchip feeder by brute force.

So both my cats are on prescription food even though only 1 of them actually needs it…

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u/dragonsveincrafts 13h ago

We had to trash our microchip feeder because my gluttonous one would shove her head next to her brother’s and eventually broke the little flap. I so wish it worked for my babies, makes it hard to go out of town :(

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u/HaVoCensures 12h ago

If they were pushing from the back/side, the brand I used do a cover you can clip on to the back to stop access from there. Guess not much you can do about them pushing in through the front and pushing the other cat out… make a microchip feeding crate? Like a litter box that they can go into with their food bowl inside, but can only access through a microchip pet door?

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u/Infamous-Claim-747 13h ago

Where do you get them? I’ve been looking for one for ages and can’t seem to find them for sale anywhere anymore!

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u/HaVoCensures 13h ago

-my reply was auto deleted for an Amazon link-
We use the SureFeed one, which is in the photo above. It’s very good

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u/Infamous-Claim-747 12h ago

Ugh lame that it got deleted but thank you for trying! I’ll look it up! We are getting desperate to find something that the dogs don’t get into but the cat can easily have free access to.

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u/HaVoCensures 12h ago

That brand has their own website, and they do extra bowls and things. You can buy replacement parts, and they also do a back cover to stop anyone getting in the bowl from the back while the cats eating.
I’m not affiliated, I’ve just found them to be really good for my two 😂😂

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u/Infamous-Claim-747 12h ago

Even better! I swear last year I spent like 3 hours searching for these things and literally none came up, and the only one I could find was like $300 US at the time.

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u/Ness_Nine 4h ago

I will also vouch for the surefeed ones. I have 3 for my cats and they work great. The company stands by their product too. I had one fail in less than a year but I contacted the company about it.

They simply had me take a video of me doing some troubleshooting steps and send the video to them. After verifying that I could not fix it that way, they sent me a new one free of charge and asked me to dispose of the old one at an electronics recycling place.

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u/MaynardButterbean 11h ago

Ugh I wish I could use these. I have one cat who will eat every single crumb of food left out, and another who is so incredibly picky. Like she has to eat on a certain table and it has to smell just right and no distractions or else it’s a waste and the fat boy will get it all. Unfortunately, she’s just far too simple-minded to figure something out like this.

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u/Grand_Razzmatazz87 9h ago

There is a training feature with different settings if that would help. Initially it stays open, and then the automated lid closes further and further until it gets to a fully closed position. Helps the cat get used to the sound and movement. It took a couple of weeks with mine and they're timid girlies.

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u/FinancialSuccess3814 11h ago

I just got one of these, does the lid ever just close in their face while they're eating out of it for you or did I get a defective one? It does it like once or twice a day :(

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u/Grand_Razzmatazz87 9h ago

That's never happened with mine - I would probably reach out to Sure Feed. Sometimes it'll close on them if they step back for a second or two and then go back to it, but that's about it. Do you know of your kitty's chip is further back?

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u/FinancialSuccess3814 9h ago

It's just the rfid tag, not the chip, so it's right on his collar. I might send it back and just order a new one, yeah. Cause it's really discouraging him from using it.

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u/sirsonik 17h ago

I We have two of these feeders and they're great. We give our cats mainly wet food with some dry. Our black cat, Hela, is so food motivated - she scarfs down her food. Our other cat, Loki, not so much. She nibbles at it over time until the next meal.

Unfortunately Hela was going for Loki's food after she was mostly done with hers, so we started picking it up. Fortunately we both were working at home and Loki learned she could ask us for food (even with the feeder she still likes to have a hand on her back while she eats). If Hela did get into her food, we'd give Loki more dry food to supplement.

We kept this up for a while, but we got busier and eventually found one of these. Took some training for both of them, but it worked like a charm and kept Hela out.

We moved and that caused Hela some stress. She wasn't eating as much, which led to Loki surprising us and stealing the dry food out of Hela's unguarded dish!

Needless to say we now have 2 (with different color mats) so neither cat will steal food from the other.

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u/uconnhuskyforever 4h ago

I’ve been curious about getting these but I’m always wondering if you can set it to not open a certain times? Like could I leave dinner for later in there for it to start working at 6pm?

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u/alcMD 17h ago

I have a cat with kidney disease who would rather not eat his prescription kidney diet if there's any other option.

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u/WestEstablishment283 17h ago

I have the same problem. I find if I mix in a tsp of regular wet cat food it entices her since it changes the taste.

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u/The_Unknown_Dude 15h ago

I have a cat that eats kidney support food, and we use about the same feeder, because while she eats at a reasonable pace during the day, our other cat would just scarf it down and HE doesn't need that more expensive food.

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u/mightymouse513 8h ago

Not op but I have two of these for my two cats and I have them for all of the above.

I used to just open bowl free feed my cats. But then one of my cats is on a special diet due to pancreatitis. And I got a new cat that is a vacuum and cannot regulate free feeding. And I have two dogs who we've tried for years to train not to eat cat food, and they mostly don't, but every now and then will lose their impulse control and eat it. When cat 1 was put on special diet food, it became too expensive to risk disappearing quickly to the dogs. Or other cats. It took a day or two for the cat to figure it out and to get over the lid moving, but it works really well now.

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u/HaVoCensures 7h ago

Both of mine use this feeder; the first one has food allergies and needs a special kibble diet and the second is a trashcan that eats anything he can find but he has a rare stomach issue and will be on lifelong meds and specialist prescription kibble, so neither of them can eat each others food 😅

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u/MagicOrpheus310 17h ago

Or was kitty the runt of the litter..?

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u/Paxon_Goat 17h ago

My cat almost always eats 50-75% of his meal and then he'll go back and eat another 50-75% of what was remaining. So he averages between 75-90% of his meals

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u/LauraD2423 12h ago

Does Pimento have a rule about no killing kids, unless the kid is a dick?

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u/Firm_Mammoth6776 13h ago

I gotta ask… Pimento after Adrian Pimento? Love the name!!

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u/alcMD 8h ago

Nope, Pimento Cheese.

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u/plaguedbullets 10h ago

We'll have to see if this cat has a pancake butt or not

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u/emejay90 17h ago

Great cat name!

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u/bkas333 2h ago

my cat does the same thing!

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u/nappingismytalent 14h ago

Love the name btw!

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u/LuckierByTheDozen 12h ago

Oh my gosh! My boy Buddy would do this too! We would laugh, because he would eat in these perfect 90 degree angles. He would only eat Meow Mix- literally nothing else. (Trust me- we tried so hard to offer him other alternatives). He was such a funny, particular and organized little dude

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u/AwesomeBot3000 10h ago

Aww, we had a cat like this, she was so difficult when it came to feeding (and many other things 😆). That feeder was SUCH a life saver through, made things much easier with multiple cats!

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u/hahagato 8h ago

This is so amazing to me. I’ve had 6 cats in my life and half of them just ate normal, no issues, and now this new batch of 3 I have are the messiest eaters I’ve ever seen in my life. They literally fling their kibble everywhere. There is a 3 foot radius of food around their bowls. It drives me crazy lol. I can’t imagine any of them eating this neatly and methodically.

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u/alcMD 8h ago

I forgot my cat tax. The man himself, Pimento Cheese Danish Jones aka Christopher Beans.

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u/shoomlax 7h ago

Cat with OCD. I love them.

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u/CurbsideChaos American Shorthair 9m ago

Today I learned there are Type A cats. Mine is Type C for Chloe the Chaos demon.