Best automatic pet feeders: six feeders from a two-bowl timer to a microchip lock, by what each actually does

Six compartments on a tray that rotates to the opening at the times you set in the Catit app over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, two ice packs for the meals waiting their turn, mains power with four C batteries (not included) as a four-day backup, and a two-year warranty. Catit publishes all of that; it does not publish the compartment size, and the listing gives a 3.8 l total.

Six meals is six meals: two days for a cat fed three times, three for one fed twice. The ice packs keep food cool, not cold.

For a cat on pouches whose owner works unpredictable hours, it is the one that moves the schedule from a phone.

The large hopper: 24 cups of kibble, up to twelve meals a day, each portion anywhere from 29 to 946 ml, a slow-feed mode that spreads a meal over fifteen minutes for a dog that inhales, a stainless bowl and parts that go in the dishwasher. Programmed on the unit, no app. PetSafe UK’s page sells the mains adaptor separately and the feeder runs on four D cells; the listing says adaptor included, so that fact is flagged.

Dry food only, and nothing can be changed from away.

For a dog or a cat on kibble, for a week, with a neighbour checking water, it is the one.

Not a timer at all. The lid slides open when the cat whose microchip, or RFID collar tag, it has learned puts its head in, and closes when it leaves; it stores up to 32 pets, seals a 400 ml bowl (two pouches, or a split bowl for wet and dry) against flies and drying, runs about six months on four C cells, and carries a three-year warranty, all by Sure Petcare’s page.

You still fill the bowl, and the cat must be chipped or tagged.

For a cat on prescription food in a house with another cat or a dog, it is the only feeder that solves the problem.

Five bowls of 330 g under a lid, four of them served at times you set on a digital clock, the fifth open from the start, with twin ice packs under the tray and three AA cells that the retailers say last a year. Lid and bowl are dishwasher safe; stainless inserts are an optional extra; three-year guarantee.

Four timed meals, then it is empty, and the schedule is set on the feeder.

For a weekend away with a cat on wet food, and no interest in Wi-Fi, it is the one.

A small hopper, 2 litres, with up to six meals a day set on the unit, a press-to-lock lid and a rubber rotor that keeps ants out of the chute, running on batteries (not included; the listing claims up to 180 days) or the adapter in the box. 19 centimetres square, 1.6 kg. Petlibro describes the design on its page; the power figures are the listing’s.

Two litres feeds one cat for about a week, not two cats, and the warranty is one year.

For a single cat on dry food and an owner who wants no account, it is the sensible small feeder.

Two 400 g bowls, each under a lid released by its own 48-hour mechanical timer, an ice pack under the food, lids and bowls dishwasher-proof, battery powered, three-year guarantee. Twist, fill, close.

Two meals is the whole story.

For the night you will be back after midnight, or two cats fed at once, it is the simplest thing that works.