Best Automatic Pet Feeders: Programmable food dispensers for dogs and cats

Samuel J Tan Home & Kitchen, Pets, Smart Home 0

These programmable pet feeders are perfect when you have a busy schedule, need to attend to emergencies, going to be late from work, planning a short business trips or break. Simply set the desired feeding schedule and portion, and these automatic feeders will do the rest.

Not only will these programmable feeders help feed the pet when the owner is out, tied up with work or simply could not get back on time but it will give their pet a sense of security by having a regular feeding schedule. We look at eight of the best automatic pet feeder for your feline or canine friends.

Give your pet the confidence and yourself the peace of mind, knowing that your pet will be fed routinely by scheduling fixed feeding time with these automatic feeders.

Give you pets and yourself the peace of mind using the automatic pet feeder to establish a regular feeding schedule. Click to Tweet

Table of Contents

What To Consider When Choosing an Automatic Pet Feeder

Just remember that these automatic feeders are only good for dispensing mainly dry food. You may find that some dispensers support moist kibble. Here are some of the factors and features to look for when choosing the right automatic feeder for your pet.

Storage capacity using big hopper to store enough food for at least a couple of days
Flexible scheduling sets the time and program your custom feeding times
Multiple Feed Cycle set up to 4 and sometimes more feeding times per day
Portion control, set the amount of food to dispense per meal
Type of food supported: Dry or moist or both
Smart feeder with WiFi access for remote control via companion app
Alexa compatible, control the feeder using Alexa voice commands or Alexa app
Onboard Web Cam with 2 way voice chat to dial in remotely and watch, speak and hear the pet.
Footprint and Size, mostly compact so can be moved around easily
Portable allowing one to travel with their pet and pet feeder when away on holiday
Battery or mains powered or both, check that power supply adapter is included if mains powered is preferred
Other Features: feeding time alert or voice recorder to record personalised voice message to alert the pet before dispensing food.

Smart pet feeders require WiFi Internet connection and companion app to be installed on your smartphone or tablet. The app can then be used to program the pet feeder and communicate with your pet in real time.

Top 12 Best Automatic Pet Feeder: Programmable Pet Food Dispensers for Cats and Dogs

We list 12 of the best automatic pet feeder out there right now.

1. WESTLINK 6L Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser for Cat and Dog with Voice Recorder

This large programmable pet feeder has a 6L storage capacity. It can be programmed to dispense up to 4 meals a day. Portions can be controlled using a stepper system. Set between 1 to 39 portions with each portion being around 10-12 grams of feed to suit your pet size.

There is a built-in voice recorder that lets you record up to 10 seconds of custom call to meal message for your pet. An infrared sensor ensures that food in the bowl does not overflow but cutting off the dispensing when the bowl is full. The feeder can be powered via USB adapter or with three D-cell batteries.

Westlink Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 6L, with portion control 1-39 portions (each around 10-12 grams)
Schedule: 4 meals a day

Also sold as Sailnovo 6L Pet Food Dispenser and amzdeal below.

Create custom meal time alerts to let your pet know that it is feeding time using an automatic feeder with voice recorder Click to Tweet

2. WOpet 7L Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser for Cats and Dogs

This WOpet unit is available in two variety, a standard programmable automatic pet feeder or a connected smart feeder which is also included in our line-up. The standard variety is of course cheaper, more popular and still has the same 7L capacity.

It also offers portion control between 2 teaspoons to 4.5 cups, programmable with up to 4 meal times and distribution or meal time alert. For the meal time alert use the on board voice recorder to record a custom message for the pet.

The unit can be wall powered or battery powered using 3 D-cell batteries.

WOpet 7L Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser for Cats and Dogs

WOpet 7L Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 7L or 20 cups with portion control between 2 teaspoons to 4.5 cups per meal.
Schedule: 4 meals a day

Set and forget, establish a routine and regular feeding time for your pet throughout the day and avoid stressing your pet with an automatic pet feeder Click to Tweet

3. PetSafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed Automatic Pet Feeder

The PetSafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed automatic feeder not only looks the part for functions well too. Looking more like a pet food container, it has a huge 1.5 gallon food storage capacity and can handle either dry or moist pet kibble. As for food dispensing, pick from one of three feed modes. Choose slow to slowly dispense the food over 15 minutes. Apart from the scheduled feed time, use Immediate mode for instant release of the meal and pause to temporarily stop the dispenser without losing the programmed feed times.

Use the digital display and soft touch buttons on the control panel to set meal times. Up to 12 feeding time can be scheduled. Portions can also be controlled between 1/8 cup to 4 cup. The dispenser uses a conveyor to dispense most shapes and sizes of dry and semi-moist food while ensuring that it does not get jammed up. The unit works for both dog food or cat food. It can be operated using 4D cell batteries or using a separate power adaptor.

PetSafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed Automatic Pet Feeder

PetSafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed on Amazon

Capacity: 1.5 Gallon or 24-cups with food bowl that holds up to 5 cups.

Automatic Pet Feeder with portion control ensures that your pet gets the right amount of food at the right time. Click to Tweet

4. Arf Pets Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser

Keep your pet stress free be it a dog, cat or small animal with an automatic pet feeder. The unit has feeding time alerts, voice recorder and portion control apart from being able to program up to 4 meal times daily.

For portion control, choose between 1 to 10 portions per meal with each portion equivalent to around 24ml. The unit only works with dry food and the storage container has a magnetic locking lid.

Record a personal voice message to get your pets attention and to let them know that it is meal time with the onboard recorder. This custom message can be up to 10 seconds. Like most units here, it can be battery (3 D-cell batteries) or mains powered.

Arf Pets Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser

Arf Pets Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 1.14 gallon
Schedule: 4 meals daily

5. PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder – SMART

The first smart pet feeder on our list, the PetSafe automatic pet feeder is suitable for cats and dogs. The WiFi enabled Pet feeder lets you access and control the automatic feeder from its companion app, available for Android of iPhone. It also has a generous 24-cup capacity, which should be enough for small to medium sized or even big pets.

Use the app to program up to 12 feeding time, with each meal dispensed to the right amount from 1/8cup to 4 cups. There is also a Feed Now control via the app to dispense extra food outside of feeding time. The smart dispenser also has unique dispensing mode called the Slow Feed mode. This dispenses the food over a period of 15 minutes to prevent bloating and vomiting in pets.

Other features include mobile notifications of feeding time, if WiFi connection is available. If the unit is disconnected, the scheduled program continues offline. All components, the lid, hopper, bowl and bowl holder are dishwasher safe. The smart feeder can be battery or mains powered with supplied adapter.

PetSafe Smart Feed Automatic Dog and Cat Feeder

PetSafe Smart Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 24 cups, portion control 1/8cup to 4 cups per meal.
Schedule: programmable via smartphone with up to 12 meal times.

Smart and connected pet feeder allows you to control your pets feeding time remotely and set it going automatically. Click to Tweet

6. amzdeal Automatic Pet Feeder 6L Pet Feeder

Amzdeal automatic pet feeder has the same same design as the Westlink above. It has the same 6L capacity and allows for portion control between 1 to 39 portions. Each portion is around 12 grams. The onboard timer allows pet owners to create up to 4 meal times for each day.

The dispenser is suitable for both cats and dogs and has a built-in voice recorder and speaker to create a personalised alert to let the pet know that it is meal time. The large food hopper has a transparent locking lid allowing one to quickly check the food level. The system can be powered via a USB charger or with 3 D-cell batteries.

To avoid over feeding or an overflowing bowl, an infrared sensor is employed near the food outlet to stop the dispenser when there is still food in the bowl.

amzdeal Automatic Cat Feeder 6L Pet Feeder

Amzdeal Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 6L with 1 to 39 portion settings
Schedule: up to 4 meal times daily

Battery operated and portable automatic pet feeder lets you take the feeder with you on holidays. This ensures that your pet is fed no matter where you stay. Click to Tweet

7. JEMPET 12 Meals Automatic Pet Feeder – SMART, CAMERA, ALEXA

This automatic pet feeder goes one step further by including a 1080P HD WiFi Pet Camera with Night vision and 2-Way Audio. Dial in and speak to your pet via your mobile device be it a tablet or smartphone. The wide angle camera with night vision offers live streaming video to your phone anywhere in the world. Onboard speaker and microphone lets you have a voice chat with your pet.

Pet owners can also use the app to record video and take photos. This can either be saved on the phone or locally if an SD card is present in the smart feeder. They can then review and share this later. When food is low in the hopper, the app will also notify the owner via the app on top of the programmed feeding notifications.

Apart from the camera, the ability to see and chat with your pet remotely, program the smart feeder remotely and Alexa support, the automatic pet feeder functions the same way like any other standard feeder. Customise the feeding time and portion as well as record a personal call to meal voice message. This voice command to your pet will play before each meal to let them know that food is ready.

As for power, it can be mains powered or battery powered with 3 D-cell batteries. WiFi connection is required for remote control, voice and video chat.

Jempet 12 Meals Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: portion control with each portion equating to 5 grams
Schedule: programmable via app with up to 12 meals per day.

8. PortionProRx Automatic Pet Feeder

The PortionProRx looks like a food bin. If there is more than one pet at home, multiple pet feeders can be deployed. The feeder supports multiple pets by using a dedicated RFID tag for each pet. The feeder will only open when it picks up the signal from the right RFID tag affixed to the collar of your pet.

The storage hopper can hold up to 30 cups of dry kibble. The system automatically measure and serves up meals in the amount and at the time set with portion control. Set from as little as half a cup to 6 cups per day with the option of dividing this into 2, 3, 4 or 6 meals. A removable ceramic coated steel bowl makes it easy for cleaning.

Set personalised pet meals using the button buttons and backlit LCD display panel. Once set, you can review the feeding schedule using the scroll buttons. An automatic lid keeps the dog food away from toddlers. A food gate sensor ensures that no more food is dispensed when the bowl is full.

PortionProRx Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 32 cups with portion control 1/16 to 2 cups

Scheduling: up to 6 meals per day

9. WOpet Smart Feeder Automatic Pet Feeder – SMART, CAMERA

Another connected Smart pet feeder, the WOPet Smart Feeder comes not only with a timer to schedule up to 6 meals a day but it has an onboard 720p HD camera for video with 120° Wide Angle Lens and voice recording. This lets the owners interact with their pets remotely in real time via the web cam and two-way audio using onboard microphone and speaker via a mobile app. The companion app is available for both iPhone and Android device.

A see-thru lid lets you check the food level quickly. The food container is also removable should you need to clear it out and wash it and so is the food tray. Use the app to control the portion setting it from 1 to 39 portions by 10 to 12 grams increments for each portion to suit your pet size and appetite. The app is also capable of recording your pet with found.

Finally, the has a micro SD card slot that supports up to 32GB of storage and will only connect to your home network via WiFi using the 2.4GHz band.

WOpet Smart Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 6L
Schedule: Set up to 6 meals a day

10. HoneyGuaridan A36 Automatic Pet Feeder

HoneyGuaridan A36 Automatic Pet Feeder is suitable for both cats or dogs.It can also be used to dispense food for smaller animals like rabbits. It has a large removable food container that can hold up to 3.8L of dry food. Food is dispensed into a removable stainless steel bowl. The bowl is dishwasher safe and easy to clean.

A control panel with soft touch buttons and display is found on top of the feeder. Use this to set the time, schedule the feeder, control the portion and record your voice up to 10 seconds long. It also features automatic locking to stop kids and pets from changing the settings. For portion control choose between 1 to 80 portions per meal with around 1/32 cup per portion.

Other features include manual feeding to immediately dispense one unit of food, low food alert with flashing blue light and locking lid. The pet feeder is also designed to be pet proof and a built-in infrared sensor stops the feeder from overloading the food bowl. The feeder can be powered by batteries or DC power cable, the DC power adapter is included.

HoneyGuaridan A36 Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 3.8L or 13 cups for 1 to 6 meals a day

11. Homdox Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser

This automatic feeder looks like the Thundercats’ Cat Lair. The globe as the hopper, dark plastic as eyes with circular pattern on either sides for ears make it look like a little robot. It is capable of storing up to 1.5 kg of pet feed. The food storage chamber or hopper is moisture resistant to keep the dry food fresh.

Use the soft touch buttons and display panel to set the time, program up to 4 feeding times, control the portion and record your personalised call to meal. To listen to your recorded message, simply press the Play button. You are allowed up to 10 seconds. This beats having a buzzer or tune playing each time. Your familiar voice will alert your pet when it is feeding time.

For portion control set between 1 to 39 portions, 1 being 5 grams to a maximum of 195 grams. Powered by battery or mains from a USB adapter, the unit can be disassembled for cleaning. The feeder can be used for both dogs and cats. There is an infrared sensor in the chute to prevent food from clogging up the chute.

Homdox Automatic Pet Feeder Food Dispenser

Homdox Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 3L or 4 meals

ALSO: WOpet Pet Feeder Automatic Pet Feeder

Safe for the eyes and ears, the WOpet automatic pet feeder is the same as the Homdox feeder above. Using the soft touch buttons and display, set the feeding schedule and portion for your pet and let it do the rest. For portion control, set between 1 to 39 with each portion being around 5 grams. You can set up to 4 feeding times a day; lunch, breakfast, diner and a 4th meal.

A built-in voice recorder lets you record your own voice to call out to your pet when food is dispensed. Record up to 10 seconds of your custom call to meal for your pet. It is suitable for both cat and dog. Food is loaded into the unit by removing the top cover. The pet feeder can be powered by three D size batteries or using the mains supply with included USB cable although a power adaptor is needed. The pet feeder uses infrared to avoid over dispensing and causing the food bowl to overflow.

WOpet Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 3L or 4 meals
Schedule: Programmable via soft touch button and display

ALSO: Iseebiz Automatic Pet Feeder 3L

Yes, another three litre automatic pet feeder. Just like the previous two automatic pet feeder here, the unit is essentially the same. A soft touch control panel lets you set the schedule or timer, portion and record your voice to call your pet when food is dispensed. The system lets you record up to 10 seconds of personalised message for your pet to get their attention. For portion, use one of the settings between 1 to 39 for every meal to develop a good eating habit for the pet.

In case your pet doesn’t eat, a built-in infrared detection in the chute will detect if the food is overflowing in the food bowl and prevent clogging. It can be powered by batteries or using the supplied power adapter.

Iseebiz Automatic Pet Feeder on Amazon

Capacity: 3L or 4 meals
Schedule: Programmable via soft touch button and display

BUDGET

12. PAWISE Automatic Pet Feeder 2-Meal Food Dispenser – ULTRA BUDGET

This may not have all the bells and whistles of its more expensive competitors but it is automatic nonetheless. The automatic feeder serves up 2 meals for your pet using mechanical timer. When the time is up, the lid will automatically open to reveal the pet food in the bowl. For power, it relies on 2 AA batteries. This makes it perfect for short trips and it requires no time at all to set up. The timer can be set up to 48 hours in advance. Ice packs are also include to go under the food bowl to keep the food fresh. Pawise also offers a single meal option which is essential a single unit of the 2-meal dispenser or 5 meals rotational option shown below.