You can just use a cheap gravity feeder and free feed for a few days, they’ll be fine. Attach them to a piece of plywood so they can’t knock them over. Test it for a few days before you leave so they get used to it.
Some cats can’t control themselves around food and will try to eat as much as possible in one go, that will have a very negative effect on them, of course. But trying gravity feeder includes checking if your cat is compatible with the concept, I guess
Have a small child and make them stay home with the cat, use gravity feed for the child. Problem solved.
Just a built-in timer was too complicated huh. Have to put it in the cloud somehow.
I have a dumb autofeeder. It works because of gravity. It was $5. I would only consider a “smart” one if it could also fill the container with food on its own like a replicator.
Ffs no one needs a “smart” pet feeder.
The sooner the AI obsession ends, the better.
I see a fair few people here getting pissed at the pet owners for using a “smart” feeder, and I kind of get some of the sentiment, but the issue here is not purely with their use of a device to do a task. A washing machine has a timer, a dishwasher has a timer, and a smart feeder has a timer. These are all valid things to have timers on and even to schedule operation to make them automatic. Automated feeding ensures that your pets get food even if you have a bad day and end up forgetting. I have severe ADHD and the only reason my cat ends up fed and I end up taking my meds is using systems.
The issue here is the structure of the system. If the smart feeder had a local copy of the instructions and its own clock and then it dispensed food according to that schedule unless the plan was updated we would never had heard about this issue and nobody would be judging anyone. But what we have here is a system that puts all the control in the hands of a company over a device in your home. If you could update the feeding schedule via a Bluetooth connection or use Home Assistant to manage it then it would just be another modern convenience. The problem is the closed source application which actually has control over the feeder and nothing you do can control it directly.
Also, from an engineering perspective, come on, this is a simple failure state. Internet connection go down. DNS fails. Servers go down. If something like that happens the feeder should continue without intervention. To do otherwise is intentionally bad design. If you don’t code for your failure states you are guaranteeing their consequences. I would rather have a machine that can connect to an app for config but can also be configured by a simple web portal or via Bluetooth.
exactly! well said
““I’ve lost trust and don’t have time to find a new solution for upcoming travel. I have someone coming for check-ins, but they can’t come in 5 times every day to give food,” a Reddit user [said]”
They shouldn’t have pets if they can’t figure out how to take care of the pet without a smart device. Are you too dumb to own a pet? Check. That also makes you too dumb to have kids.
No way would I buy an automatic feeder with WiFi or an app for my cats. That’s creating brittleness where none is needed.
(Some people, few, really want the extra “features” and I don’t knock them for it. Uncommon, though.)
