Automatic feeder after gravity feeder disaster

A gravity feeder dispensing an entire bag overnight is a genuinely bad experience — overeating in cats, especially larger breeds like Ragdolls, can cause serious vomiting, bloating, and longer-term weight issues. Gravity feeders have no portion control at all; they just release food as the bowl empties, which is exactly the wrong design for a cat that will eat until it's gone. The most important features in any replacement are portion accuracy, mechanical reliability, and ease of cleaning — cheap timed feeders jam or dispense inconsistent amounts, and dirty feeders cause hygiene problems fast. Before I point you to something specific: is this just for the one Ragdoll, and is the main goal keeping portions controlled day-to-day, or do you also need it to cover times when you're away overnight or travelling?

Got it — so you need reliable, accurate portions split across the day to stop him gorging and then begging again. For a single cat with that background, I'd look at the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Connect. It's not a timed multi-meal dispenser in the traditional sense — it's a sealed bowl that only opens for your registered cat — but paired with the Sure Petcare app you can set a daily food budget and lock the lid between feeding windows. For a Ragdoll who's already shown he'll overeat given the chance, the physical seal matters: he literally cannot get into it outside his allowed times. Can I ask — are you feeding wet food, dry, or a mix? That affects which feeder design works best.

That split — dry across the day, wet in the evening — actually works well with a two-feeder approach, but if you want to keep it simple, I'd go with the PETLIBRO Granary Automatic Cat Feeder for the dry food. It uses a slow-release auger mechanism rather than a gravity drop, so you program exact portions in grams across up to five meals a day, and it's been consistently reliable for dry kibble with very little jamming — which is the main failure point on cheaper models. The hopper seals well so the food stays fresh. For the evening wet food, you'd still portion that manually or use a basic timed single-meal feeder with an ice pack, since wet food really shouldn't sit in an automatic dispenser for long periods. The PETLIBRO handles the daytime dry feeding accurately, and you control the wet portion yourself in the evening, which keeps it hygienic.

Yes, that's one of the reasons I mentioned it — the hopper, auger, and bowl all detach and are dishwasher safe on the top rack. The internal feeding tube is wide enough to reach with a bottle brush if you prefer hand-washing. I'd recommend a proper clean of the hopper every two to three weeks and the bowl daily, especially if you ever put any moist treats through it by mistake. Compared to most gravity feeders where the body is one moulded piece you can barely wipe down, the PETLIBRO is noticeably better designed for cleaning. Given what happened with your Ragdoll, I'd also suggest splitting his 60g dry into four or five small meals across the day rather than two — it'll reduce the begging behaviour because he's never going too long without food, and smaller portions are gentler on his digestion.

A couple of things worth knowing upfront. First, run two or three test dispensing cycles before you leave it unsupervised — just to confirm the portion sizes are calibrating correctly for your specific kibble size and shape. Kibble that's very small or irregular can occasionally dispense slightly over or under the set amount, so it's worth checking. Second, the PETLIBRO has a backup battery slot — put batteries in it from day one, even if it's plugged in. If the power cuts overnight and there are no batteries, it won't dispense in the morning. Third, place it somewhere your Ragdoll can't knock it over or drag the cord; a large determined cat absolutely can topple a feeder if it's on a smooth floor with no wall behind it. Set those up right and it should be very straightforward to live with.