Best automatic feeder for overweight cats

A vet-prescribed calorie reduction for an overweight Ragdoll is exactly the situation where a cheap automatic feeder will let you down — irregular portions can completely undermine a weight-loss plan, and at seven years old, consistent intake really matters. The features that count most here are portion accuracy, ease of cleaning, and mechanical reliability, because a feeder that jams or over-dispenses once a day can quietly stall your cat's progress. To point you in the right direction: is this just for your Ragdoll, and is the main goal hitting a precise daily calorie target your vet has given you, or is it more about spreading meals across the day while you're out?

That's a clear brief — a defined daily target split across three or four meals, with no room for sloppy dispensing. For Biscuit specifically, I'd recommend the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Connect. It's not a traditional rotating-bowl feeder; it works with wet or dry food in a sealed tray and opens only when Biscuit approaches, which prevents overeating between programmed meals. The Connect version links to the Sure Petcare app, which logs every meal and lets you track actual intake against your vet's target — genuinely useful when you're monitoring a six-month weight plan. Portion accuracy is high because you're measuring and placing food yourself rather than relying on a mechanical auger, which eliminates the dispensing variance that plagues most feeders. It's also very easy to clean, which matters for wet food. The main thing to know: it works best with the Sure Petcare hub (sold separately) to get full app functionality. Worth having for the data alone when your vet asks how Biscuit's intake has looked week to week.

It does, but with one practical note. The SureFeed tray handles both, and the sealed lid keeps wet food fresh between meals rather than drying out in a bowl all day — that's a real advantage. If you want to mix formats across the day, the cleanest approach is to use separate meal slots: dry in the morning portions, wet in the evening ones, and rinse the tray between wet-food servings. The app lets you log what you've placed so your daily calorie tracking stays accurate. Biscuit's Ragdoll size is actually helpful here — they tend to be more measured eaters than some breeds, so the meal-by-meal structure usually suits them well.

Yes, it's straightforward. The feeder itself works out of the box without any app — you place the food, and it opens via Biscuit's microchip when she's near. Adding the hub and app is a standard home Wi-Fi setup, guided step by step, and most people have it running in under ten minutes. For a weight-management plan like Biscuit's, I'd encourage you to do the hub setup — having a graph of her weekly intake to show the vet is genuinely useful, and it'll tell you quickly if she's skipping meals, which can matter as she adjusts to smaller portions.