Microchip feeders for two cats from day one

Microchip feeders are one of the most genuinely useful things to come out of multi-cat product design — they make sure each cat eats only their own food, which becomes really important when two cats have different diets, different portion sizes, or one simply can't stop themselves eating the other's meal. Smart thinking to sort this before the new cat even arrives rather than trying to fix chaos later. Quick questions: how many cats will you have total, are they both microchipped (or will they be), and is there a specific reason you want separation — different food types, portion control, or just a sensible precaution?

That's a really common and very valid concern — kittens are relentless food thieves and a grazer can end up losing access to her own bowl entirely. The good news is you can set this up perfectly from day one. One thing worth knowing: microchip feeders read your cat's implanted microchip, so your resident cat is already sorted. For the kitten, most vets chip them at their first vaccination appointment, usually around 8–9 weeks, so he'll likely be chipped very soon after you bring him home. In the meantime, some feeders also work with RFID collar tags as a temporary fix. How old will the kitten be when he arrives, and do you know yet whether he'll come already vaccinated and chipped?

Perfect — that's exactly what I needed to know. My clear recommendation is the SureFlap SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. It reads your resident cat's microchip straight away, and it comes with a RFID collar tag included in the box, so the kitten can use his own feeder from day one before he's chipped. Once he gets his microchip registered, you just programme that in and retire the collar tag. You'd buy two feeders — one per cat — and each lid only opens for the cat it's programmed to recognise. Your grazer gets her bowl back, the kitten can't get into it, and neither can get into the other's. It's straightforward to set up, robust, and it genuinely solves the problem rather than just slowing it down.

Most cats figure it out within a day or two, but kittens can occasionally be a bit hesitant at first — the lid moving can startle them. The easiest approach is to start with the feeder lid off entirely for the first day or two so he just gets used to eating from the bowl. Then reintroduce the lid in the open position so he sees it's not a threat, and finally let it operate normally. Hungry kittens learn fast. Your resident cat, being an adult grazer, will take to it easily — she'll quickly learn that the bowl opening for her is a good thing.

Just two practical things. First, the SureFeed runs on four AA batteries — there's no mains option — so keep a spare set handy, though they last a good few months with normal use. Second, if either cat is on a wet food diet, the sealed lid does a decent job of keeping it fresh between grazing sessions, which is a nice bonus. Other than that, you're set. Two SureFeed feeders, one collar tag already in the box for the kitten, and you'll have clean feeding separation sorted before any bad habits even have a chance to form.