Stop cats stealing expensive food

Watching an expensive bag of grain-free food disappear twice as fast because the wrong cat is hoovering it up is genuinely maddening — and microchip feeders are one of the most genuinely useful things to come out of the multi-cat world precisely for this reason. They make sure only the right cat can open the bowl, so every penny of that premium food goes where you intended it. Quick questions before I point you in the right direction: how many cats total, are they both microchipped (or wearing collar tags), and is the concern purely about food cost, or is there also a health reason one of them needs the grain-free diet?

That's actually the ideal microchip feeder setup — both already chipped, a clear medical reason for one cat, and a healthy thief who just needs to be locked out. What I'd recommend is the SureFlap SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. It reads Mochi's microchip and only opens for her. Nori walks up, lid stays shut, end of problem. It's the most reliable feeder in this space — the seal is good, it doesn't false-open, and the battery life is solid. You'd just programme Mochi's chip in during setup, which takes about thirty seconds. One thing worth knowing: you'll need one feeder for Mochi's food. Nori can carry on eating from a normal bowl, since you're not restricting his diet, just protecting hers.

Setup is genuinely simple — you press the button, let Mochi sniff the feeder while it's open, and it logs her chip. Done. The lid question is worth addressing though, because some cats do take a day or two to adjust. The SureFeed has a training mode where you can set the lid to stay fully open at first, then gradually close more each day until she's used to it opening as she approaches. Most cats crack it within a week. Mochi will learn that her arrival triggers the lid — cats are surprisingly quick to make that connection when food is involved.

It typically sits around £65–£75 on Amazon UK — no subscription, no app required, no ongoing cost beyond AA batteries every few months. It's a straightforward one-off purchase. Given that grain-free food formulated for skin conditions tends to cost £30–£50 a bag, the feeder pays for itself fairly quickly once Nori stops getting a free share. There's also a Connect version with app monitoring, but honestly for two cats and a simple theft problem, the standard model is all you need.