PETLIBRO Automatic Cat Feeder, 5G WiFi Automatic Dog Food Dispenser with Freshness Preservation, 5L Timed Pet Feeder with Low Food Sensor, Up to 10 Meals Per Day, Granary Black

Why it's worth it

This is the plain, do-the-job feeder: up to 10 meals a day in small increments, a twist-lock hopper that keeps kibble crunchy, and alerts when food runs low or jams. It skips the camera, which keeps it cheaper than the fancier models.

It gives you fine control over how much your cat eats, which is the whole point. You can schedule up to 10 meals a day and set 1 to 48 portions per meal, with each portion about a twelfth of a cup. That granularity matters if your vet has you spreading a fixed ration across four or five small meals. Coarser feeders round every serving up, and those extra bites add up fast over a month.

The hopper is built to keep food fresh and cats out of it. A twist-lock lid, a sealing strip and a built-in desiccant bag work against the humidity that turns kibble soft and greasy. There's also a patented rotor in the base of the tank, so a determined paw can't fish out a second dinner. If you've come home to a chewed-open feeder before, you'll appreciate the design.

From our review of 10 automatic cat feeders, by James Bennett, Associate Editor

What we like

• +It gives you fine control over how much your cat eats, which is the whole point
• +The hopper is built to keep food fresh and cats out of it
• +Dual-band Wi-Fi is genuinely useful in a crowded apartment
• +It tells you when something goes wrong instead of failing silently

What to know

• –Dry kibble only
• –Getting it on your Wi-Fi can take a couple of tries
• –The 5L hopper is mid-sized