PETLIBRO Automatic 3L Cat Feeder 

Working full time, even if you do it from home, makes feeding our pets as regularly as they probably should quite challenging. Especially when they require precise dosing and frequent meals following per weight-loss and anxiety-helping recommendations by your vet.

We personally like this PETLIBRO automatic feeder out of the gravity-based upright-type because of its straight-forward programming even for little feeding portions, and its small but sturdy body, making it ideal for small kitchens but at the same time not easily accessible by very insistent pets.

Pros and cons

PROS

• Voice recording feature
• Easy to clean
• Reliable and clogging-free if right size of kibble used
• Stainless steel bowls
• Multiple meals programmable
• Intended for cats and small dogs
• Sturdy and difficult to open thanks to twist lock-lid

CONS

• Dry food only
• Likely unsuitable for multi-pet households if meals dosing and measuring required
• Some users have reported clogging issues when certain kibble shape used

Which automatic cat feeder is the best? – Things to consider before choosing an automatic feeder

Making sure that our pets will eat whatever the time is, whether we are sleeping, working or away on a short weekend getaway, is a great advantage of these automatic feeders.

Some of the key points that we recommend considering before getting one are the following:

• Does my pet eat dry, wet food or both?

This will determine what type of automatic feeder you are going to need, as most gravity-based upright feeders are compatible with dry food only. For wet or mixed food, usually you will better go with a dish-style design one. If you would like to have a look into these, please see our Cat Mate C500 Review post, where we compare it with its competitors.

• Is it intended for just one or more than one pets? Does any of them take a veterinary prescription diet?

In multiple cat households, unless your cats are trained, normally they will have different eating habits and that may result in one of them overeating and the other too little. If that’s your case, or any of them are on a veterinary prescription diet, then you might want to consider a microchip feeder instead. If you would like to have a look into these, please see our SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder Review post, where we compare it with its competitors.

• Do you have any other pets that could access the automatic feeder?

Due to the high palatability of most of cat’s diets, your dog might find their food very interesting and that could lead to dietary indiscretions. If you have a large dog, unless they are well trained and you can trust them, you might better get more sturdy and closer to the floor options such as a dish-style automatic feeder (check our review) or even consider a microchip feeder (check our review here). It really depends on your personal circumstances.

• How much are you willing to invest depending on its features?

It depends on what you are planning to use it for and how important some of their features are for you. For us is very important for them to be reliable, easy to program multiple servings/portions, easy to clean, and ideally with a bowl made of stainless steel to avoid any undesired allergic skin reactions.

Key features

When it comes to programming your pet’s dry food meals, this upright automatic feeder can be a life changer in your busy routine. It allows you to program multiple meals, adjusting different portions sizes and making it ideal when it comes to anxiety issues towards food and weight-control strategies for both cats and small dogs.

This type of feeder might not be the ideal option for multi-pet households if your idea is getting one for the reasons above, as you cannot guarantee that the specific pet is eating the right amount, and that your other greedy cat, for example, is not eating most of the food while the timid one eats very little.

If that is not your case, rest assured that they will really struggle to break through the locked lid or know it down thanks to being sturdy and not very tall.

It comes with stainless steel bowls, friendly to your pet’s skin and easy to clean and wide enough to help them build confidence using it.

It is also friendly with different kibble sizes, provided that they fit within the mm recommended by the manufacturer. This is very important, as clogging problems in this type of feeders (upright, gravity-based) can totally change your experience and make them little reliable!

Product description

Dry food

This upright gravity-based dispenser works only with dry food. The kibble can be single shape, mixed shape, and even freeze-dried food, as long as it is always between 2 and 10 mm diameter to avoid it getting stuck. This means that you won’t have to worry about feeding your pet´s main meals, for example, to help them losing weight or to minimize anxiety by feeding these multiple times throughout the day. This leaves room for you to engage more with your pet by manually feeding them wet food, for example, at night or at weekends.

Programmable meals

The feeder can be programmed to feed up to 6 meals a day automatically, without worrying about setting or filling the device up every day. There is also a manual feeding option, which means that you can also treat your pet with an extra little portion, for example, when you get home. Overall, users don’t seem to complain about the food getting stuck and not being dispensed, which is a relieve particularly for those that spend most of the day away from home.

Portion size

Having the possibility to customize food portions and have them automatically dispensed to our pets, even if we want to feed very small amounts, is extremely useful when, for example, your pet suffers from food anxiety or when we need them to lose weight for their health. This automatic feeder, in particular, allows you to program meals of up to 50 portions (each portion equivalent to 20 ml), which makes it a very flexible option to dose their feeds.

Dimensions and weight

Its measurements are 19.61 x 29.31 x 20.19 cm and weights only about 1.88 kilograms, making it fairly easy to fit anywhere in the house. Its dry food container has a capacity of 3L, and it has a little window which allows observing the remaining food level.

Energy supply

The system is run through a dual power supply, so it needs to be connected to a socket to work via a USB type C, 1.5 meter long cable. It can also use 3x alkaline D batteries (not included) as a back-up, which brings that peace of mind in case of a power cut.

Material

The device itself is made from BPA-free plastic, making it durable, sturdy, and easy to clean. The bowls are made of stainless-steel bowl, which is a feature that we personally love because it is kinder with our pet’s skin and will help reducing allergic skin reactions.

Tamper-resistant lid

This model includes a secure twist-lock lid, which will prevent not only that your pet gets more food than what they are supposed to get, but also that the food remains fresh over time. It also incorporates a desiccant bag to help with this even more. As an added security measure for too clever furry friends, the device is equipped with an infrared sensor, which will stop food from running when the food outlet is blocked.

Easy to set up

Something that we consider fundamental is how easily can be set up and programmed, as the last thing we want is complicating our lives when, possibly, one of the reasons why we decided to purchase an automatic feeder is to make it simpler. It has three buttons in total (+, – and settings), which allows you to easily set up the feeding time intervals.

User reviews

Comparison with its main competitors

Material of the bowl

In this sense, all three models are made from stainless steel, which we appreciate as this would help preventing undesired skin reactions in pets with sensitivities.

Number of programmable meals

Depending on your pet’s particular needs, the XTUOES Automatic Cat Feeder and the PETKIT Automatic Cat Feeder might be superior as they allow to feed up to ten and thirty (respectively) meals a day, while the PETLIBRO granary automatic feeder can only feed up to six. For typical feeding habits, a daily meal split in six little ones is more than enough, however XTUOES and PETKIT go a step further and give you those options too, should you need them.

Type of food compatible

The three possibilities allow feeding dry and freeze-dried food only as these work as an upright vertical feeder that drops food into the bowl at desired intervals, so otherwise it would get stuck.

Power

For this feature, no model is superior to the other as they all hold back-up batteries apart from being connected to a power source.

Smart feeder?

Depending on your needs, you might find that the XTUOES and PETKIT Automatic Cat Feeder are superior alternatives since they are smart feeders, so you can program everything (feeding times, amounts, etc) from the convenience of a phone app. This is helpful, particularly, if you spend most of the day away from home so you can make sure that your pet is not going to miss any meal.

On the other hand, the PETLIBRO granary automatic feeder is easily programmable through buttons on the device itself, which makes it a much simpler but also reliable solution, usually for a more accessible price.

Ideal for

If you are only planning to feed dry or freeze-dried food, then any of the three options will work for you. Apart from the fact that some allow you to further divide the meals (PETKIT and XTUOES), they all offer similar features.

It is very simple: if you like to have everything under control and divide the daily meals into very small portions, when you want, you may want to consider the smart feeder options. On the other hand, the PETLIBRO has proven to be reliable enough that it could be used on its own, or even in conjunction with a pet camera if you want to keep a close eye on your pet when you are at work.

Should you get the PETLIBRO Automatic 3L Cat Feeder?

Creating a feeding routine for your pet is almost as important as the food we feed them. If your vet has told you that your pet is overweight, or if constant begging for food has become a habit that we as pet owners find hard to ignore (“they look at you with those little eyes…” I hear a lot as a vet), this PETLIBRO automatic cat feeder is definitely a tool worth trying.

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