How do I set up an automatic cat feeder so my cat doesn’t overeat?

Been there with the rescue who treats every meal like a race. The easiest way to stop puke is to drip feed. Program six to eight tiny releases from morning through night and use slow feed so each one trickles for a minute or two. Start by weighing the full daily ration once, then split it across those drops so the total stays the same for a week. If your step size is one eighth cup, keep each event to a single step and let slow feed spread it out. If that is still too much, alternate larger and smaller events across the day so any one dump is modest.

To make micro meals painless and keep you from caving to the meows, PETLIBRO 10 works well. It lets you schedule up to ten meals a day and set very small portion steps, which is perfect for a gobbler who needs frequent tiny servings. Setup is quick and the design feeds consistently. The app prefers a two point four gigahertz network which is a minor quirk, but day to day it is solid.

For jams and bounce, stick to uniform kibble on the smaller side and keep freeze dried toppers out of the hopper. Drop toppers into the bowl after the feed instead. Keep the fill below the max line and wipe the chute and impeller weekly. Set the bowl on a thin silicone mat or place a shallow slow feed insert so kibble has to weave around something, just be sure the chute is unobstructed. A small rubber mat under the feeder also cuts bounce scatter and muffles the clatter. Give it two weeks of consistency and the meowing usually fades once the cat learns food comes from the robot, not from you.

Start by deciding the daily ration in grams with a kitchen scale. Pour that exact amount into a jar each morning and only program events that empty the jar by bedtime. For a puker, I like, have best luck with 6 to 8 micro meals. Make the first drop very small, the next few moderate, and the final two small again so no single dump is big. If the feeder only does one eighth cup steps, keep each event to one step and turn on slow feed so it trickles. If even that triggers scarf and barf, split the hour into two events fifteen minutes apart.

To slow the physical eating, lay a thin silicone trivet or a low profile maze insert in the bowl so the kibble spreads and the cat has to pick. Keep the path from chute to bowl clear. Use uniform small kibble and skip any freeze dried bits in the hopper. Add those after the feed by hand. Clean the chute and impeller weekly and keep the fill under the max line. A rubber mat under the feeder stops bounce scatter and reduces the clatter that can excite a food anxious cat. It gets quieter. That helps.

Think of it as two problems. Stomach management and attention seeking. stomach is easy. Lots of tiny predictable feeds and no sudden large dumps. The attention part means you stop responding to feeder meows. Hard for a week. Then the lightbulb goes on that food now comes from the robot not from you.

Put the feeder where he cannot stare at you while it runs. Add background noise near the unit so the motor sound does not become a household alarm. Give him a foraging task between meals such as a few pieces hidden in a snuffle mat placed across the room. That like, keeps paws busy while the stomach waits. If you add a puzzle insert in the bowl, make sure the chute drops in a clear area so nothing backs up. Clean the track weekly and choose small uniform kibble to avoid jams.

landed on seven meals a day with one eighth cup for most drops and slow feed on :) First at six in the morning, last at ten at night, with one tiny buffer at two in the morning to stop the dawn wake up. He quit puking after three days.

Freeze dried bits do not go in the hopper anymore. I sprinkle a pinch after the motor stops so nothing jams. A thin silicone mat under the feeder killed the bounce scatter and the noise. Small changes, big win.

Clinic trick for speed eaters is predictability plus tiny portions... Aim for four to six hours of coverage during your busy window and then a couple of small overnight drops. For most adult cats that ends up around 8 to that model events, each one eighth cup or less with slow feed on. Keep the first week identical so his gut and brain settle. Expect louder meowing the first few days. Then it fades.

If vomit happens, do not add volume at the next meal. Shorten the interval instead. A two minute trickle works better than a dump. Place the unit on a grippy mat and angle the bowl slightly by propping the back feet so kibble rolls inward rather than popping out. Uniform round or small triangular kibble jams less. Anything big, oily, or powdery increases clogs. Wipe dust out when you refill and toss in a fresh desiccant to cut static.

My gobbler kept jamming the auger when I like, mixed freeze dried crumbles with the kibble. The fix was simple. Only standard dry kibble in the hopper and toppers only in the bowl. Also keep the fill at about two thirds. Overfilling packs tight and bridges the exit.

For bounce make a ramp. I cut a strip from a takeout container lid and taped it where the chute empties so pieces slide down instead of shooting. Works great. You can also swap the bowl for a wide saucer so there is more landing zone. Programming wise, I run nine micro drops from morning to night with slow feed on. The first two are tiny to take the edge off, then a few moderate ones in the afternoon, then two tiny again so bedtime is calm. No more scarf and barf.

I switched to a feeder that stacks tiny drops with a gentle trickle, which calmed my nervous eater and kept feeding on time through a brief outage... ten small feedings a day, at most one eighth cup each, with kibble only, a quick chute wipe at refills, a low profile puzzle insert that avoids the drop zone, and a small rubber mat to stop bounce and rattle.

We have two rescues and one vacuums food. I pre weigh the entire day into a small container and pour that into the hopper in the morning. The schedule is eight events and the slow feed option is always on. If the camera shows frantic gulping, I add another event and shave a few grams off each one and total never changes, only the spacing.

For jams I switched to a uniform small kibble and I sift out the powder crumbs with a mesh colander when I open a new bag. That one step ended every clog. For bounce I swapped the bowl for a wide shallow plate and set everything on a thin rubber mat. The feeder became quiet and the kibble stays put.