Diana Bailey

Good advice above. If the blade spins smooth by hand run it half-full of water; if that’s quiet and you’re hearing cavitation or coupler slip from dry, heavy loads, so add liquid first, start low, and pulse. A failing blade bearing often leaves black or rusty residue under the jar or feels hot after a short run; that’s a replace-the-jar item. Also make sure the gasket in the blade base is seated flat and the locking ring isn’t cross-threaded, which can misalign the blade and create a scraping grind.

Hey and I've had cases crack like that too, especially if they're not the best material. First off, take it off and check if there's any dirt or something stuck that's causing extra pressure. Clean everything gently with a soft cloth and some water and... then, when you put it back on, make sure it's not forcing the edges. If it's still cracking, might be time to look for something sturdier within your budget, but yeah, accidents do happen. Works great for me now after cleaning. Also, try not to leave it in super hot or cold places, that can make plastic brittle. And if you drop it less, obviously, but I get it, school and games keep you busy.

We use an app feeder with a two bowl splitter for our chaos duo and it has been a sanity saver. Both bowls fill at the same moment so the usual ambush stopped, the app schedule sticks, the history makes it easy to see if a meal fired, and the low bin ping has saved a missed top up once. Battery backup did its job during a short outage and everything ran on time. Medium kibble has been fine as long as we avoid oversized puffs and keep the hopper from running near empty. If you ever see a partial drop, switch to smaller portions more often or give the hopper a quick refill and it smooths out. Spacing the bowls a bit and adding a small visual barrier between them also helps the thief think twice, which turns out to be half the battle.