Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this product from a local pet store - but it's CHEAPER through Amazon - and I felt compelled to share my own experience to off-set the many negative reviews. Specifically, I want to discuss portion control and sneaky pets who stick their paws up the chute. I have the smaller model (5lb) and I am using it with Science Diet cat kibble (small) and I set it to dispense 1/4 cup twice a day. As far as the portion control, I have found that it's dead on. If anything, it gives a little bit LESS. I have not experienced the overfeeding issue some have had. My guess is that perhaps they got the larger model and are using it for cat kibble (much smaller). I don't know. The box for the smaller unit shows a cat with cat kibble. The larger unit has a dog with larger dog kibble. The smaller unit holds enough food to keep our cat fed for at lease a couple of weeks, so I can't imagine why anyone would need the larger one for even a couple cats. If you're leaving them for longer than that, then perhaps you shouldn't have a pet. Anyway, back to the topic at hand... the unit I have delivers the right amount. For me, that's 1/4 cup twice a day. Now, as for the issue of the cat sticking it's paw up the chute to get more food... yes, it can happen. Although my cat hasn't figured this out yet, I have used my fingers to simulate the attempt and they can, in fact, cause more food to drop out. But in doing so, they're only robbing themselves of their next meal. The way this thing works is with a paddle-wheel type design. Pay attention - I'm going to try to explain: You set the thing up, pour a bunch of food in the hopper (which has a locking lid), and then set the timer. None of those tasks are hard - even the programming is easy. Follow the instructions and you'll figure it out in mere minutes. So then you wait until the first time it's supposed to drop food. This is important: The FIRST time it's scheduled, it either won't drop anything (if you have it set for 1/4 cup) OR it will drop 1/4 cup LESS than you programmed. This is because of the design. When you pour the food in the hopper, it fills up the first "chamber" of the paddle-wheel - it holds 1/4 cup. When the timer goes off, the paddle-wheel rotates, and whatever food is in the SECOND chamber will fall... in this case, nothing. But now that it has rotated, the food you poured in will now be in the second chamber and is ready for dispensing. So, keep this in mind when setting it up - make sure you rotate it a time or two manually so the chambers can fill up before you leave it for your pet. Okay, so now that food is dropping each time it's supposed to, let's talk about how the cat can get more to fall. For explanation purposes, remember that I feed my cat 1/4 cup twice a day. Since each chamber of the paddle-wheel only holds 1/4 cup, my machine only rotates 1 chamber at each feeding. If you want to feed, say, 1 cup, it should (as I understand it) rotate 4 times - emptying 4 chambers. Make sense? Okay, so anytime they stick their paw up the chute, they can wiggle the plastic paddle-wheel and make the food in the next chamber come out (1/4 cup). They eat it, they're happy. But the next time the machine dispenses, either nothing will come out (in the case of 1/4 cup feedings) because they've already emptied that chamber, or else they'll get 1/4 cup less. I wasn't able to rob more than one chamber with my fingers. Then the next time it dispenses, food will come out - unless, of course, they've robbed it again. So, in a nutshell, they can only rob one meal (or a portion of one meal) at a time, and if they prefer to WORK for their food, then fine - they'll get a double meal at the beginning, and then they'll have to either work for the next one, or skip it and wait for the machine to give it at the next scheduled time. I hope this makes sense. It's really quite simple, and the unit is working just fine for us. The reason I only gave it 4 stars is because if you bump it, or stomp on the floor next to it, some kibble will fall out. No big deal - the cat finds it, eats it, and then gets a tad bit less at their next feeding. All in all, if you set it up right, your cat will get the appropriate amount of food. Hope this helps!