Offer your pet fresh food at any time.
I recently adopted a rescue dog. Brutus was on a pretty strict feeding schedule in the shelter and among many other things, I wanted to keep as much of his schedule the same to help with the transition. There are many different variations of automatic pet food feeders on the market. Some have simple digital and mechanical timers that just pop open once the allotted time is reached. These are single-use feeders and just not ideal for someone with a busy lifestyle. Sometimes I forget to eat and I don’t want that for my dog. I needed a smart feeder that could handle multiple feedings, could give a precise amount each time and was easy to use. I found many different feeders that would meet one or two of my criteria but finding one that handled all three was pretty elusive. That is, until I found The PetKit Fresh Element Smart Feeder.
PetKit’s Smart Feeder has it all. Let’s start with how much the Smart Feeder can handle food-wise. I didn’t measure the exact amount, but it was able to handle an average of 5 days of feeding, with two feedings a day for a very large dog. This gives a lot of versatility for people with a hectic lifestyle that still want to be able to keep their cherished pets on a regular schedule, even when the humans’ schedules can’t be. Speaking of just the simple task of holding food, PetKit really put some thought into this simple task. With their Double Fresh Lock Design they give you two ways to keep the food fresh and dry. The lid has a nice and sturdy silicone ring all the at around to keep anything out whether it be moisture or as I have seen before ants. They also have a desiccant pouch that has its own hinged compartment in the lid. Simple yet thoughtful design elements like this make me and I’m sure many others happy as well.
Considering the capacity of food that the PetKit holds, the whole unit is actually pretty small. It’s about the size of some countertop appliances. The removable stainless steel food dish comfortably holds around 4 cups of food, making it viable for the largest of breeds. The dispensing mechanism is a food-grade silicone impeller that reportedly does not jam, even after one million times. No, I’m not sure how long that is going to take me to reach that point, but a bit of peace of mind goes along way considering that I’m trusting a machine to feed my dog. The Smart Feeder also has an oscillating bar that helps prevent jams as well. I have a larger breed dog and his food is quite large compared to most, so I imagined it looking like a gun all machine jammed up within a few uses. To my surprise, I had zero issues.
PetKit’s Smart Feeder is a Wifi feeder that gives you the ability to dispense food at any point from your smartphone’s app. Once I downloaded the PetKit app I followed the fairly straight forward instructions to connect to my wifi to the Smart Feeder. I found that watching the 3 display lights on the front was the key and a first failed attempt at connection. Using the app is a whole experience in itself. During the initial set up you input the dog’s breed, age, and weight. You also include your personal plan as far as maintaining, decreasing or increasing weight. You do have to input the data on this once it’s available.
There is also an option to include the type of food you feed your dog. All of this leads to a constant record of your dog’s progress over time. It also leads to improved routines for the dog. In the app, there is also a tracker for how long you walked your precious pet each day. A scheduling button helps you keep up on any grooming or veterinarian visits as well as any other pertinent appointments your dog on the go might have. This all is integrated into the app to improve your dog’s health and well-being for as long as you input the data. On top of these features, you get push notifications when the feeder starts and finishes dispensing food, as well as when the food is low or runs out completely. At first, the notifications on the phone were a little much, but over time it really didn’t affect me. I could have turned off the notifications but it’s nice to always be on the loop for a pet’s wellbeing.
The only downside to PetKit’s Smart Feeder was the noise. The unit itself isn’t noisy. When dispensing the food the trap door opens up and since it’s a few inches above the removable stainless steel dish you get a lot of racket depending on the size and quantity of the food. On the days that I can actually sleep in some, I soon realized that this wasn’t going to happen and dinner time can be a bit noisy. It was a simple fix to adjust feeding times. As a side effect, of the noise, I was able to train my cats to not meow at all times of the day. The dog and cats know around the time they eat but once they hear the feeder they know that it’s go-time for food.
After a search and debate of what I wanted from a feeder, I have found my permanent feeder and tracking companion for my pooch.
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