8 Best Automatic Cat Feeders

Though it's a bit pricey, Dr. Miller recommends this reliable PetSafe automatic feeder to families who visit her vet clinic. It connects to your home Wi-Fi and can be operated through Amazon's Alexa, so you can order it to feed your pet just by saying so, plus you can set up regular, automatic feedings via the app.

Its best feature, though, may be the slow-feeding setting, which can deliver a meal 1/8 of a cup at a time over the course of 15 minutes. A 10-pound kitty only needs about a half-cup of dry food a day, so if your's tends to gulp and then vomit (raises hand), you can, for instance, set this to deliver a quarter-cup on slow feed in the morning and a quarter-cup on slow feed in the evening to pace things out. ("Cats are crepuscular, which means they are most active at dawn and dusk," said Dr. Miller.)

Because this connects via Alexa, you can also ask Amazon to mail you more cat food when you get the app notification that the feeder is running low. At 6 liters, it has a high capacity, which is about 24 cups of food, more than a month's worth for the typical house cat. It can also do as many as 12 feedings a day.

With its high capacity, this feeder could also feed small- and medium-sized dogs who tend to eat more in a day than most cats. The PetSafe Smart Feed works plugged in but it's a good idea to also install four D-size backup batteries (not included) in case the power goes out. PetSafe does not recommend that you regularly run the feeder on batteries alone — they'll only last about a week if you do.

Capacity: 6 L (about 24 cups) | Portion size: 1/8 cup, can deliver up to 32 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 12 | App-enabled: Yes, scheduling is app-only

Related: PetSafe also makes two of our favorite cat water fountains

There are zero bells and whistles on this affordable feeder. It just works with gravity, so as your cat eats from the bowl, more kibble falls down. That means it's not for an overeater, as a cat who can't seem to stop gobbling would have access to all eight cups of food that the feeder holds.

But if your cat is good at controlling itself, this is a no-power way to provide continuous food access while you're away for a long weekend. I have a good friend who has one of these for each of her two cats and when she's gone, I just stop in and clean up their litter box, say hello to the kitties, and make sure they haven't tossed kibbles around on the floor.

Some online reviewers mention food getting stuck and not falling down, and while I have not had that experience, it's another reason to heed Dr. Miller's advice to be sure a human is checking in on your pet every day. It does garner more than 8,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.

I would hesitate to use this with a dog because it's meant for small kibble sizes, like those that a cat eats, and it's not a large-capacity feeder. For dogs, there is a larger size.

Capacity: 2 L (about 8 cups) | Portion size: 2 cups | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: Unlimited | App-enabled: No

Feeding two? This automatic pet feeder will split the food fairly evenly between two dishes. Each cat will each will get their own dish, and it's nice if they like to eat side-by-side. This can also be modified to use just one dish if it turns out they'd rather take turns from a single bowl.

Set up the feeding schedule using the app. The app set-up is a bit lengthy, but following the instruction manual carefully will help. The good news is you can also set the schedule using buttons on top of the lid, if you want to bypass the app. There's also a button that lets you record your voice saying a 10-second greeting like, "tummy time!" (That's how my mom calls her cats, and trust me, they know what those words mean!) If you do that, each time the machine lets down food, it will play your recording.

You'll also want to put four D-size batteries (not included) in to be a backup to the power cord should the power go out. Also keep in mind that you can't program one dish to get more than the other dish, and you can't feed your cats different food — it's all coming out of the same hopper. If they need to eat differently, get them each their own feeder.

Capacity: 4 L (about 16 cups) | Portion size: 1/16 cup, can deliver up to 48 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 6 | App-enabled: Yes, but you can also schedule manually

Leaving out wet food for a long period of time is not a great idea. Since it's perishable, you're not going to find a reliable high-capacity wet-food feeder. However, this automatic cat feeder lets you serve two wet-food meals spaced apart. Set the simple timer on each side, and each lid opens nice and wide. Each bowl can hold up to 14 ounces of canned food, which means easily two cans per side.

An ice pack goes under the top dish layer to keep wet cat food cold. Set each side to spring open sometime between 1 and 48 hours in the future. It's useful for a weekend trip, but many online reviewers say they set it at night to spring open in the morning so their cat gets wet food without having to meow people awake. (More on that phenomenon below!)

This runs on one AA battery (not included), which should last about a year. We recommend buying a second ice pack so one can always be in the freezer.

The brand does offer a five-meal feeder, but the openings are very small and would require a cat to bend its whiskers to get in there and lick the food out (which some cats don't like).

Capacity: 14 oz per side | Portion size: Can fit 2 standard 3-oz or 5.5-oz cans per side | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 2 | App-enabled: No

Save space — and money — with this compact, budget-friendly feeder, appropriate if your kitty needs small portions, since it can deliver just 1/24 of a cup at a time if necessary (literally just a few pieces). If you want it to release more than that, just up the portion size: Delivering four portions at a time would add up to 1/8 of a cup. The container only holds about 8 cups at a time, less than many others on our list, but even if your kitty is a half-cup-a-day cat, this will last about two weeks.

This is a wise choice for people who are most comfortable setting the schedule on the device itself. It does not work with an app. Unlike app-connected feeders that are always monitoring, this one can run on just three D-cell batteries for up to half a year, giving you a lot of leeway for where you position it in your home. But you also have the option to use the included power cord.

With batteries, it can also work under a covered porch or patio for outdoor cats, though the brand warns that raccoons will likely try and break into the machine. It does also come with a plug if you'd rather use an electrical outlet for power.

Petlibro is a brand that gets some Reddit recommendations and there's a larger model (with a camera!) from the brand on this list as well.

Capacity: 2 L (about 8 cups) | Portion size: 1/24 cup, can deliver up to 16 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 6 | App-enabled: No

This is the new automatic cat feeder that I use to give a sunrise meal to my senior cat, who otherwise starts pressing her paw on my forehead to wake me up. I used the app to set a delivery at 6am and one at 7am and now she lets me sleep.

"If you know that your cat typically wakes you up because they're hungry, an automatic feeder can be a helpful tool for pet parents as eventually the cat will associate mealtime with the feeder instead of their human," said Dr. Miller, who has also used one for this purpose. So this can help train some cats to rely on the feeder and not on you (no guarantees, notes Dr. Miller, as every feline is different) and can be used to deliver a reward if you catch your cat being good.

In the app, hit "feed" and it will deliver some bonus food. This automatic feeder can offer up to 30 feedings a day, more than any other on this list. It works on your home Wi-Fi system and can work with Amazon's Alexa. There are no manual controls, so you are dependent on the app.

It's easy to see how much food is left in the hopper so it's obvious when you're running low. You can plug it into a wall outlet, and add 4 AA batteries (not included) as backup in case of a power outage. The dish on this is fairly large and it could also be used for a small dog.

There's a more advanced version of this feeder that features a camera with night vision, motion detection and two-way audio, and we look forward to trying that next.

Capacity: 6 L (about 24 cups) | Portion size: 1/16 cup, can deliver up to 12 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 30 | App-enabled: Yes, scheduling is app-only

From the makers of the Litter Robot, the Feeder-Robot can work via app to automatically deliver food on a schedule or can work with gravity to keep your cat's bowl full — you can decide which mode works best for your cat. If you opt for the app, it's the same one as the Litter Robot and you can monitor both devices simultaneously. There's also the option to set up the feeding schedule using buttons on the device itself, bypassing the app.

This is a more sophisticated machine than most; even if your Wi-fi goes out, the schedule is saved on the machine itself and it will continue feedings as planned. But if you're worried about your house losing electricity, you might want to pay an additional $40 for the Feeder-Robot with a backup battery.

Anti-jam technology means if the dispenser jams, it will retract and try again up to five times. As long as you're using regular dry kitty kibble, it should work fine. There's a one-year warranty on the Feeder-Robot and Whisker offers USA-based customer service support.

Capacity: About 7.5 L (32 cups) | Portion size: 1/8 of a cup, can deliver up to 4 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 8 | App-enabled: Yes, but you can also schedule manually

This new model has a camera so you can watch your cat (like a baby monitor, but for pets!) and a microphone on the app so you can talk to your kitty in real time. A motion detector senses your cat approaching and starts the camera rolling. About 70% of its Amazon reviews are five-star ones.

You can be notified via the app, so you can watch your cat eat, or you can just go into the app later and play back videos to see what your cat was up to. It's especially useful if you have multiple cats and you're trying to figure out who is doing the most eating — or if you're trying to catch the dog stealing the cat's food. (BTW if you're considering this for a dog, it's only sized for a small one.)

There's also the ability to record a 10-second meal call that will play when the food dispenses. This feeder works through the app so if you prefer to set the schedule using buttons on the device, this isn't the best choice for you. It plugs into a wall outlet, but adding backup batteries are recommended.

Capacity: 5 L (about 21 cups) | Portion size: 1/8 of a cup, can deliver up to 50 portions at a time | Max number of feedings in 24 hours: 10 | App-enabled: Yes, scheduling is app-only

Related: Our picks for the best pet cameras