HoneyGuaridan Automatic Cat Feeder for 2 Cats,Cat Food Dispenser

I originally bought this feeder for our 8 feral cats because I was planning to be away from the house for up to a week. I needed a large capacity hopper and this was about the largest one I could find. I’m happy to say that this feeder exceeded my needs and expectations. It just holds a complete 6.3 pound bag of cat food. I’ve set it to discharge 6 times a day, with a pause from 9PM to 6AM. That schedule was set as an attempt to avoid feeding the raccoons that come around most nights, and for the most part, that logic has worked. I set this under a picnic table with a plastic tablecloth so that the feeder can stay out of the direct rain. It’s close enough to an electrical outlet that I could plug it in and then use the battery capability as a backup. I decided, however, to use only the batteries and not plug it in. I put it out in early September 2021. The batteries finally died on February 5th. That’s 5 full months on battery power alone. What a pleasant surprise that was! The first problem I ran into was those previously mentioned raccoons. Three of them came around after a couple of nights and knocked the feeder over, dislodging the top and exposing all those goodies for them to devour completely. BUMMER! I then tried putting a weight on top of the hopper, thinking that they wouldn’t be strong enough to dislodge that and steal the food again. WRONG. They are both clever and strong. Next I tried duct taping the top on. Another failure on my part. They just chewed right through the duct tape and feasted on the kibbles again. Twice they actually pushed the spring loaded button that retracts the pin holding the top in place right into the hopper! Man, are they persistent. But not as persistent as me……. I found a piece of thin metal and duct taped that over the spring loaded button. I also duct taped all four sides of the top onto the hopper. Then I bungeed the whole machine to the picnic table supports so the little rascals couldn’t move it or tip it over. SUCCESS!!! After a few night of unsuccessfully chewing the duct tape in their attempts to get to the treasures inside, they finally gave up. I won. They lost. The flexibility in setting the individual portion sizes and discharge times are great. Some reviews have commented that there is no “back” button for either of these settings, and that is correct. It’s not all that hard to accidentally go past the setting you desired, but it’s also not that hard to hold the button down to quickly cycle through the settings to get back to where you wanted to be again. No big deal to me. In summary, I love this helpful machine. And so do my cats/kittens. I found the battery life to be such that I wouldn’t hesitate to say you don’t need to plug this feeder into house power. 5 months on a single set of 4 batteries is a pretty long time. I set a voice recording (you DO NEED to do this, even if you chose to record silence instead of your voice) before the feeder will work. A number of reviews claim the feeder was junk and never discharged anything, only to find that they needed to record some kind of message first. Be forewarned. UPDATE: Another 5.5 months on the second set of batteries. It looks like this should be the expected life of the 4 C cells it holds. April 2023. After 14 months of reliable service, the machine just stopped feeding ANYTHING. Why? After about 4 months of flawless service I switched the brand of feed over to Kit ‘n Kaboodles. The cats all liked this food better than the store brand I had initially used, but the kibble size is larger. Unfortunately. The larger kibble sometimes resulted in jamming of the plastic feeder mechanism. Tipping the unit upside down then back up usually freed the jam but sometimes I had to remove all the food, then manually operate the feeder a few times before refilling it. BUT here’s the problem. The jamming on the larger kibble has eventually caused the plastic fins on the feed rotor to break off. There are a number of these fins on the rotor so the feeder had been able to continue dispensing some food even though it was slowly destructing. This week (April 2023), when it stopped dispensing completely I took it apart and found that all of those plastic fins were gone. The Amazon website for Honeyguardian does show a replacement rotor assembly for under $10 so I ordered that, believing that my cat food feeder could be brought back to life again. It appears that I am wrong about that. The only rotor design shown does have those plastic fins that I had broken off, but it does NOT have the extension of the rotor piece required to engage with the drive motor. As a result, THE REPLACEMENT ROTOR DOES NOT ROTATE, AND CANNOT FEED. Honeyguardian does NOT have a website and the only places that I could find a replacement rotor assembly all look like the one from Amazon. There are a few reviews on this replacement rotor that all say the same thing that I’ve said here, so I’m not alone. Lesson? Pay attention to the kibble size. Binding on too large a kibble will cost you $80.

Updated 10/21 I bought a second one for a new cat in Apr or May 21. She requires different food so the split feeder option isn’t an option at this point. While the schedules work as needed, both feeders are easy to cheat. The new kitty likes to sit on top of the feeder and her weight causes bits of kibble to drop. Basically, when the feeder activates, one of the slots which fills with kibble for dispensing is partially exposed and any thump will cause the food the release (this is after the scheduled meal has been released). The other cat figured out that he could shove his paw into the shoot and release that excess food. I covered the shoot to keep him from putting his paw inside, but haven’t figured out a solid solution to prevent that slot from being exposed and excess food from being released when the unit is thumped. Very disappointing. ———————- This is replacing a bulky feeder (super feed) I’ve had for a number of years which my cat terrorized in his younger years. This feeder arrived just in time because the previous feeder was on the blink and wasn’t dispensing properly. I’ve had this feeder a little over a month and it’s been wonderful so far. It has a small foot print and is proving reliable so far. Instructions weren’t too bad and I got it going about 15 min. I didn’t have major issues determining portion size since I knew what portions my cat was getting prior ( just a matter of measuring and testing the portions on a test schedule a couple of times). 2 portions is about 1/4 cup for small kibble. Changing the portion size per schedule is a nice touch as you’re not locked into the same portions for each schedule. Setting the schedules is much more simpler here than using an external timer where you have to set an on then off. Basically just set the time you want it to dispense and that’s it. I have not installed batteries yet to test the backup feature; I do hope that works as expected. I also don’t know if it will reset to zero during a power cut if batteries aren’t installed. I have not tried simulating this. Though the full capacity is smaller than the previous feeder, it’s very simple to fill. Since the unit sits on the floor, it’s better for me to open the lid to determine remaining capacity rather than look at the tiny windows on the side. The lid locking mechanism seems to ensure it’s cat proof (my cat terrorized the previous feeder so this one so far is proving to be cat proof). Just be sure you hear the snap when closing the lid after filling. The one thing about the instant meal function is that it’s based on the smallest portion size, so you may need a couple of presses to get the right portion for your pet for that one-off feeding. The unit itself is compartmentalized so cleaning should be relatively easy. I love that it has a stainless bowl. This was a necessity since my cat has skin allergies to certain plastics and the stainless should help clear that up. I don’t have a need to use the recording function. My cat was already conditioned to the sound of the previous feeder so this one is no different. He hears the food dropping into the bowl and BAM! off he goes.

TL;DR: Works as advertised, 12-month warranty, good programming options. Even more options might be nice, compartment could be larger for a large pet, and the dispenser hole is probably not cat-paw-proof for a really motivated cat. I will update this if the feeder quits working - otherwise, it seems like a great choice for my needs, as detailed below. I've used automatic feeders for a number of years, and I am thrilled that the available options have finally increased quite a bit! Of course, many of them are fairly cheap, so they are hit-or-miss in terms of how long they will continue to work (the Pet Safe one seems to be the best bet for reliability, but is less flexible in terms of feeding very small portions). I have another cheap model that has been working for several years to feed one of my cats; one prior to that quit after a few months, while another of that same model worked for a couple of years (all models that are no longer available). One of my cats has been using an automatic feeder for a few years for weight control, while the other used to semi-free-feed out of a puzzle ball, but he's made it clear that he no longer wants to do that. He needs small frequent meals to keep his stomach happy, so an automatic feeder is a perfect solution to keep him fed overnight and while I'm at work. I selected this feeder because 1) it has a 12-month warranty and 2) it can feed fairly small portions up to 6 times per day. I had a few reservations about the fact that this is a new product with few reviews, but hopefully the warranty will suffice for any problems. I would prefer something even more flexible (my old feeder can dispense a teaspoon at a time if you want, multiple times per day), which is why I gave this only 4 stars, but this is sufficient for my cat. One portion is about 1/12th of a cup (maybe a bit more) with my cat food, so I'll feed him 1 portion every 4 hours, and 1-2 of those will be double portions to add up to about 2/3 cup. It's easy to try a few manual feedings with the machine to measure how much is dispensed with each portion for your type of food - then watch your pet's weight to make sure the amount they're getting is right for them. The feeder is only 11.75" tall (shorter than advertised, I think), and I was happy to find that it fits perfectly inside the cage I'd already built! My cat Merlin enters the cage through a cat door that is tuned to his microchip, which keeps the other (piggy) cat, Rea, out. Rea is fed out in the open room with her respective food bot, because she is food-dominant and Merlin won't poach her food. Merlin can then eat in peace inside his food cage. It's not a cheap setup (now 2 food bots + smart door), but well worth it to ensure my cats are both healthy weights (and no "hunger pukes") without me having to manually feed them every few hours. The feeder was pretty straightforward to set up once you get the hang of it, though it would be nice if it timed out (from "set" mode) less quickly while you are reading the instructions for the next step. The times are changed with +/- buttons, so adjusting the clock for Daylight Savings will be easy. The motor is audible when it runs, but it's not loud - the food falling onto the metal bowl is much louder. You can record a message if you want, but trust me, your pet will very quickly learn to go running over when the motor starts (and until they learn that, food hitting a bowl is a universal signal for "meal time!"). I like the stainless steel bowl (it is loud, but you can take it out and use only the plastic base if you prefer) and the removable compartment that stores the food. I also really appreciate that it doesn't forget any of your settings if you unplug it to move it to a new spot after painstakingly setting it up - even without batteries in it. I haven't tried it with batteries yet, but assuming it works properly, the battery backup should ensure the pet is still fed if the power is out (or will allow you to use the feeder away from an outlet or with a pet that would chew the cord). The provided power cord is pretty short, so you might need an extension cord depending on your setup. The "off" switch on the bottom will allow you to shut off the feeder if it's not needed for extended periods, without having to reprogram. One potential problem is whether your cat will learn how to reach up the dispenser and pull out extra food. Piggy Rea learned to do that with her other food bot and quickly gained a lot of weight, which is why her bot now lives on the top closet shelf with a long chute (gift wrap tube) to dispense her food! Merlin is not nearly food-motivated enough to put in the effort to steal extra food, but if I left this feeder out for Rea, I bet she would figure it out. She'd have to lie on her side and contort herself to get a paw in there, but she would happily do that for extra snacks. So be prepared to take extra measures to guard against that if your cat is really greedy (put it up out of reach, or possibly add something to reduce the size of the hole). I have yet to see a feeder that is truly impervious to a cat paw going up the spout, unfortunately. Otherwise, and assuming no mechanical failure, it seems like this feeder will be a good fit for my needs.

Super happy with this feeder. We received it the day before leaving on a 2 week trip. I was paranoid it would malfunction or I didn’t have portion right so I left separate bowl of food and put a camera on it so we could check in. It worked flawlessly and has continued to work well. Our cat took to it immediately and goes running the second he hears recording. Thankfully I put battery in it because electric company unexpectedly disconnected power to change meter out and something went wrong so house was without power for a day while we were gone. It’s also helping our cat to loose weight because my kids were over feeding him and our cat doesn’t limit himself. I love knowing the cat is consistently fed instead of worrying if kids fed him. My only complaint would be the portion sizes - you can choose between 1 to 20 and directions don’t specify how much each setting serves. I have it on setting 1 (lowest) and it’s just right amount for our cat 2Xs a day (you can add up to 6 feedings a day) but may still be too much for smaller kitten. Setting 1 still gives not quite 1/2 cup of food with smaller pellets. Food type/size of course effects portions too. It did take me a few minutes to figure out how to set it up and sometimes it was frustrating because it would go into clock setting mode instead of food controls since it uses same buttons but it wasn’t rocket science by any means. Once it’s set up, then you don’t need to mess with settings. I really like the lock feature so kitty can’t reconfigure the settings. The stainless bowl just sits in it for easy removal and cleaning. The large capacity holds a medium bag of Science Diet cat food - probably enough for a month or more for my cat so I didn’t have to worry about it running out while we were gone. Overall, great feeder. We also bought matching water bowl and we’re just as happy with it plus the two together are aesthetically pleasing.

I went away recently and used my new cat feeder. It worked great. My cats still jump when the food comes out but have gotten used to the feeder. When the scheduled feeding arrive my voice yells for the cats and it’s fun to see them running to the food. This is great for two or more cats. I also like that I can do extra feedings from anywhere when I want to get the cats more food.

When I didn’t have anyone to feed my bunnies while I was going to be away (for just a night) I looked into automatic pet feeders to ease my worry about traveling. I decided to try this one! Pros: Lightweight Sleek design Battery option Voice recording Holds lots of food What I liked most about this was that I can use it when I may be gone during a feeding time for my bunnies! That way they can be fed in case I’m home late and they don’t have to wait. Having bunnies means no wires so I love the battery option. I have yet to see how long the batteries last though I can’t imagine it uses much power to run the clock. It is on military time but I think it’s that way to avoid mixing up AM and PM. I also found that each portion (that you can pick from 1-80) is about a tablespoon or so of pellets. I’d say setting 4 would be about a quarter cup of rabbit food. There is a slight learning curve but once I got used to it it’s not so bad. Cons: Loud speaker A little complicated Bunnies might be able to hop on it The thing I didn’t like about it the most was how loud the speaker on this was. It scared my bunnies a little. You have to speak super low on the recording or else it plays it super loud. Or you can just record air and it just makes a silent sound. I can see some people getting frustrated with the set up of this too since it times out pretty fast. So it might lock while your reading the next direction. Maybe making some more button options might help. Another thing I wonder, and only because my rabbits are mischievous, is that the top is flat and my rabbits might hop on top of it which wouldn’t be good. My husband also said one of the units beeped in the middle of the night. I am not sure why. The battery isn’t dead. I’m thinking one of my rabbits put their paw on the screen and made it beep. Conclusion: I like it it just takes some getting used to. It’s a little complicated but nothing you can’t learn in 30 minutes or so. Overall it’s a good feeder for the price. You can rest assured it will work and won’t fail on you. I would recommend this product. :)

I am so happy with this cat feeder! My cats have always been able to removed the cover from other feeders. This one the case clicks onto the base and the lid clicks onto the case. The cats cant remove it. It is easy to program too! It doesnt tip over either. Very much recommened! Well worth the money. No more kibble all over.

I recently purchased this as a gift for my parents to help them more easily leave town without having to worry about and/or set up care for their two cats. The fact that it also frees them up from the cats’ feeding responsibilities while they’re IN town is such a nice added benefit. Even though there are several things about this product and its setup that are frustrating and not ideal, based on my experience thus far, I still think buying an automatic feeder is worth it! *Pros: -Despite tedious setup process and a little tinkering during the first few days, it does seem to work as advertised...which makes for a wonderfully convenient product for pet owners. -Offers splitting ability for two-pet households (sold separately), which was not available for most of the auto-feeders I was looking at. -Attractive, sleek white look. -Features removable bowl (set inside attached holder for bowl) so that you can easily clean it out or dump old food. This likewise offers the ability to swap it out for a different bowl of your choosing if desired. -It seems to be secured in the necessary areas so that cats can’t break into it or release extra food. -Offers battery or plug-in capabilities. Though I’m unsure if it would drain the batteries to have them inserted while using the plug to actually power it, I love the option of having a backup in case something goes wrong with the electricity. -Unplugging the feeder and moving it to another location after first programming all the settings didn’t mess anything up (thank goodness!), so all my hard work trying to figure this thing out wasn’t wasted :). -I reached out to the seller to inquire about a warranty in case something malfunctioned after the 30-day return period, and they said it was provided for 12 months. So that felt reassuring. *Cons: -As many reviewers have noted, the setup process wasn’t effortless or overly intuitive. I think part of that is because the device wasn’t designed very intuitively, and part of it is because the instruction manual could be rather unclear and confusing. Once I finally figured everything out, I just typed up my own instructions and printed them out for my parents to follow if needed. -You’re not able to unlock the screen and dispense a manual feeding (or unlock the screen and do anything period) without opening the lid. My parents’ feeder is set up under a shelf in their laundry room, which means having to maneuver things around and slide the feeder out from its spot in order to lift up the ~8-9” tall lid. At that point, now that the lid is open, you could just scoop the food out yourself and manually feed them that way. So instead of providing this fast and easy option to dispense a one-time serving, it’s mainly just cumbersome, inconvenient, and annoying. -Once you open the lid, unlock the screen, and begin setting up or adjusting anything (e.g., time, feedings, etc.), you only have a couple seconds (literally) to pause in your process before it ends “set” mode and you have to start over. -The buttons beep loudly when pressed, and I’ve not found a way to lessen or mute them. -The clock seems to only function in military time. -For the first couple days, the clock seemed to be losing time every now and then (a minute here or there). It seems to be fine now, but if that were to be a recurring issue, the scheduled feedings would start being too far off base. -While holder for the bowl attaches to the feeder, it doesn’t “click” into place, it merely slides into the provided slit. However, this slit isn’t snug or perfectly fitted, so the bowl kind of wobbles around and is not as secure as I thought it’d be. The cats actually managed to unhook it and bat it around during my parents’ first weekend away from installing the feeder. The food was just being dispensed onto the ground. -As other reviewers have said, one feeding/serving is closer to ~1/8 cup instead of the ~1/16 cup the manufacturer claims. That didn’t really make a difference in our situation, but I could see how smaller portions would be preferred for some people. Despite all this, here’s still my main takeaway: Is this feeder perfect? Not at all. Are there a number of things I wish I could change and improve upon? Gosh yes. BUT... am I still glad I purchased it for them? Yes!

I brought this product because when me and my partner go to work there is no one to feed the cats. Due to long gaps in their eating cycle they often tend to throw up due to building acidity. This feeder came to our rescue. With the personalised voice recorder the cats feel comfortable around the feeder and eat out of it. What I really like is the simplicity of the device.

Erst waren die Katzen ein wenig irritiert wegen dem Klapper . aber jetzt stehen haben sie die futterzeiten raus und stehen schon vor dem Automat bevor das Futter rauskommt. Hat bis jetzt immer zuverlässig funktioniert super Unterstützung wenn man mal im Urlaub ist. Ich benutze den Automaten allerdings durchgängig so sind sie es gewohnt das trockenfutter über die Maschine zu bekommen.

Jestem bardzo zadowolona zakupem. Spelnia wszystkie moje zapotrzebowania. Często wyjezdzam na 2-3 dni i teraz jestem pewna, ze moj mlody kot nie objada starego kota. :) Každy dostaje swoją porcję. Polecam dla tych, kto ma dwoch kotow.

Que dire sinon que je suis ravi de ce produit. Tout d'abord il est tres esthétique et joli. Il est bien pensé et les différents éléments s'assemblent bien et semblent robuste. J'indique aussi que le packaging est tres bien fait. Le distributeur fonctionne sur prise secteur et a une grande capacité de 6,5l de croquette et a un couvercle hermétique avec un filtre qui limite les odeurs. Il peut être utilisé pour une gamelle ou 2 à l'aide d'un support fourni, et peut être programmé jusqu’à 6 repas par jour et chaque repas 1-48 portions de croquette! une fonctionnalité intéressante est la fonction enregistrement vocal qui permet de diffuser un message pour appeler l'animal à venir manger. Autre fonction intéressante, la distribution de la dose désirée en "manuel" (= 1 clic), qui au quotidien est aussi très pratique.

Pups responded to the voice recording well. 23 servings equals 1 cup . I have a number of small dogs so I just did extra meal an hr later to cover the size .