So, I’m having an issue figuring out how to feed one of my two cats. Here’s a breakdown of my cat situation:
Cat #1, Shadow (male): Has GI issues and is a scarf and barfer. He cannot be free fed, or he will overeat and puke. His current setup is a dry food auto feeder that dispenses tiny portions, rigged up to a puzzle feeder attachment. He also gets fed wet food 3x per day, manually. This works quite well. The other cat tends to leave this contraption alone.
Cat #2, Rune (female): Grazer, small appetite, will absolutely not eat more than 5-8g of dry food at once. Does not like wet food (believe me, I’ve tried).
Up until recently, Rune was using a SureFeed microchip feeder, but over time it stopped reading her chip. Thinking the chip had migrated, I took her to the vet to explore the possibility of getting a new chip implanted. The vet scanned her and said that the chip is reading fine, and is in the right spot near the shoulder blades. They blamed the feeder for being defective. I ended up giving the feeder to a friend, and it actually works perfectly for her kitten, so I’m not sure what’s going on.
I’ve tried a few other solutions:
Sure Pet Care Microchip pet door attached to a cat litter cabinet: I tried to train her to use this, and she hated it. It made a loud clicking sound when unlocking, which startled her. It also wouldn’t unlock until her shoulders were directly under the frame, which makes me wonder if it would even have worked if I didn’t have it held open with a string to acclimate her. Like, how could she open it by walking through if it won’t unlock until she’s 1/4 of the way through the doorway? This item got returned.
PawsPik microchip feeder: Wouldn’t read either of my cats’ chips. Also got returned.
Cheerble Match G1 Feeder: Uses AI facial recognition technology, no chips or collar tags needed. I’ve tried numerous times to program her face and it says it was successful, but the feeder won’t open for her. I’ve contacted support, but I’m pretty sure I am doing everything right and will end up needing to return this as well.
Things that will not work:
Any feeder that requires her to wear a collar. She hates, hates HATES collars and gets incredibly stressed trying to bite and rip them off.
Manual feedings: This is what I’m doing now, but I need to feed her 5-7 times per day to get her to finish 40g of dry food. Needless to say, this isn’t conducive to having a life.
So…I am leaning toward re-buying a SureFeed microchip feeder, and getting her a new chip despite the vet not thinking the chip is the problem. Unless anyone has another brilliant idea.
Does anyone know if there are certain types of mircrochips that work better with this feeder than others? Or, are there other brands of feeders I’m not aware of? Sure Pet Care blames my cat’s chip for the issue, my vet says it must be the device. I’m just desperate for a solution.