Microchip Pet Feeder

Product Description

The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder only opens for a registered pet’s veterinary implanted microchip or RFID collar tag to prevent pets stealing each others’ food. One collar tag is supplied with the product. This feeder is ideal for multi-pet households to prevent greedy pets becoming overweight and to ensure prescription or life-stage food is consumed by the right pet. The lid of the feeder closes onto a sealed bowl, which keeps food fresher. One single grey bowl, one split grey bowl and one grey mat is included - additional bowls and mats in grey, green, pink and blue can be purchased separately. Stainless steel bowls are also available. The training mode closes the lid in stages to help timid pets get used to the movement. The product includes a three-year warranty.

Features

• Key Benefits: Prevents food stealing and stress at mealtimes in multi-pet homes, keeps your pets healthier by controlling portions and helping to keep weight under control, saves money by not overfeeding expensive prescription foods and helping to avoid vet bills related to pet health conditions.
• Great for Pets on Prescription Diets: Holds 13.5 fl. oz, wet or dry pet food. The lid closes to form a seal with the neoprene lip, helping to retain moisture and to keep food fresher longer.
• Microchip Compatibility: Works with 9 (Avid Secure), 10 (FDXA) and 15 (FDXB) digit microchip numbers; if unsure of your pet’s microchip number, you can check with your veterinarian, pet shelter or animal rescue. Automatic Cat Feeder opens when the assigned pet microchip ID approaches, and closes when it moves away. Simple one button programming.
• Three Year Warranty. Veterinarian Recommended.
• Do you have a houseful of pets? Does one cat steal the other’s cat food? Does your dog steal the cat’s food? Stressful Feeding times? The Microchip Pet Feeder makes feeding times so much easier! It uses the pet’s Microchip ID or by wearing a lightweight RFID collar tag to communicate with the feeder to open for that specific pet. All feeders come standard with one tag (unit stores 32 ID’s); additional collar tags can be purchased separately if necessary. Ideally one feeder per pet.

Top Reviews

Almost perfect
by Amazon Customer (4 out of 5 stars)
July 30, 2016

This started out as the perfect solution for our old Skinny cat who would abandon his food and let the Fat cat eat it. With this feeder he could leave and return at will, and was actually starting to gain some weight. However, we underestimated the persistence of Fat cat.

First he figured out a way to slide the feeder away from the wall, then jump over/move behind the feeder and enjoy stealing food from over the back while it was open for Skinny guy. We solved that by placing the feeder in an area under the kitchen desk just as wide as the feeder (trash can fills the rest of the space) so only one cat can use it and no one can get behind it or slide it out. Skinny guy is happy with this arrangement.

Next, we heard early morning noises from the kitchen and found Fat cat with his paw up under the front of the plastic cover stealing food. The cover has claw marks in it like a bear had visited. This was putting a lot of strain on the cover and defeating the purpose of the feeder.

To remedy this we screwed in a piece of semi-rigid plastic that blocks access to paws and claws applying leverage. We very carefully took the feeder apart (4 screws on the bottom - remove the batteries first) and used short screws, because the circuit board is mounted very close to this area. We tried glue first but plastic-to-plastic bonding is problematic and it didn't work. I've included some photos to better illustrate this defensive wall. This will make the feeder harder to clean but maintains its security.

So, in summary, the feeder does work well, but your results may vary depending on how persistent and clever your other cats are.
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Does not solve the problem it is made for
by Bob Storey (3 out of 5 stars)
January 23, 2017

I have had this product for 60 days now. It has not performed in the manner that it is really advertised. My purpose for buying this was that I had 3 cats and a new kitten and needed to keep the cats out of the kitten chow.

The feeder is easy to setup and read a microchip. And it will only open on when that microchip has been registered. After that, though, the product is disappointing and does not solve my problem.

Customer service was very good in suggesting fixes, namely, two "modes" of operation that are not in the users manual, but should be.

The biggest draw back to this product is that another cat can push in next to the "owner" of the feeder and eat all of the food as long as the "owner" stays under the hood. We could not figure out how the kitten was polishing of his food so quickly until we setup a video cameras and monitored.

The other cats were getting at the food in two ways

First way was to stick their head in from the side of the feeder. there is enough room between the sensor bar and the feeder lid that another cat can either fit its head in and eat or stick a paw through and hook out food. The maker is supposedly beta testing a hood to resolve this problem
2nd way is to just move in next to the owner and eat. I contacted customer service about this and was told to put the feeder in "intruder mode". When another cat enters the feeder and pushes out the "owner", it shuts the lid. However, if the "owner"stays there, then the intruder can eat to their hearts content.

Intruder mode would completely solve my problem if the operation was such that once ANY other tag or chip enters the sensor area and the feed door is open, it should close immediately, regardless if the owner is still there. It should stay closed until the intruder has left the sensor area. Then it should reopen if the "owner" is still there.

I had great hopes that this would work and anticipated buying 3 more (to control access to diet food for my overweight cat). But, the product failed to meet my expectations. It does keep other cats from opening on their own, but, still has problems
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Unsatisfied customer
by Cat (1 out of 5 stars)
March 19, 2017

This feeder is almost good, but it doesn't come with a barrier to prevent other household cats from simply walking around the side and helping themselves. Other customers were offered a free rear cover, but when I wrote to the company I was told that I could purchase one from their website. For the price of this item and the promises the company makes about limiting access to a single pet, the rear cover should absolutely be included. There is no excuse for charging extra just to make the product work as described.
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This would be a no-brainer 5 star product if it weren't for some serious design flaws.
by EndlessMe (2 out of 5 stars)
February 21, 2018

I have two cats and one of them has a problem with over-eating. She will eat everything in sight and go searching for more food after she finishes eating. The other cat likes to eat his food allotment at his leisure over the course of the day. Naturally, because the male cat leaves his food unattended after having a little bit, the female cat finds it and finishes it for him. How nice of her!

This product seemed like a perfect solution for me as both my cats are microchipped. I programmed the door to open for the cat that takes his time with his food into this feeder without any problems. I watched as he approached the bowl and the door opened for him as expected. I then watched my other cat approach the bowl and saw the frustration in her face as the food that she could clearly see was presenting itself to her! Suddenly, this feeder became more of a puzzle to solve for my clever female kitty. In roughly 5 minutes, she broke into the unit by biting the large rubber button on the back of the unit that opens the door so that us humans can place food into the bowl. It would be nice if this feeder instead required a two factor method to open it, like maybe pressing two buttons at the same time... one on the back, and one on the side.

So, I decided that I would try to prevent that from happening by taping a piece of plastic to the back of the unit to cover up the button. I thought that for sure this would prevent her from getting into the food. Well, that was also wrong. My female cat started following the male cat when he'd approach his dish to eat. The door on the dish folds as it retracts, and as you can see in the image, the back is partially exposed. This allowed the female to eat out of the dish by approaching it from the sides. Design flaw number 2. It could easily be improved by creating more of a hood to go around the dish to prevent the other cats from freeloading.

I made my own hood, and thought for sure this would finally solve my problems. That is until one day I noticed that the female cat biting at the door to get it open. I figured it wouldn't budge, but alas, I was wrong. Eventually after enough biting force, the door will retract and it will remain open. She was able to eat all the food therein. The motor for the door clearly is not strong enough, and as such, my determined female kitty was able to pry it open without any real problems from that point forward. This was enough of a deal breaker that I was forced to send the unit back.

One other flaw that I feel should be mentioned is that this requires batteries and does not come with any power adapter. I don't recall if there was any indicator that the batteries were low, either.

Unfortunately this product frankly will not work for my situation. I would gladly allow the company to use my determined, food-obsessed female kitty as their test subject for version 2.0.
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WELL THOUGHT OUT PET FEEDER, IMPRESSIVE!!
by Miss Kitty (5 out of 5 stars)
November 17, 2017

No other unwanted pet entry SIMPLIFIED!! You do not have to be a rocket scientist or married to one to keep other pets out. No need to shove this feeder in between walls, furniture or even have to put it up on a ramp so no other pets can get to it. Simply go to the Dollar Store/ Wal-Mart, etc. and purchase a tub/basket approx. 10"W x 7.75"D x 4"H. Simply insert the back of your new pet feeder into the tub/basket to keep other pets from eating from the back or the sides. (see photo) No alterations to this nice pet feeder needed hence it is still easy to clean. I have tied a couple of strings to show you in case you have to keep out other aggressive pets that might want to knock out the basket. I have two other cats and don't need to keep the back basket tied. I am very impressed with the manufacture of this pet feeder. Their manual with training/manufacturing and forethought on how to get our cats/pets acclimated has been well thought out. Upon ordering this feeder I immediately put a box with my cats food dish in it, hence my cat would be starting to get used to eating with something around his head. I also covered up the blinking light during the training portion so it didn't scare my cat. I am very impressed... ~^..^~ ~^..^~ ~^..^~
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Design flaws
by MMM (3 out of 5 stars)
September 17, 2017

The concept is good but not a complete deterrent to a bully eater. My younger cat is on a special diet and the older keeps trying to eat his food. I thought this feeder would solve the problem. Not. :(

At first I covered the back of feeder with a net (major design flaw) to prevent bully from eating from side of feeder. That worked for a day. He then discovered he could hip check the smaller cat out of the way to eat from feeder for a couple of seconds before feeder closed.

Solution: I used the box it came in and cut a narrow opening only the younger cat could fit through. Will post pix.

The engineers of this feeder are clearly not wiley cat owners or they would have tested the design for persistent over eaters.
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Could be awesome, but falls short for my cat
by Niki Way (3 out of 5 stars)
December 30, 2015

I have a cat who needs to eat more (orange one in the picture) - but I cannot free-feed dry-food anymore because my black cat has urinary issues when he eats it.

With 7 cats, all of whom are super into eating (and do get enough wet food 2x/day), this just isn't working out for the one who needs it.
**If someone is able to explain a way to fix the main problem I have, this would be a 5-star product for me!**

It truly does open when the cat approaches.

The problem is that it does not shut when he walks away (or is forced away because they climb over him to get the food) while there is another cat eating from it.

It waits until the other cat is done!!

I've adjusted the time switch & have watched it not close until the other cat (who does not have a microchip) moves from the now empty bowl.

My next step is to attempt to create a smaller area so hopefully the other cats cannot squeeze their way in.

If you have cats who are crazy determined like mine (knock over trash cans to see what's inside, open cupboards to sneak treats, etc) this product may not be the best investment.

If you have good, easygoing cats, this would probably be an awesome investment.

I wish I had good cats :)
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GREAT PRODUCT.
by Nunz (4 out of 5 stars)
May 18, 2015

GREAT PRODUCT.....!!

We have a new dog in the house and 2 cats, one of which is overweight and on a diet. Fat cat , affectionately known as the Landshark, eats the all of the food for the other animals.The dog also loves eating the cat food. The skinny cat eats special food for her sensitive stomach. We have a lot going on at feeding time!! The skinny cat with the sensitive stomach was losing more weight becuase everybody was eating her food. I saw this product and immediately bought it. The cat figured it out immediately. It's comical to hear the little door open for skinny as the rest of the herd hears it as well and goes to investigate to see if they can partake in some of her food. The opening is perfect for 1 cat and the others cannot, unless they force themselves next to her. However, we had to modify the sides. The side clear plastic doesnt extend far enough back to prevent a persistant Landshark from going in for a meal from the sides. We took some clear plastic and taped it on to extend the clear plastic completely to the back. No more meals for the Landshark. It's a huge help and relief that the cat that didn't need to lose any weight eats her own food that isn't grazed upon by others.
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Get it. Do it. And also request a back cover for it.
by Pick and Papi (5 out of 5 stars)
February 25, 2016

We have 2 cats, 1 who likes to eat small amounts throughout the day (Rondo), and the other likes to eat whatever is in front of her (Khaleesi), including stealing food. Aside from monitoring them when they ate (at 5 in the morning, no less) we started having to hide Rondo's food in a closet when he walked away from it and give it to him sporadically throughout the day when he begged for it. This is neither convenient nor possible with our busy schedules. We did some research and decided to order the Surefeed system, and it was exactly what we needed for this problem.

The price is steep for a feeding bowl ($150), but it saves us so much time and allows our cats to eat the way they prefer without one getting fat and the other one starving. We don't have to crawl out of bed or stop whatever it is we're in the middle of to feed and monitor Rondo 6-8 times a night. It was worth the money for us.

You will need 4 C batteries (not included). Setup was really easy. You don't need to have the microchip information for the cat, just have the cat in the feeding area while the Surefeed is in "+" mode, and it will automatically read the microchip. The instructions give you a full training regimen, and the bowl has a training mode and an intruder mode (will close when there it reads more than the allowed microchip). Here is a quick demo of Rondo opening the Surefeed and then Khaleesi trying to open it the same way - [...]

There is one flaw, however. Khaleesi got wise to the system and started eating from the back of it while Rondo was in the front of it, basically using him as a 'key' to the food. I looked up the forums on this issue and saw that the Sureflap company was aware of this issue and was giving out free back covers for those that asked. We received our backcover today: This is what it looks like - [...] It clips to the back and base of the Sureflap, it's a nice sturdy plastic, and it seems like a good quality solution.

All in all, I think this is a great product. The only issue is the price, but like I said, the money was worth the piece of mind knowing Rondo will eat whenever he wants, and Khaleesi won't be able to overeat. It also gives us more time during the day/evenings for things other than watching Rondo eat while keeping Khaleesi at bay. I would recommend it to anyone that has the same issue we do.
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LOVE IT, but improvements needed.
by Robin N. (2 out of 5 stars)
March 27, 2016

I bought this for my cat who needs to eat wet RX food. He is the submissive one out of my two cats, so the other cat, who is food-obsessed, would always try to steal his expensive RX food.

Also, the food obsessed cat wasn't supposed to have that RX food because of a health condition that he has, which interacts poorly with the RX food.

I used to have to sit with the submissive cat at every meal, typically for 30 minutes! He needed to be coaxed to eat, and clearly preferred grazing thoughout the day, rather than scarfing a meal all at once.

For this reason, the SureFlap dish has been a lifesaver for me. I don't need to coax him to eat anymore, or worry about the other cat getting into his food. Because the dish closes and seals up, the wet food can stay good for a lot longer. (A whole day, rather than a few hours).

Cons/suggestions for improvement:
1) The dish that comes with it has a rubber rim on it...it started growing black mold or something. I tried everything to get it off, but can't. It hasn't gotten worse, so still use it...just looks ugly. The SureFlap comes with two bowls, so I typically rinse them between each feeding, and then swap bowls once a week, while the other one runs through the dishwasher. Works out well.
2) The lid gets wet food on it a lot because the dish isn't very deep. A can of wet food will in the dish, but you have to smush things down good before closing the lid, or wet food smears inside the lid and starts to get nasty. Or when the cat eats from it, he slides the food around and gets wet food pushed up on one edge of the bowl, which gets on the lid when it closes. The dish should be made slightly deeper to help prevent this issue.
3) There should be something between the food dish and the mechanism on the back that holds the lid in place/moves the lid. Wet food always ends up by/on it and I can see where it's gotten into the crevices. I'm afraid it will eventually cause the device to fail with food getting stuck in there.
4) There should be a solid hood that covers the device, making it so that truly, only one pet can get in. When I first got the dish, the food-obsessed cat always found a way to get into it. Either from the side or from behind. There is nothing blocking them from doing so. I'm super confused why that wasn't already thought of?? I solved this issue by putting the dish on a super narrow book shelf, that is the same width as the dish. That way, it's elevated and the other cat has no way to access the sides or back of the dish. The bookshelf is only wide enough for the one cat to sit in front of the dish to eat. HOWEVER, my friend brought over their 5 month old kitten, who WAS small enough to weasel next to my cat on the bookshelf. He then hogged the food, and when my cat jumped down, the kitten was able to keep eating....the dish takes a very long time to close once the microchip is away, I think maybe as a safety feature since it sensed something still there? Either way, no good.
5) A timer option or separate compartments would be good for pets that need specific meal times or need to have small portions at a time so they don't over eat quickly and vomit. There are some cool timer dishes on the market like this, which have a web cam too. You can access the feeding schedule and live video from a phone app. Unfortunately, none of those dishes have the microchip option like SureFlap. Lots of people get the timer ones so that the feeder allows a meal early in the morning, keeping you from being woken up at 4am by a hungry cat, which is what Mr Food Obsessed is doing now. I ordered a 2nd SureFlap for him, hoping to put some dry food in there that he can munch on when he wants, while keeping the RX-only cat away. I will be returning the 2nd dish when it arrives tonight though, because I realized that Mr Food Obsessed will eat all the food as soon as I put it in there, and then puke. So I'm instead getting a timer dish, and just hoping the RX cat won't get in there. It would be awesome if SureFlap could team up with one of these timer dishes so that there is a multiple portion, timed, microchip dish on the market. With a hood to truly keep other pets out. And if they added video/phone app features, that would be a bonus, but not necessary.

I must say, this dish has been easy and malfunction free. I've had it for at least 8 months. I only changed the batteries once, because I was going on a long trip and didn't want to confuse the Petsitter if the batteries died. But I've never actually had the batteries run out on me. Great battery life. Great quality. Super super easy to setup the microchip. Like...press one button and that's it. Beyond simple. Love this dish, and highly recommend it, unless you need timed/portioned meals, or have food obsessed pets in the house that will be able to steal from the sides/back of the dish.

With a few small improvements, this would be 5+ stars from me! If SureFlap can make a hood, I'd buy it ASAP. And if they could add a timer (ex: dish only opens for microchipped pet between 4am and 9am), I would be buying another one ASAP!!

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