The Best Outdoor Automatic Cat Feeders (Expert Opinion + Pros & Cons)

Keeping up with your cats’ diet can be challenging, especially on busy workdays. Searching for friends who would agree to take care of your cats while you’re traveling is yet another pain.

If this sounds familiar, then an auto feeder would be your best bet. In this article, I’ll present my opinion on the best outdoor automatic cat feeders currently on the market. I’ll also discuss how you should pick one that fits your needs, so make sure to hang on till the end. Let’s go!

Note: If you click some of the links in this article we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The Best Outdoor Automatic Cat Feeders

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How does every feeder function? How much do they hold? Will they thrive outdoors? These are some of the questions I’ll cover in the following reviews.

SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder – Best Overall

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Do you know how actors in spy movies gain access to facilities by scanning their eyes? Well, this is kind of close to how this feeder works!

Your cat should have an under-skin microchip implanted by a veterinarian, or you can opt for an RFID collar tag. Whatever you choose, this feeder won’t open its lid unless it detects the programmed microchip. Raccoons wouldn’t be able to outsmart this.

This feeder will also be perfect if you have a dominant cat stealing food from weaker ones. Program the chips of the sickly cats and let them enjoy unrivaled feeding.

Moreover, the lid closes over a neoprene lip. This provides an excellent, tight seal that would keep food fresh for long periods. It’s also possible to place wet food without worrying about spoilage.

Pros

• Reads microchips
• Racoon-proof
• Tight seal

Cons

• Small capacity (13.5 oz)

My Experience

As a passionate pet owner, I have always strived to provide the best care for my beloved pet. One of the challenges I faced was managing my cat’s feeding routine, especially since I have multiple pets in the house.

However, all my worries were put to rest when I discovered the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. Not only has this innovative device simplified feeding time, but it has also proven to be the best overall solution for me and my pet. 

User-Friendly Design

Upon unboxing the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder, I was immediately impressed by its sleek and modern design. The feeder is compact, lightweight, and fits seamlessly into any home environment. Its user-friendly design ensures hassle-free installation and setup. The instructions provided were clear and concise, enabling me to get started in no time.

Microchip Technology

One of the standout features of the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder is its advanced microchip technology. This feeder is specifically designed to work with microchipped pets or RFID collar tags, allowing for individualized access control. By registering my cat’s microchip with the feeder, I ensured that only she could access her designated food bowl. This feature eliminated the need for constantly monitoring feeding sessions and prevented food theft or disputes between my pets.

Portion Control and Scheduled Feeding

The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder offers customizable portion control, enabling me to maintain a healthy feeding routine for my cat. The feeder allows me to set specific meal sizes and schedule up to eight feeding times per day. This feature has been invaluable in managing my cat’s diet and ensuring she receives regular and appropriate portions throughout the day. I no longer have to worry about overfeeding or underfeeding, as the feeder takes care of it automatically.

Keeping Food Fresh and Protected

Pet food freshness is a crucial factor in maintaining its nutritional value. The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder excels in this aspect by incorporating an airtight seal. This seal effectively preserves the freshness of the food, keeping it safe from external factors such as air and pests. I found that this feature significantly reduced food waste and saved me money in the long run. Additionally, the feeder’s transparent lid allows for easy monitoring of food levels, ensuring that I can refill it promptly when needed.

Quiet and Stress-Free Operation

In my experience, the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder operates silently, without any mechanical noises that might startle or stress my cat. This aspect is particularly important when it comes to encouraging my pet to approach the feeder confidently and enjoy her meals without any distractions or anxiety.

Conclusion

In summary, my experience with the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder has been outstanding, making it the best overall pet feeding solution I have encountered. The combination of its user-friendly design, advanced microchip technology, portion control capabilities, food freshness preservation, and stress-free operation has surpassed my expectations. This feeder has undoubtedly enhanced the feeding routine for both me and my pet. If you are a pet owner seeking a reliable and convenient feeding solution, I highly recommend the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. It provides peace of mind, promotes healthier eating habits, and ensures that your furry companion receives the care and attention they deserve.

Belopezz Pet Automatic Feeder – Best Timer Feeder

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With this smart feeder, go on your trip and rest assured, your cats may not even miss you! This feeder can record up to 10 seconds of you calling your cat for food, then play it right after it dispenses the kibble.

The programming supports up to 4 scheduled meals with 1-39 portion control. This gives you absolute control over your cat’s diet to make it easier to solve problems like obesity.

The thing I like the most is its convenient capacity. It can hold up to 3.5 lbs of dry food, which can feed an adult cat for 15-30 days, according to your diet plan.

What’s more, those evil raccoons won’t be able to tip it over thanks to the non-skid pads installed on its bottom.

Pros

• Can record voice
• Large capacity
• Non-skid pads

Cons

• Its clock may need frequent adjustment, or else it’d get off by a couple of hours.

Cat Mate C500 – Best Automatic Pet Feeder for Wet Food

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If your cat goes nuts over wet food, this feeder should be your best bet. It features a 5-compartment tray that rotates to give food in programmable intervals. Each compartment holds up to 11 oz.

Then why is it “best for wet food”? Well, if you lift the tray, you’ll find 2 ice packs, shipped with the device. Together with the tightly sealed lid, these ice packs would preserve wet food till the end of the day.

I’m not fond of its relatively low weight, though. It wouldn’t even stand a raccoon cub. To solve this issue, punch a couple of holes in its base and screw it to a wooden board.

Pros

• Double ice packs
• Tight seal
• Easy programming

Cons

• Small capacity

PetSafe Automatic Cat Feeder – Best Smartphone-Compatible

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I hate it so much when a button fails on an automatic feeder. You could replace the whole device with only one failed button. That’s why smartphone feeders are increasing in popularity each day.

This feeder from PetSafe can hold around 24 cups of cat kibble. It’s possible to schedule up to 12 meals in portions of 1/8 of a cup to 4 cups.

Here’s what I like the most. From the app’s scheduling panel, you can enable the “slow feed” mode. This dispenses the same portion slowly over 15 minutes, to help with digestive upset.

Pros

• Supports smartphone
• Large capacity
• It can slowly dispense the food.

Cons

• Somewhat expensive

Xiapia Automatic Cat Food Feeder – Best Gravity Feeder

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If you wish to devote your feeder to feral cats, you wouldn’t want one that runs on intervals. Instead, consider this gravity feeder from Xiapia.

Being a gravity feeder means that it’ll dispense food constantly as cats eat what’s in the bowl. The bottle holds up to 1 liter of kibble, which would be more than enough.

Additionally, this product comes with a similarly-designed waterer and a slicker brush, giving you the best value for your money.

Pros

• Large capacity
• No programming needed
• Safe, non-electrical design

Cons

• Some customers reported leaky waterers

Automatic Feral Cat Feeder (Raccoon-Proof)

Looking for a way to keep pesky raccoons from raiding your feral cat feeder? Look no further, because with the Petsafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed Automatic Feeder, you can rest assured that the feral cats you care for will always have plenty to eat.

This top-of-the-line feeder features a robust feeding tray that’s built to stand up to even the roughest of animals. Plus, it’s fully automatic, so you can set it and forget it – perfect for busy pet parents.

The real magic is putting it into a Rubbermaid bin to keep out the raccoons.

Watch the video below to see how it’s done.

Petsafe Automatic Feeder – Best for Multiple Outdoor Cats or Feral Cats

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Pros

• Large 24 cup capacity – This is enough to feed up to 48 cats a day (but you must refill daily)
• Can feed up to 12 meals per day
• Uses a timer so you can spread out the meals evenly

Cons

• Must refill often if you feed lots of feral or outdoor cats. The best way we found to overcome this is simply buy two of them and store them both inside a doghouse (see next video below).

How To Weatherproof Your Outdoor Automatic Cat Feeder

Weatherproofing an outdoor automatic cat feeder is fairly easy and inexpensive to do. Some folks use a plastic storage container or even just put it inside their recycling bin, but the cheapest option is to simply put it inside a doghouse that you would normally buy for an animal such as a dog.

How do you keep racoons out of outdoor cat food?

You can keep raccoons out of your outdoor cat food by using scents that they dislike, such as garlic, rotten onions, pepper spray, or Epsom salt.

Also, raccoons dislike peppermint so you can either use peppermint essential oil around the feeder or better yet, put it in a patch of peppermint or mints that you are growing.

Another option is to place the food in a covered container or feeder (see video above).

And finally, you can try spraying the area around the food with a repellent made specifically for raccoons.

Are automatic cat feeders a good idea?

If you need an automatic cat feeder then yes, it’s a good idea. They’re great for people with crazy schedules who just can’t get to the pet store or feed their pets with consistency.

Automatic cat feeders can also cause a variety of problems. One concerns overfeeding from the lack of self-regulation that takes place when you’re not home. This is mostly true for the gravity feeders that allow your cat to free feed.

If weight is a concern you’ll need to use an automatic cat feeder that dishes out measured amounts of food at set intervals.

Another issue is keeping wet food fresh. We recommend only using outdoor automatic feeders when it’s not too hot outside so wet food stays fresh.

You may also run into a problem with wet food and it freezing at night then your cat doesn’t eat it.

In general, for outdoor automatic feeders, it’s best to use dry food and only use wet food for indoor cats.

What to Consider Before Buying an Automatic Cat Feeder

Now that you know the best products on the market, these are some points that’ll help you reach a decision.

First Things First, Should You Buy an Automatic Feeder?

Serving food for pets yourself is a fantastic experience. So, why should you buy a robotic, senseless device to do it for you? Here are some of its benefits:

A Freer Schedule

This is the most obvious benefit. An automatic feeder will allow you to freely travel for a couple of days without worrying about your cats.

Less Meowing

If your cats won’t stop meowing and you’ve tried everything, you might want to try an auto feeder.

Pet cats tend to be dependable, just like babies. They think of you as their only food source. So they keep meowing for your attention even if they’re the slightest bit hungry.

When you use an auto feeder, they’ll remember the feeding time and, hopefully, annoy you less with their cries.

For Feral Cats

Feeding feral cats yourself can be daunting. In a similar fashion to pets, ferals would attend at the designated time to eat.

Safety

Purchasing a feeder to put outdoors is a bit tricky. We’re speaking about rain, dirt, and stealthy animals like raccoons.

Luckily, protecting the feeder from environmental conditions is the easy part. Building any platform or a feeding station can get the job done.

But for raccoons, it’s not always that easy. You should buy a product that closes tightly to resist the sneaky paws. Moreover, your feeder should have a feature that prevents tipping, such as non-skid pads.

Capacity

Buy a capacity that fits your needs. If you travel for a bunch of days leaving more than 1 pet at home, then the bigger, the better.

Small devices would be an affordable option if you just want to adjust your cat’s diet and behavior.

The Verdict

If you ask me, the best outdoor automatic cat feeder is SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. The microchip activation makes it impossible for raccoons to steal your cat’s food.

The second best is Belopezz Pet Automatic Feeder. It’s a smart feeder that records your voice and plays it back with every meal. Such a cool way to keep your cat full and loved!

Lastly, don’t forget to regularly clean whatever feeder you choose, as it may build up bacteria pretty fast. Later!