When it comes to feeding your pet smartly, a pet feeder comes to your help. If you have a pet feeder in your home, you do not need to stay at home to feed your loving pet timely. An automatic pet feeder is a perfect choice for those who cannot fill the bowls twice or thrice a day to feed their pets. However, before buying an automatic pet feeder, you should know the ideal one for you and how automatic pet feeders work.
In this article, we are going to discuss how does automatic pet feeder work and different types of automatic pet feeders along with the pros and cons. Let’s begin.
What is Automatic Pet Feeder?
An automatic pet feeder is a food-serving tool that a pet owner can use to feed his pets like dogs, cats, and hamsters. It is called an automatic feeder because it does not require the presence of the pet owner to feed the pets. No matter whether the pet owners are at home or away, the pets can eat as per their need from the automatic pet feeder. This needlessness of supervision saves time and energy of the pet owners and that’s the reason behind the popularity of automatic pet feeders.
An automatic pet feeder is way more spacious than a traditional feeding bowl. While some automatic pet feeders work with the principle of gravity, some are electric. If you look at your nearest pet shop or any good online stores, you can buy both the automatic pet feeder and the pet water dispenser at a very reasonable price.
How Does the Auto Pet Feeders Work: The Mechanism
An automatic pet feeder is the combination of two parts: The top compartment and the bottom compartment.
The top compartment stores feed for the pets to supply. A storage bin is placed in this part to preserve the feed. This storage bin can be composed of metal, plastic, or glass that may vary for the price and quality, and manufacturer. The storage bin is closed by a removable lid. You can give food and clean the storage bin by removing the lid part. When it comes to capacity, it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. An automatic pet feeder can be capable of holding 1 to 20 pounds of feed in its container.
The bottom compartment or the lower part of an auto pet feeder comes with a food bowl. This can either be made of plastic, stainless steel, or ceramic. Foods that are stored in the top compartment is generally supplied here as per the settings (schedule and quantity) of your automatic pet feeder. This is the only accessible part for your pet to take their meal.
Types of Automatic Pet Feeders
There are different kinds of pet feeders out there in the market with different characteristics and features. Let’s see 3 of the most common types of automatic pet feeders that pet lovers buy:
1. Gravity Style Pet Feeders
Gravity style pet feeders will release foods from the hopper into the bowl constantly. As the food goes down from the up, these feeders are named gravity style feeders. When the bowl will be full of food, the release of food will stop. As soon as the bowl will start getting empty, the food release will begin once again. In this kind of pet feeder, a hopper saves the food and supply as per the need of the pets.
So, you have to remember that you cannot control the food from falling if the bowl has space enough to accommodate the food. On top of that, you have no control over the overeating of your pet. It can eat as long as it wants to eat. However, to control overeating, you should fill less food in the storage container.
Gravity style pet feeder is not so good option if you have a single pet. On the other hand, it is a great option for feeding multiple pets at a time. Let’s see some of the advantages and disadvantages of Gravity style pet feeders:
Advantages of Gravity Style Pet Feeders:
- No fiddly mechanism or programming to complicate the feeding.
- Your pet will never miss a meal as long as the food supplier hopper has food to supply.
- Suitable to feed many pets together.
- Low price.
Disadvantages of Gravity Style Pet Feeders:
- No control in the food intake of your pet.
- Not suitable for a single pet.
- Overeating from this feeder by your pet can cause health problems like obesity.
2. Electric Pet Feeders
To control the food intake and keep your pets away from obesity, Electric pet feeders are an ideal choice. In this kind of feeder, you do not worry about the overeating by your pets and thus it is healthier for them. It is you who is at the control of how much your pet can eat and when exactly. This facility of scheduling the mealtime and setting the quantity has contributed to the popularity of electric pet feeders. Electric pet feeders will ensure that your pet gets the right amount of food at the right time.
However, electric pet feeders pretty costly compared to gravity style pet feeders. However, it is because of the additional control it offers you when it comes to feeding your pet.
Electric feeders are usually run by batteries and are capable of storing messages for your pet. On top of that, these feeders may come with an in-built water bottle for easy access to water.
When you buy an electric feeder, you have to make sure that you buy a good quality product even if the price is a bit high. There are many mediocre electric pet feeders out there sold at a low price. If you buy one of those, your pet might be underfed, overfed, or even missing a meal due to programming error of quantity and time.
Advantages of Electric Pet Feeders:
- Easy control of the food intake.
- Scheduling the mealtime.
- It can prevent obesity, diabetes, and hypoglycemia.
Disadvantages of Electric Pet Feeders:
- Expensive to buy.
- Low-quality products can cause programming errors that result in overeating, missing meals, or malnutrition of your pet.
3. Outdoor Automatic Pet Feeder
Though You Can Use Outdoor Pet Feeders Indoor If Required, These Are Generally Designed To Be Used Outdoor. You Can Set Them In The Barns, Garages, And Basements And Let Your Pet Eat From The Feeder Comfortably. You Can Supply Pellets Or Dry Powder In The Large Storage Bin From Where Food Will Be Supplied Based On The Time You Set.
Being Run By Battery, This Kind Of Pet Feeders Have Scope To Set Multiple Feeding Schedules. You Can Also Use This Pet Feeder To Feed The Birds And Animals In The Park.
Advantages of Outdoor Automatic Pet Feeders:
- Works to feed by schedules.
- Good for birds and outdoor animals.
- Ideal for outdoor use.
Disadvantages of Outdoor Automatic Pet Feeders:
- Low-quality products can come with programming errors.
Which Pet Feeder Should I Get?
There are many important aspects of pet feeders that you should not ignore while you buy your automatic pet feeder. The types of auto pet feeders, the number of pets, the food capacity, the scheduling system, the quality of the feeder, and many other things should be observed.
Final Thoughts
An automatic pet feeder relieves you from the pressure of giving food twice or thrice a day to your pet. On top of that, it trains your pets to take their meals at the right time and to the right quantity. Now that you know how does automatic pet feeder work, we suggest you buy the right automatic pet feeder for your pet that offers you quality without being too costly.
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