You’ve likely looked around at other automatic cat feeders, some of which dispense kibble vs. some that deal only in wet food, or some that portion out the meals vs. others that dispense food periodically throughout the day.
Okay, so there are a lot of automatic cat feeders out there today, but the Petlibro is made to be unique. That’s because while it’s not a super high-tech cat feeder, it’s also not a gravity-powered feeder. You can program it to dispense food four times of the day or click a button for immediate feeding. You can even program a ten-second voice message with each meal if you’re away from home while it activates.
In essence then: the Petlibro allows you to customize how you feed your cat. It’s an upright feeder though, so dry food only.
With the freshness lid and screen lock, this should hopefully be an easy feeder to use, and in our experience, it so far has been.
Petlibro Cat Feeder: My Experience
I got my Petlibro in a neatly-packaged box that took me a minute to pull everything out from—which is a good thing, since everything was packaged so well. That includes the hopper, the dispenser, the lid, and the power cord to name a few things.
It didn’t take me long at all to get it plugged in and working, nor was it too difficult to set up the feeding times so that my cat could get food. Our cats personally liked the feeder and did indeed come when the voice recording played, but before you buy, you’ll want to check and see if it’ll work for you.
How It Works
The Petlibro works by portioning out your cat’s food to up to four meals a day. It will be up to you to program both the meal times and the portions you want your cat to have. This can range from one to nine portions per meal, with one portion being around 2 teaspoons of dry food. So, since most adult cats will need about 16 portions of food per day, it’s up to you to decide how you want to dole that out.
This feeder works by using an airtight lid that will hold a desiccant bag underneath, with the goal of keeping your food fresher for longer. At the bottom, the rotating piece will keep the food moving when the feeding times activate. And when those feeding times activate, your voice message will play twice to call your cat to eat.
Set Up
Setting up an automatic cat food feeder doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might think. Even if you’re not incredibly tech-savvy, it only really takes around six steps once you get the box.
Start by removing the plastic off of everything and opening the lid to the feeder. You should notice a small compartment underneath the lid where the desiccant bag will sit. This bag will ensure that your cat’s food remains fresh until you have to refill the feeder again. For now, set the lid aside.
You’re able to remove the food container by pressing into the sides of the base, but right out of the box, spend a minute to clean the container and the feeding tray before you use them. Dry them before reconnecting everything.
You’ll want to plug in the power cord at this point, although you can use three D batteries as well. Actually, it’s a good move to input these batteries if you have them, if only so that your cat doesn’t need to miss their food if something like a power outage occurs.
From here, spend a moment to attach the feeding tray to the feeder and then all you need to do is fill the food container with dry food. Once you put the lid back on, you’ll only need to program the feeder to work.
Programming
Many people think that getting an automatic feeder means that they’ll be struggling to figure out the technical side of it. Rest assured though that even if you’re not super tech-savvy, the Petlibro shouldn’t be too complex.
That’s because this feeder doesn’t have huge menus or hard-to-see buttons. Everything is clearly labeled and the screen is LCD as well, so it’s easy to see when you’re setting the time, creating a feeding schedule, and recording a void message if you want one.
Start by unlocking the feeder, which you can do by holding down the lock icon for three seconds. If you want a voice message, then hold down the microphone icon for three seconds until you hear a beep—then you can record your message. Just push again to hear the double beep that lets you know that it’s recorded.
To set the feeding schedule, you’ll need to begin by setting the clock. You’ll press the setting icon to get the hour to blink, and use the arrows to get the time correct. Press that setting icon again to enter your time before you repeat the process with the minutes. Now that your Petlibro knows the time, you can tell it how many times you want your cat to eat per day.
Setting the times that you want your cat to eat is very similar to setting the time. You’ll just use the arrows to set the time you want and then tell the feeder which feed time you want that to be.
In the end, it does end up sounding a little complex, but all you’re really doing is setting the time using the arrows. Compared to some other automatic feeders, this is a much simpler process.
How to Clean It
You’ve put the whole Petilbro together and you’re no doubt wondering how difficult it is to take it apart. Luckily for you, it’s quite easy to take it apart so that you can clean it.
And you don’t even have to take apart the whole feeder. You only need to remove the feeding tray and food container to give them a thorough wash with warm water, soft detergent and remember not to use any sponges that are too abrasive. Of course, everything should be dry before you put it all back together.
Now, if you want to do a quick clean, you can also just remove the feeding tray and food container to wipe them down. It’s important to still make sure everything is clean though, so try and do a full clean at least every month.
Benefits
It’s true that the 4-liter capacity for this feeder is a little bit smaller than some others, but realistically, your cat should take a while to go through an entire four liters. Not too long though, which is another benefit: your cat’s food won’t be sitting around for months and months, meaning that your cat will still be eating fresh food once they get to the bottom.
And each and every time the food was dispensed for our cat, it came out easily and into a food bowl that was small enough for a cat to lean into without struggling. Many automatic feeders tend to focus on larger pets, after all.
Now, here’s the part that those of you with little thieving cats might like: this machine is harder to break into. Your cat can’t get more food by messing with the bottom of the machine, although if they’re really motivated, they might try to knock the whole thing over so that the top comes off.
Petlibro Pros and Cons
Pros
This Petlibro feeder is amazing if only because it’s consistent. It will dispense food accurately and at the right times, and will always dispense the same amount of food each time. Your cat will have accurate portions each time they eat.
It’s also easy to set up and program. Even if you’re not the most tech-savvy person, it should be easy for you to set this up, and while it might take you a minute to get the programming right, it’s not the most complex thing.
You also have a good capacity of food for your cat with 16.9 cups of dry food in your four liters. This means that you won’t need to refill the feeder constantly but that your cat’s food will still remain fresh. The desiccant bag in the top of the lid will go a long way to help with that too.
In terms of pros for you, you’ll love the fact that this feeder is sleek and generally non-intrusive, and doesn’t look terrible in your home. It also includes the battery option so that if the power goes out, your cat doesn’t come yowling to you for food!
Cons
Realistically, the programming for this feeder isn’t the most complex thing, but you’ll still need to sit on the floor with it plugged in when it comes time to set feeding times. This might be hard on those of you without the best backs, so try to plug it in near a table at least while you’re inputting the times before you put it where you actually intend it to go.
This Petlibro also does include a switch you can click for it to feed automatically, but there’s no on/off switch. You might not necessarily need to turn it off, but you also don’t have that option.
You also need to be careful when you’re picking up this feeder. The tray isn’t cemented in there or anything, which is good if you’re trying to take it apart to clean it, but it might fall off if you need to move the feeder.
