Would be perfect if smaller portions were an option！My cat has been eating from the Wopet for a little more than a week. My cat has been eating from the Wopet for a little more than a week. This is the first automatic pet feeder I’ve ever used, and I’m really pleased so far. I had this feeder in my cart for a few months while deciding if it was really necessary, and I wish I would have ordered it sooner. My cat eats both wet and dry foods (currently three wet food meals and three dry food meals each day), and I wanted to automate his dry food feedings that occur while I’m sleeping or away from home. This feeder has already made a huge difference in our household. I can finally sleep through the night, and I don’t have to rush home to feed him during the day.
The feeder was pretty easy to set up in just a few minutes. A helpful user manual is included. I hand-washed the components after unboxing everything, and the manual’s diagrams made assembly simple. The feeder’s timer uses the 24-hour clock/military time, so if you aren’t familiar with that convention, consult a conversion chart and write down the feeding times you’d like to schedule before attempting setup. So far, every feeding has been dispensed at exactly the time scheduled.
My cat was used to eating wet and dry food from flat porcelain plates that are about 6.5” in diameter, so I wasn’t surprised when he refused to eat from the provided metal bowl, which is about 1.5” deep x 6.5” in diameter. (Some cats don’t like for their whiskers to touch the sides of bowls. They also can resist eating from plates and bowls made from materials they aren’t accustomed to.) I tried placing one of his usual plates on top of the provided bowl assembly since it was the same diameter and slid on top perfectly, but I don’t think he liked his food and his whiskers being that close to the feeder. I ended up removing the bowl assembly and trying several options (including just letting the food fall directly onto the floor). Ultimately, a dinner plate placed on the floor and pushed against the feeder was the best solution. He seemed more comfortable with the additional distance between the feeder and his food and whiskers, and a plate this size contains the food well so that I don’t have to clean a lot of stray kibble from around the feeder when it shoots out. I think my cat initially was a little afraid of the sound the food made when dispensed from the unit, but after about a week, he seemed used to it.
My only real complaint about this product is the available portion sizes. My cat eats Solid Gold Indigo Moon dry food, with kibble approximately the diameter of a hole punch (1/4”) and a thickness of around 1/16”. I used to manually feed him 1/2 of a tablespoon on a plate per serving, but the Wopet’s smallest available portion size dispenses almost 1.5 tablespoons of this particular food. As a result, I had to adjust the portion sizes and the number of daily feedings of both his wet and dry foods to account for this discrepancy and ensure he eats the correct number of calories each day. I did a lot of research before purchasing this particular feeder, though, and this one seemed to offer the best combination of the smallest portion size and the most meals (up to 6 per day). If anyone from Wopet reads this review, please consider incorporating a 1/2 tablespoon portion size on future models. I would definitely buy one.
The only other minor complaint I have concerns the power block that the feeder’s USB cable plugs into. It sticks out of the wall 1.75”, and then the USB cable sticks out a bit from the front of that. My cat kept pawing at the power block and USB cable, so I replaced the power block with a compatible one I had for another device that is much flatter against the wall and has the USB port on the bottom instead of the front. The cat hasn’t bothered the power supply or cord since.
This final observation probably only applies if you have a rambunctious cat like I do, but the lid only rotates 90 degrees to lock it in place. I wish it had to rotate a full 360 degrees and/or had an additional locking mechanism as my cat has watched me refill the hopper several times, and I think he’s learning how to open the lid. If your cat is extra curious like mine is, you might want to use a small piece of tape to secure the lid to the hopper and avoid any surprises. I assume he’s going to knock over the feeder at some point when he wants an extra snack between meals.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this purchase and recommend this particular feeder to anyone who wants the flexibility and convenience of an auto feeder. If anything changes as we continue to use it, I’ll come back to this review.
