I used to judge people who had automatic pet feeders. Like, you got a pet and you can’t even be bothered to feed it yourself? That was genuinely my attitude for years. My cat Oliver has been on a twice-a-day feeding schedule since he was a kitten and I always handled it manually. Scooped the kibble, set the bowl down, watched him eat like the little gremlin he is.
Then back in October my vet told me Oliver needed to lose about 2 pounds. Not a huge deal, but the recommendation was to split his daily food into 4-5 smaller meals instead of two big ones. And I work from home most days but I’m not setting an alarm to feed my cat at 2pm. I’m just not.
So here I am. Automatic feeder convert. And I hate to say it but these things are actually great.
The one I recommend: The Petlibro Granary WiFi feeder at about $70. Not the fanciest, not the cheapest. Just the one that works without driving you crazy.
Why I didn’t go with the camera version
Everyone online pushes the Petlibro Granary with camera and yeah it’s cool I guess. WIRED picked it as their top choice. The camera is 1080p and works fine at night. You can talk to your cat through it which is hilarious for about 3 days.
But it’s $140. And the camera eats through your WiFi bandwidth if you leave it streaming. A member of a cat owners Facebook group I lurk in posted that her Granary camera version burned through like 30GB a month in data just from the camera alone. Her ISP sent her a warning. That’s insane for a pet feeder.
If you already have a pet camera โ which most cat people do at this point โ you don’t need another one built into your feeder. Save $70.
The Petlibro Granary WiFi โ what I actually use
Ok so this is my daily driver. Had it since late October, so about 4 months now. Its the 5L version in black.
Setup was easy enough. Download the Petlibro app, connect to 5GHz WiFi (the older models only did 2.4GHz which was annoying apparently), and program your schedule. I have Oliver on 4 meals โ 7am, 12pm, 5pm, and 9pm. Each one dispenses about 1/8 cup.
The good stuff:
Portion accuracy is solid. Not perfect โ I weighed the output a bunch of times in the first week and it was usually within a gram or two of the target. Some folks on r/Petlibro have complained about inconsistent portions but I think that depends on kibble size. I use Purina Pro Plan and the pieces are pretty uniform so it works well.
The food stays fresh. There’s a desiccant bag holder and a twist-lock lid. Oliver is picky about stale food (he’ll literally walk away if kibble has been sitting out) and he eats from the feeder without complaining. So.
The app actually works. I know thats a low bar but half the smart pet products I’ve tried have garbage apps. This one loads fast, lets me adjust schedules on the fly, and sends notifications when food is low. I tweaked his feeding times from my phone while I was at my parents house over Christmas. Pretty convenient honestly.
Battery backup is real. Power went out for about 6 hours in January during that ice storm and the feeder kept going on batteries. Oliver didn’t miss a meal. This alone is worth it if you live somewhere with unreliable power.
The annoying stuff:
The dispensing sound wakes me up. The 7am meal is LOUD. Not like alarm-clock loud but its this mechanical whirring that I can hear from my bedroom down the hall. Oliver has learned to associate the sound with food so he starts running the second he hears it, which is adorable but also means he crashes into things at 7am.
Cleaning is a pain. You’re supposed to wash the bowl and the food chute regularly and the chute doesn’t come apart as easily as the instructions suggest. I’ve gotten kibble dust jammed in there twice. Had to use a bottle brush.
The low food sensor is jumpy. It sends me alerts when the hopper is still like 1/3 full. Not a huge deal but I’ve gotten false “low food” notifications maybe a dozen times.
The budget option that’s honestly fine
Before I settled on the Petlibro I tried the WOPET dual bowl feeder because it was like $35 and I figured I’d start cheap.
It’s… fine. It works. The timer is accurate and the build quality is better than the price suggests. The dual bowl design is actually clever if you have two cats โ splits one portion into two bowls.
But no WiFi. You program it with buttons on the top and if you want to change the schedule you have to physically walk over and press tiny buttons. After using the Petlibro with app control for a week I could never go back. Being able to hit “feed now” from my phone when Oliver is being dramatic at 4:30pm is a feature I didnt know I needed.
The WOPET also doesn’t have a battery backup. Power goes out, your cat doesn’t eat. That’s a dealbreaker for me.
But if you’re on a tight budget and you just need something that dispenses food on a timer? It does that. No complaints about the actual feeding mechanism.
The one I returned
I also tried the Petlibro basic 3L model โ the no-WiFi version with button controls. It was like $35 at the time.
Returned it after 5 days. The portion sizes were wildly inconsistent. I’m talking 8 grams one meal, 15 grams the next, with the same setting. A thread on the Petlibro subreddit confirmed this is a known issue with the older models โ the dispensing mechanism doesn’t handle smaller kibble well and basically dumps random amounts.
For a feeder thats supposed to help with portion control, that’s unacceptable. Spend the extra $35 and get the WiFi version. The dispensing mechanism is completely different and actually works.
Quick thoughts for anyone on the fence
You don’t need a camera feeder unless you travel a lot and want to watch your cat eat from a hotel room. Which โ no judgment โ is something I’ve done. But a regular WiFi feeder plus a separate pet camera gives you better coverage anyway.
5L capacity is the sweet spot. My cat goes through roughly 1/2 cup per day and I refill the hopper about every 3 weeks. The 3L models need refilling way more often.
Stainless steel bowl or bust. Some feeders come with plastic bowls and cats can develop chin acne from plastic. The Petlibro Granary comes with stainless steel which is nice. The WOPET also uses stainless.
Battery backup matters more than you think. I didn’t care about this until the power went out. Now its a requirement.
And honestly? My vet was right. Oliver lost the 2 pounds in about 3 months on the smaller-meals schedule. He’s more energetic, less food-obsessed, and stopped yelling at me at 5am for breakfast because the feeder handles it. I should have done this years ago.
Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good.