Petmate Portion Right Programmable Food Dispenser Review

The Petmate Portion Right Programmable Food Dispenser is programmable to up to three meals per day and is perfect for the average house cat that simply just needs to be fed.

Features

This feeder is programmable up to three meals each day at specific times you can choose. It can hold up to 5 pounds of food and dispenses in ¼ cup portions to a maximum of 2 cups per meal. You can choose to eliminate a meal or two per day depending on what your feeding preference is for your pet. In example, you can choose you do two feedings per day and eliminate lunch or dinner. If you choose to do one feeding per day, which is really not recommended, you can choose to eliminate two of the other feeding hours.

It has a simple design with dimensions of 14” in length x 9” in width x 15” in height. This makes it relatively small and compact. It weighs about 4.4 pounds which makes it easy to carry around on trips out away from home if needed. The bowl is removable which makes cleaning it easy, and the lid operates under a twist-lock mechanism which keeps the food both fresh and secure. It uses 3 D sized batteries which are not included in the package.

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Pros and Cons of Petmate Portion Right

Pros

• It is extremely easy to assemble this unit.
• It is able to storage a large amount of food at once and the lock mechanism ensures the food stays fresh and secure.
• You can choose to eliminate a feeding period if needed
• Relatively quiet
• It is budget friendly and space efficient.
• Can be used to feed up to two small pets.

Cons

• If the pellet size is too small the portion accuracy can be thrown off
• If the food levels are low then dispensing becomes unreliable.
• Your pets can take extra food from the nozzle by shoving their paws inside it.
• If you have baby cats then this feeder might facilitate them over eating as the minimum it dispenses is ¼ cup per meal. In this case feeding your cat up to 3 times per day might not be advisable.

Recommendations for Use

• If you would prefer a model that offers an AC adapter then the newer versions are not an option since they are solely battery operated
• Only use this feeder indoors.
• Ensure that you place it in a corner where there are walls to help keep it from toppling over in case your pet runs into it.
• Do not use it for baby cats. Since the minimum portion is relatively large, you do not want your cat to cultivate a habit of over eating
• You can use this feeder for 2 or more cats but we recommend a maximum of 3
• Ensure that your feed size is larger than 1/4” so it does not cause the feeder to glitch.
• Only use it for dispensing dry foods.
• This is not the perfect feeder for a cat that is on a diet or has special dietary considerations.
• Due to the fact that there is no low battery display, you want to ensure that you always have batteries on hand and you replace them every 3 months. The average battery life is about 6 months for a feeder like this but brands vary and you do not want the power running out when you are not home.

Verdict and Rating

Though this feeder might not work for every pet situation, it is a good combination of both simplicity and ingenuity. It is a great indoor cat feeder and very economically friendly. Though the newer designs only use batteries, they operate no differently than the older ones. We would not recommend it for very large cats and we advise that you use a different feeder if your cat tends to have somewhat aggressive behavior.