How to feed cats with different diets without expensive microchip feeders?
Microchip-activated feeders cost hundreds of dollars, leaving owners with no choice but to physically separate their pets for hours every day. This manual isolation is required to stop food-motivated cats from stealing specialized diets or kitten food from underweight cats, consuming hours of time.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1separating the cats in different rooms for hours at a timeDid this help you?
- 2looking for cheaper microchip feeder alternatives around the $50 price pointDid this help you?
- 3using timed wet feedersDid this help you?
- 4free-feeding dry food and portioning for weightDid this help you?
- 5having nearby family or petsitters check on feedingsDid this help you?
- 6Leaving dry food out all day for 24/7 grazing while providing wet food once or twice a dayDid this help you?
- 7Switching to scheduled meal times 2 to 3 times a day and removing free-fed dry foodDid this help you?
- 8Using automatic feeders to portion food throughout the dayDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My og baby is extremely food motivated and eats everything in sight. My new baby is underweight and getting her to eat is difficult.”source ↗
“I am still separating them for hours at a time to give her time to eat without him stealing her food.”source ↗
“I looked into microchip feeders but they are SO expensive. Is there anything more in the $50 range that could work for this?”source ↗
“The kitten will obviously be on kitten food, both wet and dry, so we will need to keep those feedings separate.”source ↗
“I'm looking for a cheaper solution as I don't have one to three hundred dollars to spare lol”source ↗
“my wife and I think this schedule is good but my know it all 18 year old son constantly says we over feed them and wants to take the dry food away and only put it out for breakfast and dinner”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2What to do when vet recommended cat food causes digestive issues