Petmate Le Bistro Portion Control Feeder - Black Electric Dog Feeders at Pet Mountain

On February 14, 2013:
Since having this feeder, my 4-year- old chocolate lab has been able to manage himself when it comes to his meals throughout the day. My full-time job and commuting 70-miles away involves 10-hr+ days, so therefore my dog is able to eat 3 times daily and I do not even have to add that task to my list. Just fill up the container and it lasts for an entire week. I program the dispenser a 1-cup meal 3 times daily. My lab is so smart he knows exactly the time when it is feeding time that he waits anxiously in front of it to be fed. It is so cute to witness his excitement waiting for his food. Priceless! For convenience, you can purchase the electric extension cord sold separately through the manufacture. This way you do not have to worry about the batteries going bad. Also if there is a power outage during the day, your batteries are reserved for backup! I highly recommend this product! It has lasted me going on 2 years. It has paid for itself so even if I had to replace it due to wearing out moving parts, I have saved 50% off the local pet store's price. Well worth the money and it saves you valuable time.

On September 5, 2012:
I had a previous model 5lb Le Bistro electronic portion control feeder that I had gotten for my cat years ago. It was awesome! Ran for maybe 2 or 3 years until the acid from the original batteries I had used started leaking out and damaged things. I saw the newer 10lb model and decided to give it a try (bought it December 2011). Not happy at all. My cat is pudgy, so I set the feeder to feed a quarter cup portion in the morning and a quarter cup portion in the evening (like I had with the other feeder). Not sure if 10lbs is too heavy for the feeder, but sometimes it would crank out food at the scheduled times, sometimes it wouldn't, sometimes it would crank out food randomly, and sometimes it would crank out 2 - 3 times the amount of food set. I just turned it off and scoop food out manually. Maybe the fact that it was priced the same as what I paid for my original feeder 2 - 3 years ago was just too good to be true. May buy another 5lb one, but we'll see.