My two cats, Luna and Leon, are polar opposites when it comes to food.

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Luna is my grazer and has always left food in the bowl. On the other hand, Leon is an endless black hole and has struggled to stay a healthy weight.

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Mealtime has always been a battle to get both cats to eat their appropriate portions. To solve this problem, I started using the SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder.

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Sure Petcare recently gifted us the SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder Connect for upgraded portion control and smart app tracking. Read on to see what we love about Sure Petcare’s latest microchip feeder and who it’s best suited for.

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This post is in collaboration with Sure Petcare, for which I received compensation in the form of products for the creation of this content. In this article, I'll be sharing my experience using their products.

What We Loved:

• Microchip or RFID tag recognition to register a specific cat
• Monitors portion control with a built-in scale
• Tracks your cat's eating habits through the app
• Keeps wet food fresher longer with a sealed cover
• Optional rear cover helps prevent food theft from the back
• Customizable with colorful mats and bowls or stainless steel bowls
• Stylishly designed technology that enhances your home

Best For: 

• Cats of all ages
• Cats with a microchip or who wear a collar
• Cats with dietary restrictions
• Multi-cat and multi-pet households
• Indoor use only

Investing in Your Cat's Well-being

What does the smart feeder cost? The SureFeed^® Feeder Connect costs $228. However, if you don’t already have one of Sure Petcare’s other connected products you’ll need to bundle it with the Hub so that your app can communicate with the smart feeder. Each Hub connects up to 10 devices.This brings the total cost to $312. 

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While this is quite an investment, it’s one that will last. The original Microchip Pet Feeder I bought from Sure Petcare has worked flawlessly for me since 2019. I have been testing the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect for the last six months and it’s been very reliable as well.

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Plus, for a limited time, Cat Therapy readers can use promo code CatTherapy15 to get 15% off SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder and SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder Connect and Hub^*.

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*Terms & conditions apply. Use code CatTherapy15 for 15% off SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder, SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder Connect and Sure Petcare Hub while supplies last on surepetcare.com (US only). Cannot be combined with other promotions, limit 1 use per customer. Offer expires March 31st, 2024, midnight EST.

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SHOP SUREFEED^® MICROCHIP PET FEEDER CONNECT & HUB

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SHOP SUREFEED^® MICROCHIP PET FEEDER

Why Choose a SureFeed® Feeder Connect

If you struggle to keep one cat from eating another cat’s food, have a picky eater, or your cat needs to go on a diet—see below for more details about how the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect prevents theft from other pets, keeps food fresher longer, monitors portion control, and tracks your cat’s eating habits.

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Keeping Food Contained and Sealed

Remember how I said Luna will leave food behind to come back to later? Well, that’s a bit of a problem when feeding wet food. 

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The SureFeed^® Feeder Connect keeps her wet food from drying out because the bowl has a silicon edge which creates a seal when the lid closes that allows her wet food to stay fresh.

Say Goodbye to Food Theft and Overeating

The SureFeed^® Feeder Connect prevents pets from stealing each other's food by only opening for the RFID tag or microchip that it is assigned to and promptly shutting as soon as the assigned cat walks away.

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And if you have an extra food motivated pet that wants to steal food while the approved cat is eating, Sure Petcare makes a Rear Cover accessory to block the back.

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Exploring the Smart Features

The Hub

Both feeders are connected through the Hub. The Sure Petcare Hub is a cat-eared device that connects to the internet via an Ethernet cable. This is how the app is able to track and monitor your cat’s data. 

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Can you spot our Hub? I know it’s difficult with Leon’s cute face.

Monitoring with the Scale

The smart feeder also has a built in scale that helps you manage portion control. Using the portion scale helped make sure I wasn’t over feeding. 

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To use the scale, you zero out the bowl while empty and set the amount you want to give per feeding. The green lights on the feeder will all glow green and flash once you reach the correct amount. 

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Additionally, if you feed half wet, half dry it can detect those amounts as well with their split bowl set and scale included with the Feeder Connect.

Tracking with the App

One of the primary benefits of using the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect is that it tracks how much your cat is eating and when.

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With Luna being a grazer, it can be difficult to make sure she’s eating enough calories in a day. As a senior cat, it’s even more important for her to maintain a healthy weight. It’s been very helpful to know when she’s eating and how much to make sure she’s getting enough food per day.

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Getting daily logs gave me peace of mind knowing whether she was meeting her caloric intake—and if she wasn’t, it allowed me to spot issues sooner and seek out veterinary care.

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You can also export Pet Data Reports to share with your veterinarian either in person or via email or text.

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Here’s what a quick look at my cat, Leon’s, profile looks like in the app.

Troubleshooting Technology

As with most technology, things inevitably go wrong. Sure Petcare has a customer service center for troubleshooting when the feeders are not performing as expected. 

I’ve had very little issue with the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect in general, however there have been a handful of times when the app does not log their feedings properly.

When this happens, I email customer service and they send me instructions on how to reset the Hub and the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect depending on what the issue is and it fixes my connectivity problems. Additionally, they are always updating their app to prevent less outages in future.

If you need help, you can get in touch with them through phone or email. All of their contact information is on their support page here. Also on that page, there’s a knowledge base to help you troubleshoot your devices on your own.

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More Than Mealtime: Designing a Cat-Friendly Space with the SureFeed® Feeder Connect

Mealtime is one of the most important tasks in the care of our cats. It can also be one of the hardest areas to organize and design. 

One of the features I like about Sure Petcare’s microchip feeders is that their sleek design allows them to be hidden in plain sight and keeps food contained.

Personalizing Your Feeder

The SureFeed^® Feeder Connect comes with a gray mat, one full sized gray bowl, and two smaller gray bowls. However, if you’d like to personalize your feeders, Sure Petcare offers some fun accessories that will complement your existing style. 

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Also if you don’t like plastic, the bowls also come in stainless steel.

Accessorize

If you enjoy color and want to assign a cat a color, they have mats and bowls that come in grey, blue, pink, or my personal favorite, green.

DIY Your Feeder

The top of the SureFeed^® Feeder Connect also makes a great spot for personalizing. I used my Cricut to cut out some vinyl nameplates to adhere to the top so that my pet sitter knew whose bowl was whose. 

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Even if you don’t have a Cricut, most craft stores sell adhesive letters to personalize your feeder.

Final Thoughts

The SureFeed^® Microchip Pet Feeder Connect is a great tool for the care of my cats and I hope this was helpful in determining if the feeder is right for you.

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Comment below your thoughts and question about this smart microchip pet feeder. Would this technology benefit your cat?

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Disclaimer: Sure Petcare products are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent diseases or conditions and do not replace veterinary care.