As I’m sure you know, cats are creatures of habit who love sticking to a daily routine. Add food into the mix, and you’ve got a perfect storm on your hands. To get their nagging cats off their backs, many owners turn to automatic feeders. We all want to know can I put wet cat food in an automatic feeder?
We’ll take a look at some common issues and things that you can do. Some of what you’ll discover may surprise you.
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Can I put wet cat food in an automatic feeder?
Yes, but here’s the catch—wet cat food can’t stay out for longer than a few hours at a time and, ideally, should be covered and refrigerated to keep it moist and prevent spoiling. To meet the ideal conditions for wet cat food, you should pick up a feeder that can do both.
If you’re interested in learning more about automatic feeders, their pros and cons, and what’s best for your cat and their diet, then keep reading!
Related: Check out our buyers guide – Best Wet Cat Food For Indoor Cats.
What is an automatic cat feeder?
An automatic cat feeder is an electronic device (sometimes battery operated) that presents your cats with their food at certain times. They typically consist of multiple compartments that rotate through an opening to expose your cat’s food one portion at a time.
Food For Thought: There are a variety of ways to feed your cat besides using an automatic cat feeder; multiple smalls meals, puzzle feeders and using multiple food and water stations are just a few ideas.
How do automatic feeders work?
Automatic feeders have timers inside to ensure accurate and timely rotation of the food portions. For example, suppose your cat gets three perfectly-timed meals a day (totally possible with the automatic feeder!). In that case, the automatic feeder will rotate to a new portion of food once every 8 hours.
When you portion out your cat’s daily ration, you can remove the lid to expose all the available slots and add food to each one. Then, set the timer and close the lid! Of course, these directions vary with the exact model of feeder you’ve chosen, but the concept is the same: portion your cat’s food, add it to the feeder compartments, and forget it!
Difference between dry and wet automatic feeders
Remember what we talked about earlier? Automatic feeders are super handy for dry cat food—but what about the wet stuff? Well, certain types of automatic feeders will be more suitable for keeping wet food, and not all automatic cat feeders are built with these wet-food necessities.
Automatic feeders for wet cat food
Automatic feeders for wet food have to tick a few boxes: they must keep the wet food cool and moist. Why is this important? Well, if wet cat food stays out in the open for more than an hour or two, it will dry out and get crusty (a gross texture that cats hate!), and, more importantly, it will start to spoil.
A suitable automatic feeder for wet cat food can avoid these two issues. These feeders contain a cooling method, such as an ice pack, that can keep any wet food inside fresh for up to 24 hours. However, even with the ice pack, I would recommend placing new wet food portions into your feeder daily, as anything left out longer than that may not be healthy for your kitty cat.
Getting an Automatic Feeder
Choosing any kind of an automatic feeder for your cat comes down to just a few things:
- How many pets you have in the home
- Any special dietary needs your cat may have
- How many cats you have in your home
- What kind of power source you’ll use to power the feeder
Read more here
The nature of the automatic feeders means a lid covers all the portions of food, but some lids are better than others. To lock in moisture, select a feeder with a lid that must be pushed on or latched. Unfortunately, aside from the moisture issue, some cats are clever enough to remove automatic feeder lids so they can pig out. Yikes!
If you want to add wet food to your feeder, another tip for locking in moisture is to drizzle a bit of water on top of the canned stuff. That way, it’ll stay moist longer!
Automatic feeders for dry cat food
Though dry cat food can and will spoil eventually, it’s much more stable out in the open than wet food. So if you want to get an automatic feeder for your cat’s dry food, there are fewer concerns to deal with since moisture and spoiling aren’t a concern here.
The choice of lid and method of food delivery would be a big one! Cats can go crazy for the crunchies, so pick a secure lid. Also, some dry feeders can hold cat food in a single container and then dispense portions when your cat comes to eat—something you can’t do with wet food. Cool!
Pros and Cons of Automatic Feeders
Are you convinced yet? Let’s take a look at the nitty-gritty details of automatic feeders below:
Pros
- Convenient and easy to stick to a routine
- Cat’s won’t bother you for food anymore!
- Keeps your cat fed while you’re busy or out for the day
Cons
- Requires more involved cleaning
- Can be expensive
- May break, resulting in a hungry kitty!
Can I put wet cat food in an automatic feeder?… Summary
Putting your cat on a combo diet – that is a combination of wet and dry cat food is super easy to do, provides variety for your cat and can save you a few bucks.
Cats will tend to want to eat the wet food first, but if this becomes problematic, you can adjust the wet to dry ratio as needed. Even though wet cat food can provide some hydration, make sure you have a nice bowl of fresh water nearby.
Related Article: Is It OK To Mix Wet and Dry Cat Food?
