Microchip Cat Feeder by SureFeed: Real Cat Owner Reviews

As far as I know, there is only one microchip cat feeder on the market – it’s made by SureFeed.  In Floppycats’ Facebook Group, a reader asked, “Has anyone used a pet bowl like this? Is it worth the price? I have three cats and one is a timid eater…the other two push their way in while she’s eating which results in her not getting her full serving and the other two get way too much”.

So I decided to reach out to some readers who had personal experience with the SureFeed microchip cat feeder for their cat’s food and ask them the hard review-like questions.

Thank you to Gena, Andrea, Sue and Pam for sharing their personal experiences as well as photos (and a video!) of their beautiful kitties with the SureFeed microchip cat feeder. 

Their Microchip Pet Feeder Reviews can be found below the FAQs listed below.

Microchip Cat Feeder Questions

What is a microchip pet feeder?

A microchip pet feeder is a food bowl with an automatic lid that opens when sensors sense a microchip or a RFID tag for the right pet, and it opens accordingly. They are not automatic feeders, per say.

You pair your cat’s microchip (or one of the Sureflap RFID collar tags, if your cat isn’t microchipped) with the microchip cat feeder, so that it only opens for the specific cat as the pet approaches. If you’ve multiple pets, or an inquisitive younger child, it stops them getting their hands or paws on the others’ food that’s intended for the registered cat.

How does a microchip feeder work?

Basically, it is able to ID microchips or RFID tags, and therefore it opens when that microchip or RFID is in close range. A microchip feeder simply has a chip scanner built into it, and the lid is automatic. So if the specific cat has a microchip or a RFID tag connected, it will work for that feeder.

If the registered cat gets close enough, then the lid will open. Otherwise it stays closed. Some, such as the SureFeed, have a mode that’ll also shut the lid if another cat tries to steal the food while the registered cat is over the single bowl.

How much does microchipping a cat cost?

The average cost to microchip a cat is between $35 and $50.

Should you microchip an indoor cat?

Most people believe that you should always microchip your cat, even if they’re an indoor cat. You can’t guarantee that they will never roam, and having your cat microchipped means they could be returned to you if they do get lost.

Can I trace my cat with a microchip?

Microchips implanted in cats do not contain any kind of tracking device – you can’t use a microchip to trace your cat. They simply hold your information. If someone finds your cat, a vet can scan the chip to identify that it belongs to you, and as long as your contact details are the same as when the cat was chipped, or you’ve updated them, you can be informed.

When should you microchip your cat?

You can microchip a cat from five weeks old, although many vets prefer to wait until eight weeks, or when the cat weighs at least two pounds.

What kind of batteries does the microchip cat feeder take?

You always want to check the specific details of the listing where you are buying the product, but in general, it is known to operate with 4 C batteries required.

Is a microchip cat feeder the best automatic cat feeder?

Automatic pet feeders are different than the microchip cat feeder. The microchip feeder doesn’t really set up an a feeding schedule, for example. But the way that it can help with something like weight management diets is that it will only open for the kitty on that diet – and your skinny kitty can eat whatever food you want them to eat and not have to have the weight management stuff. So it can help with things like portion control. If you have a multi-pet home, it will allow you to control the type of food specific pets get.

Microchip Pet Feeder Reader Reviews

Gena wrote January 22, 2021 how the microchip cat feeder helps in multi-pet homes.

Four years ago, I purchased two Sureflap Sealed Pet Bowls with motion activation. In August, 2020, I purchased two SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeders with the HUB. See here on Amazon.

What issues were you having that caused you to look for the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder as a solution?

I have 2 Ragdolls. Bella is 11 and Lexy is 15. Bella will eat anything in sight (including cat hair off of the floor, bless her!) and Lexy has never cared about eating. As Lexy has gotten older, this has gotten worse.

Lexy is only 7.4 lbs. She is small for a Ragdoll. When she loses weight, it is a big deal. I keep prescription food out all of the time (in the Surefeed Sealed Pet Bowl) and she will nibble on it. I put wet food out and Bella would eat it all and Lexy didn’t care. I needed to be able to feed Lexy her wet food and not have Bella eat it.

How has the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder been a solution to your problems?

The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder has been a life saver for me (and Lexy)! They can only eat from their own bowl. I also feed them different food, Lexy’s is more gravy type food. She will eat more now that she has her own bowl. After getting the bowl, her weight increased to over 8 lbs, which was well needed. *Her weight is 7.4 now, because of some GI issues!

Have you had any issues with it?

I haven’t had any issues with the SureFeed Microchip feeder. When it arrived, I thought I would have to put their chip numbers in the app, but all I had to do was put the cat in front of it and it read the chip! Super easy!! I thought my cats were sloppy eaters but discovered only one was a sloppy eater!

What would you change/improve?

It’s larger than I thought. Bella was a bit apprehensive about putting her head in the “tunnel” shape. But when she got a food reward, she quickly adjusted. It would be nice if the cover for the back was included in the original purchase. I have not purchased it, but if you have more aggressive cats, they may try to sneak food from another cat!

What alternatives are there?

I don’t know of any others Microchip feeders! There may be, but I originally had the Surefeed Sealed Pet Bowl that opened with motion activation, those work great, so I had no issue buying the Microchip feeder.

Were your cats already microchipped when you bought it?

Yes, my girls are world travelers!! They lived in Dubai, UAE for 6 years with us so they had to be microchipped for the travel!

Do you have the app/ the hub?

I have the app/hub. I have not used it. From reading the instructions, it has to be close to the bowls and my router isn’t near my bowls, so I haven’t used it. I have a wireless pet camera facing the bowls so I know when they eat and I can see how much they eat so I haven’t found it necessary!

I love that you can order colored mats and bowls. (pink, blue, green). As you can see in the photo, I have added their names and use the pink bowls and mats. The names help me and anyone else that may be feeding them know who the bowl belongs to! LOL! I also like that all the SureFeed feeders seal with a neoprene lip and this helps retain moisture and keeps the food fresh. I can leave the wet food out for a longer period so Lexy can graze and finish it!

I love automation and anything that makes my life easier. Along with my Surefeed bowls, I use a Litter Robot, a Roomba and a water fountain (and yes, one photo is a line in the tub)! I keep multiple bowls for the Surefeed and just throw them in the dishwasher daily when I change their food!

I hope I helped anyone considering purchasing these great feeders!!!

Andrea Pasternak wrote:

Avery was 5 years old when we adopted Finnegan who was a kitten. This was the first time we have owned multiple cats. We would leave Avery’s food down all the time as he has always been a grazer. Finnegan is a bully around food and would eat EVERYTHING insight by pushing Avery out of the way.

Poor Avery was hungry and crying for food because he was starving. Avery has also been underweight, so I really wanted him to have access to his food 24/7, not to mention he wanted nothing to do with scheduled feedings.

My friend Amina has Sure Feeders for her Ragdolls and assured me this would resolve the bullying over food. I purchased my Sure Feeder on Chewy’s as they were all about the same price at other online stores and they were going to delivery the quickest.

I did debate about purchasing the Sure Feeder as it was a lot of money, but I decided I only needed to get one feeder as Avery never tried to eat Finnegan’s food.

The investment was well worth it as I don’t have to watch the two of them to make sure they are getting their food.

When the Sure Feeder arrived it was very easy to setup using Avery’s microchip and he was such a quick learner. I would place a few pieces of food in front of the door, and once Avery noticed the door opening he took right to it.

The Sure Feeder was the perfect solution for a multi cat household as now everyone is eating their own special diets/portions. About a year after owning the Sure Feeder Finnegan started to wait on the side/behind Avery trying to sneak in to get food causing Avery to get annoyed and leave.

Now we have the Sure Feeder in a crate and there are no issues. I would like to see the Sure Feeder maybe have another design with higher sides/have something in the back so I wouldn’t have to use the crate. Recently I had to use the crate for a vet visit so I thought I would try the Sure Feeder by itself again, but sure enough Finnegan started to bully again so it was back to keeping the Sure Feeder in the crate which really isn’t a big deal for us.

I have had the Sure Feeder for 2 years now and I have never had any issues with it. The batteries will last about a year. When the batteries are getting low it will flash a red dot so you know the batteries should be changed out soon, it isn’t like it will just stop working without any warning. I did buy the stainless steel bowls on Amazon as I did not want to use the plastic bowls it came with.

Like I mentioned above, my boys were already microchipped when I bought the Sure Feeder. It was super easy to activate the Sure Feeder with their chips.

I didn’t even know there was an app for the Sure Feeder. I think maybe mine is an older version as it is not listed on the box.

Sue’s Surefeed Microchip Review

The surefeed microchip feeder is absolutely worth the money, especially of you have multiple cats or cats with weight/medical issues.

I have 4 cats, 1 who is Rowan pic here using the chip feeder as he has a different food to the others as he is a picky eater, and timid he won’t eat near the other cats. The feeder allows him is own food at his own pace, plus I’m able to monitor his food intake.

Its been the best solution for all round, a positive change for multiple cats.

I’ve had no issues at all, I did worry about batteries running out and rowan being unable to use the feeder, but it has a small red light the flashes when the batteries need changing.

The feeder comes with two bowls, a split one and a single one, the split bowl can allow both wet and dry food, here Rowan has the spilt bowl with the same brand of kibble just two different flavours, how he likes it at the moment. Food is always kept very fresh.

My cats are already microchipped but the feeder does come with two tags, if your cats aren’t microchipped and you can attach those tags to your cat’s collar.

The feeder is very easy to use and I found it easy to train rowan to use it with a fair amount of ham! There is a training mode and am easy to follow booklet, id have to check but I think one feeder can log up to 30 cats.

Would definitely recommend the microchip cat feeder to anyone.

Thanks

Sue

Pam’s SureDeed Microchip Cat Feeder Review

Pam wrote me asking for advice on pet vacuums and shared, “FYI – I purchased a Surefeed Microchip feeder after getting Little Lexi who is now 6 months old. She was eating kitten food and I think it had too much fat for my 2 yr old Niko and was causing some GI distress because he was eating her food. She can also free feed which he probably should not. This was a good solution. It only opens when it recognized her microchip. It has a training feature but she is pretty smart and did not need it. It’s probably good when you have dogs too that eat the cats food. It comes with plastic bowls but you can by stainless steal ones separately. They have cool mat colors too. I’m surprised there are not more brands on the market.”

So I told Pam about this post and wondered if I could ask her more specific questions – and she agreed and sent in a photo too =).

What issues were you having that caused you to look for the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder as a solution?

I purchased a Surefeed Microchip feeder after getting Little Lexi who is now 6 months old. She was eating kitten food and I think it had too much fat for my 2 yr old cat and was causing some GI distress because he was eating her food. She can also free feed which he probably should not. This was a good solution.

How has the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder been a solution to your problems?

It prevents my two yr old cat from eating the kitten food and she can get her food at anytime. The kitten can get food in the middle of the night and the feeder is pretty quiet. It only opens when it recognizes her microchip. It has a training feature but she is pretty smart and did not need it. It’s probably good when you have dogs too that eat the cats food.

Have you had any issues with it? No problems so far

What would you change/improve? The feeder comes with plastic bowls which are not dishwasher safe. You can get a stainless steel bowl separately which is dishwasher safe. I also wish the stainless still had a split option like the plastic ones. The split bowl allows you to put dry food on one side and wet on the other. I really liked the split option however I must say my kitten did not really like the split bowl as much. Also, you will have to use the bowls designed for the feeder so if your cat has a favorite bowl it will need to get use to this new bowl.

What alternatives are there?

You can buy stainless steel bowls separately. You can also buy very cute colorful bowls but they are plastic. They have cool mat colors. We ordered the pink mat and stainless steel bowl. Surprisingly there are not many other brands that have this technology.

Were your cats already microchipped when you bought it?

Yes but you can use the collar tag that comes in the box if they aren’t microchipped.

Do you have the app/ the hub?

No we don’t have the hub. Not sure we would use it.