Whether you work long hours, have a dog who needs to be fed at specific times every day, or want to take some of the guesswork out for your pet sitter, an automatic dog feeder is a convenient and easy way to schedule and portion your dog’s meals.
From smart dry food feeders with app control to automatic wet food feeders that keep your dog’s food refrigerated, here are some tips for how to select the best automatic dog feeder for your pup.
Traits We Want in the Best Automatic Dog Feeders
Portion control: The best automatic dog feeders should offer consistent portion control, so you always know how much food your dog is getting per meal. This will help you keep your pup at a healthy weight and will alert you if your dog isn’t eating as much as they normally do, or if they seem hungrier than usual—potential signs of illness.
Scheduling ability: Our top automatic pet feeder picks offer customizable meal scheduling down to the minute and let you set how many days per week they recur. The best options allow you to schedule multiple meals per day (though some options on this list max out at three schedulable meals per day).
App control: App control can be a pro or a con depending on your preferences. App-controlled automatic dog feeders often allow you to get more granular about the feeding schedule details, while offering you more data on your dog’s mealtime and general habits. Non-app controlled automatic pet feeders can’t be controlled remotely, and often have more complicated on-device controls, but keep you from having to download yet another app onto your phone.
Capacity and portion size: Think about how much your dog eats per meal before selecting an automatic dog feeder. Most automatic dog feeders have granary-type tanks to fill with kibble that max out at a few liters. The serving sizes for many of these feeders are also usually quite small, which is great for small dogs, but not as compatible for large or giant breeds. However, if you do have a large dog, many feeders offer slow feeding settings that will allow you to feed your dog more food over an extended period of time, or schedule multiple “meals” back-to-back to ensure your dog gets their required food allotment.
Some dogs may not be suited to automatic dog feeders. If your pet is sensitive and startles at noises, they may not like a granary-type feeder that drops kibble out of the bottom. Also, highly food-motivated dogs may become obsessed with the feeder and spend a lot of time staring at it or becoming frustrated when it doesn’t dispense additional food.
Both of these types of dogs would benefit from training around the feeder while you’re home, either desensitizing them to the sound, or reminding them to leave the feeder alone after mealtime.
The Best Automatic Dog Feeders
| Whole Dog Journal Rating | Product and Maker | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Petlibro Granary Smart Dog & Cat Feeder | $76 | If you’d like to keep an eye on your pet during their mealtimes, the Petlibro Granary feeder has a built-in camera and dispenses food by the cup for an easier measuring process. |
| Petlibro Polar Automatic Smart Dog & Cat Wet Food Feeder | $150 | If you feed your dog wet food, fresh food, or raw food that needs to be kept cold, the Petlibro Polar feeder keeps dog food cold for up to 72 hours, and allows you to schedule your dog’s meals remotely via a simple companion app. |
| Pawsync Automatic Dog & Cat Smart Feeder | $100 | The Pawsync automatic feeder is best for dogs who need strict portion control, since it has a built-in scale for accurate meal sizes. This is a good option for dogs who need to lose, gain, or maintain their weight and pet parents who want accuracy. |
| PATPET Timed Automatic Dog & Cat Feeder | $50 | The settings on the PATPET Automatic Dog Feeder aren’t the most intuitive, but this budget-friendly automatic feeder is an app-free option for automatic feeders. |
Best Automatic Dog Feeder: Petlibro Granary Smart Dog & Cat Feeder
The Petlibro Granary Smart Dog & Cat Feeder is an easy, intuitive automatic dog feeder with a built-in pet camera. This feeder had the fastest setup of all the options we tested and was ready to be used in about five minutes. The companion app is simple and straightforward and allows you to simply set your pet’s food schedule and feeding amount, view the live feed from the built-in camera, and look at your pet’s feeding history.
Unlike some other options on this list, the Petlibro Granary feeder dispenses food in 1/12 cup portions instead of custom sized portions. You can choose meal sizes from 1/12 cup all the way up to four cups per meal. The one cup portion seems like one heaping cup compared to my food measuring cups, so compare the serving size to your dog’s typical serving size before setting their feeding schedule. You can always reduce or increase their serving amount in the app to match their typical serving size.
The bowl on this feeder is a bit small, so anything more than about two cups would likely overflow from the bowl unless your dog is a fast eater. This is easy to work around though, since you can simply schedule two back-to-back meals of smaller amounts if you have a dog who eats larger servings.
The resolution on the built-in camera is fairly clear and high quality, and it sends notifications to your phone when it detects sound or motion. If you have the feeder in a high-traffic area, you may get more phone notifications than you want, so consider placing it in a quiet corner of your house if possible.
Best Automatic Dog Feeder for Wet Food: Petlibro Polar Automatic Smart Dog & Cat Wet Food Feeder
The Petlibro Polar Automatic Smart Dog & Cat Wet Food Feeder is a genius innovation for folks who feed their dogs wet food. Similar to a dry food granary feeder, this wet food feeder allows you to schedule your dog’s mealtimes while also keeping wet food cold and fresh for up to three days. There’s a protective cover that opens and closes at times of your choosing, preventing your pet from getting into the feeder and keeping your dog’s canned, wet, or fresh food at the ideal temperature.
The Polar feeder is a great option for pet sitters, since it allows you to portion out your dog’s wet food and set the schedule for their meals. This way, you know that your dog is getting fed the right amount at the right time, whether you’re home or not. It’s also a good option for older dogs who need to eat frequently during the day while you’re away at work.
This feeder comes with options for either a plastic or stainless steel bowl (though Chewy only offers a plastic insert even though the stainless steel option is pictured), and is linked to a companion app that allows you to set the meal times and duration. The app also logs how many times your dog visited the feeder and how long your dog ate for, and it sends you a phone notification when an entire feeding schedule is complete and when it’s time to wash out the inner bowls. The device lets out a low, pleasant chime when the protective cover opens and your dog’s food becomes available.
This feeder was one of the easiest to set up of the options we tested, and the companion app is simple and straightforward. The only downside to this feeder that I experienced during testing is that one of my dogs thought it was a puzzle feeder. After the compartment opened and she ate her meal, she pawed and nosed at the device, looking for a way to open it. If your dog is frequently fed using puzzle feeders, you may need to teach them that this isn’t a puzzle for them to solve.
Best Automatic Dog Feeder for Weight Loss: Pawsync Automatic Dog & Cat Smart Feeder
The Pawsync Automatic Dog & Cat Smart Feeder is an excellent option for dogs who need to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain their weight with strict accuracy. This feeder comes with a built-in scale that determines the weight of a single serving of your dog’s specific kibble. You can then schedule meals that are between one and 10 portions of kibble.
For example, one serving of my dogs’ Fromm kibble was about 0.3 ounces according to the Pawsync feeder, and a meal of 7 servings was about three quarters of a cup, which is what my 40-pound dogs normally eat per meal. This feeder was remarkably accurate with serving sizes, and each serving during the testing period was the exact same amount (verified via a food scale and a measuring cup).
You can also select a slow feeder setting, which dispenses your pet’s food slowly to encourage better digestion. If you select this setting, portions will be doled out every 30 seconds.
This feeder maxes out at meals around one cup, so it’s best for small and medium sized dogs. That’s not to say you couldn’t work around the 10 serving limitation by scheduling multiple meals back-to-back, though.
The Pawsync comes with a companion app that’s easy to navigate and allows you to add meals, adjust meal times and amounts, zero out the integrated scale, add pet details, and more. The app keeps track of the amount of food in the tank so you can plan to refill it when it runs low, and you can even record a “meal call” for the feeder, so your dog hears you calling their name or that dinner is ready when the food is dispensed.
This automatic dog feeder runs on power and connects to your home’s WiFi network, but you can also put D batteries in it as a backup power source.
Best Budget Automatic Dog Feeder: PATPET Timed Automatic Dog & Cat Feeder
The PATPET Timed Automatic Dog & Cat Feeder is a solid, budget-friendly option that doesn’t require an app to use. The portion amount, mealtime, and slow feed settings are all managed through one single button that cycles through the various settings on the feeder, many of which are abbreviated on the display (i.e. SF for slow feed, and F for feeding portion setting). It’s not the most intuitive setup, so keeping the instruction manual until you memorize how to set each of the functions is a must.
The PATPET Timed Automatic Feeder holds up to four liters of kibble and can dispense up to 50 10-gram portions at a time. The bowl of this feeder holds about 2.5 cups of food, which is likely less than the 50-portion max setting for most kibbles. However, using the slow feed function on this slow feeder could allow you to feed a large dog a fairly large meal over a more extended period of time, instead of pouring the entire meal into the bowl at once.
This option is powered via an outlet, but can also use D batteries for wireless use or as a power backup.
I have to be honest, depending on an automatic feeder makes me very uncomfortable. What if the kibble gets stuck and won’t drop down? What if the electric goes off? What if the dog starts chewing on the feeder? Is there a chance of electrocution?
I realize that working folks need these options but please don’t be solely dependent on them.