Cat Mate C500 Automatic Feeder Review
The Cat Mate C500 is an automatic feeder that surpasses the Cat Mate C50 version, with new improved features. This automatic feeder dispenses up to 5 meals, one at the present time and 4 programmable. You can serve dry or wet food thanks to the twin ice packs under the food tray helping the food to stay fresh longer. The close-fitting lid helps to seal the food better as well.
This dish feeder features a digital timer for more accurate meal times that you can program up to 4 times. The Cat Mate C500 is battery operated and it’s dishwasher safe, except the base of the unit.
The design is tamper resistant to cats, created considering all the tricks cats do when trying to defeat the feeder, for example trying to rotate the tray to access the next meal. You can also attach this unit to a wooden board for extra stability in case you have a very mischievous cat.
FEATURES
- Dispenses up to 5 meals, one at present time
- Ice packs help to keep the food fresh
- Food capacity each slot: ¾ lbs (330g)
- Total capacity feeder: 3.75 lbs dry food (approx.)
- Suitable for cats and small pets
- Battery operated (3 AA alkaline batteries not included)
- Easy to clean dishwasher-proof lid and bowl
- Designed to be tamper resistant to cats
- Can be attached to a wooden board for extra weight if needed.
- Dimensions: 13.4” x 11.4” x 2.8”
- Food section dimension: 5-1/4″ W at the bottom; 1-3/4 ” W at the top; 3-3/4″ length.
- Weight: 2.4 pounds
- 3-Year Guarantee
WHAT COMES WITH THE UNIT
√ Feeder lid
√ Food tray
√ Twin ice packs
√ Base unit
√ Battery cover
HOW IT WORKS
The 5-meal food tray will rotate exposing each meal at the programmed time. One slot will be exposed in the beginning so you only need to program 4 meals. Each tray holds enough food for two cats.
The unit works with batteries that may last up to 12 months if using good quality alkaline batteries and with normal use.
The feeder features a digital timer that can be set for 24 hours (military time) or 12 AM/PM. The feeder comes with 12 hours AM/PM by default.
HOW TO SETUP THE FEEDER
The first thing to do is installing the batteries. To open the feeder you need to pressure down the lid and pushing in the spring clips on both sides at the same time. Then you lift the food tray off the base and remove the battery cover by releasing the holding clip. Place the battery and put the tray and top lid back on.
The Cat Mate C500 LCD panel features the following displays & buttons:
LCD displays on screen:
—Low battery indicator
—Clock display (states current time)
—AM/PM indicators (12-hour clock mode)
—MEAL 1 – 4 indicators and feeding time
Buttons:
—ADJ/SET button
—UP arrow button
—DOWN arrow button
To set the clock is easy, just push the button ADJ/SET for 5 seconds until the LCD screen starts flushing and then push the UP or DOWN arrow to set the time. When setting the clock make sure the AM/PM is correct according to the time you are setting.
PROGRAMMING THE MEALS & TIMES
You need to set the meals and times of each serving. This schedule will be repeated every day so you only need to program the 4 meals once. The first meal doesn’t need to be programmed as it is exposed to be served at present time.
First thing is programming the clock. Then you can start programming the meals.
To program the 1st meal you need to press UP or DOWN arrow buttons to move the highlight to Meal 1.
Then you press and hold the ADJ/SET button for 3 seconds until the Meal 1 starts to flash. Then set the time for Meal 1 by pushing the UP or DOWN arrow buttons until the time you choose and then press ADJ/SET to save the setting.
Do the same for all 4 meals. Consider that the meal times intervals can be incremented only every 10 minutes. Once you have set all 4 meals, they will visible on the LCD display.
How to program 1, 2 or 3 meals per day
In case you want to feed your cat once a day for 4 days you only need to program Meal #1 and this mealtime will be repeated everyday. If you want your cat to eat twice a day you need to program Meal #1 and Meal #2. If you want to feed your cat 3 times per day you need to program Meal #1, Meal #2 and Meal #3 and so on.
CLEANING
The Cat Mate C500 is very easy to clean. The lid and bowl are dishwasher safe, the base can be wiped with a damp cloth. The base should not be submerged in water.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF CAT MATE C500?
This list of the good and the bad of the Cat Mate C500 will help you to decide with more information:
PROS
- Easy to setup
- It dispenses dry or wet food
- Ice packs help to keep the food fresh
- Digital time for accurate meal times
- Each slot holds enough food for 2 cats to eat
- Easy to clean, dishwasher safe
- Excellent to use as complement to a dry food feeder
- Design makes it hard for cats to defeat the feeder
CONS
- The feeder serves automatically 4 meals and not 5
- Ice packs may not last too long at warm temperature (see tip)
- The meal times can’t be programmed to the minute, only at 10 minutes intervals
- It only works with batteries
TIPS & TRICKS
- To ensure the good operation of the Cat Mate C500 make sure to use it indoors (or garage) and place it in a cool corner away from sunlight and moisture.
- When time to change batteries, in order to keep the clock and all the programming, you need to remove and replace all the batteries within 30-60 seconds.
- You can use rechargeable batteries but the battery indicator will work only with alkaline batteries.
- You can freeze the wet food and place the food on each tray in the same shape without spreading it. This will make the food last longer without melting.
CONCLUSION
The Cat Mate C500 is a new model with features that surpass the Cat Mate C50. This unit offers a new cat-proof and nicer design with a better fitting lid that helps to keep the food fresh longer and a digital timer for more accurate meal times.
This feeder offers a good value for money and can be used as a complement to an automatic dry food feeder in case you want to feed your cat dry and wet food while away from home. Get it on Chewy with fast shipping here or, you can get it in Amazon:
Can u program the feeder to feed at the same time each day and erase the other 3 times?
Thank you,
Michelle
Hello Michele, if you want to feed your cat only one meal per day you need to program the meal #1 and that’s it. This meal will be repeated everyday.
I can’t get my feeder to start. I set the clock and feeding times, press set once but the numbers continue to blink. Is there another step I’m missing. After a few minutes the clock resets to 12:00
Hello Eileen, to enter the 1st meal you need to press the arrow (UP or DOWN) button to move the highlight to Meal #1, press AND HOLD the ADJ/SET button for 3 SECONDS until the Meal #1 starts flashing. Then set the time for Meal #1 by pushing the arrow (UP or DOWN) button to select the time, then press ADJ/SET to save the settings. When you press the ADJ/SET button to select the time maybe you are holding the button instead of just pressing it. If this doesn’t work call the customer service for further assistance.
Hi my inner tray is out of sync with the hols in the lid, how can I put this right.
Hello Alistair, if you followed the instructions and the lid doesn’t fit right you must contact customer service for a replacement. The tray should sync with the lid.
Hold the adj/set button and the up arrow down simultaneously and the feeder will adjust back into the correct position.
Hi,
What are the measures of a single tray??
My cat is big (siberian) and I am trying to understand if this model would be comfortable for him. With the one we have, I see him having some difficulties because the tray is too small for his big face!!
If you might give the width (front and back) and length of the edges would be great.
Thanks!
Hello Silvia, the food section measures 5-1/4″ wide at the bottom and 1-3/4 ” at the top, and 3-3/4″ length.
What Neal said works, I just did it because the lid was off just 1/4 inch and it adjusted perfectly.
I just set up my Cat Mate C500 with 4 programmed mealtimes. I only put food in compartments 3 & 4 because now it is past the 1 & 2 feed times when I fed my cat by hand. Will the feeder go to the next programmed mealtime? (#3)
Thank you, Judy.
Hi
If my clock says 1:38pm and my first meal is set for 1:30pm, for the four meals. Does this mean the first meal will begin the following day?
Hello Sarah, if you programmed only Meal #1 with the purpose of feeding your cat during 4 days one meal daily and you put the time as 1:30 pm but your current time is 1:38 pm then the first meal will be dispensed at 1:30 pm next day.
I inherited an older cat, her hours were already set in her life. She would wake me up every morning at 5 ish. i bought the catmate C500 and life is good now. She waits to hear the little noise when it turns,
I had to call customer service on from the telephone number on the bowl and they were very helpful and walked
me through a few things on it.
Love, Love, this little feeder
Hello Sharon, I am so happy this feeder worked out well for your elderly cat.
Our cat doesn’t seem to hear the feeder rotate, to go for his meal. We’re trying to train him to the times, but little success so far. Have they considered adding a tone to notify when it rotated, or what tricks are people using to ensure their cats know when a meal is served? He used to hear the dry food dropping into the bowl in his other feeder, but he doesn’t hear this one (he’s an older cat and partially hard of hearing). Thanks.
Hello Bob, I made a review of this automatic feeder so I am not the manufacturer but that’s a very good idea to create an alarm when the feeder rotates. Cats, in general, hear when the tray rotates but if your cat has some partial hearing this feeder won’t work well. Sorry I couldn’t help you more.
Cats can usually tell food is nearby from their sense of smell. I’d try training him by using food with a strong smell (wet food or something fresh that he finds irresistible) and making sure the feeder isn’t too far from where he is around mealtime. Good luck!
I have 3 cats that have been grazers for 10 years. Now I have to feed them 2x a day due to one being diabetic.
Do I need to purchase 3 feeders and set the timer to go off 1x in the morning and 1x in the evening so each of them can eat at the same time?
Is the C500 my best option?
Hello Nancy before giving you an answer, do you feed them wet food?
It says in the “cons” to look at the tips for the ice pack (details I am guessing?) but nowhere in the whole article did I see mention telling you to insert the frozen ice pack during setup or did I miss something?
Hello Allison, the “con” about the ice pack is related to how long it lasts frozen. If the temperature is hot, the ice pack melts more quickly. A tip to help with this is placing the wet food directly from the refrigerator in summer and this way it lasts longer fresh, independently if the ice pack melts faster. Thanks for your comment.
Question: Do the numbers “etched” on each bowl coincide with the programmed times?
Asking because #1 dish/bowl doesn’t line up with the space marked #1.
Reason for question: Used (awesome!) product a few months ago with food in each tray, so the designation of numbers didn’t really matter. This time, however, I’ll need it to be more specific.
Dish one contains medicine — programmed an hour before feeding — dog Chihuahua! eats just fine.
Dish two contains food — programmed to open an hour later
Dish three contains medicine — programmed for later in the day
Dish four contains food — programmed an hour later
I tried lining up Dish numbered #1 with the number on the tray to no avail…any suggestions or should I call customer service? Many thanks! :-)
Hello Steph, I am not sure if I understand what you mean. The tray has 5 “slots” each one numbered from zero to 4. You need to line up the number zero “0” when placing the tray on top of the base with the zero underneath. That means the exposed food is the number #0 which is eaten in the present time. The next tray to the left of zero is #1 and it’s the next. You need to make sure to align the tray correctly and place the food in all 4 slots according to the feeding programming you want. Then you program each meal. The programming doesn’t follow the tray # but only the sequence of rotation considering the zero “0” as the starting point. For example, if your feeder already dispensed programmed meal #1 and for whatever reason, you remove the tray to put food in it, and program meal #2 and place the tray aligning with the zero, the next feeding won’t be the tray numbered 2 but tray numbered 1. I hope that helps!
How can I fed my cat for 2 days and two meals. Do I fill all the numbers 1-4 and just have 2 times on the set one for morning and other for night?
Hello Sarah, If you want your cat to eat twice a day you need to program Meal #1 and Meal #2 only.
I’m planning a day trip and leaving in the middle of the day. My cat will need a 5pm, 10pm day of and then the next day 7am. Will the feeder know to skip the morning time until the day after if the clock is 3pm? Ie. Will it know to do the 5pm that day? (I tried to make Meal 1 start at 5pm but the clock only goes earliest to latest).
Hi Linda, if you want your cat to eat at 5pm and 10pm that’s possible if programming meal #1 and Meal #2, but it’s not possible to program the next day in the morning to a different time. The meals you program will repeat every day on the same schedule. What you can do is program meal #1 at 7am, meal #2 at 5pm and meal #3 at 10pm. Your cat this way will eat an extra meal while you are still at home, but that would be the only solution that will solve your problem.