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Pet owners say smart pet feeder outage led to furry ones going unfed
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2026
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How is it smart to have an app driven pet feeder that relies on Internet connection?
Why not just have one where you adjust and push a button on the feeder? You freaking have to fill it anyway!
This sounds like pure stupidity IMO. But then again we do it 100% manually, and the cat will absolutely remind us if there is no food.
Why even have a pet if you don't want to feed it. One of the highlights for the pet connecting to the owner!
I think an automatic feeder can be useful when you're not at home for a while, it just boggles my mind why this thing doesn't store the programmed timer locally on the device, and instead relies on 24/7 internet connection
Because businesses are not in the business of providing valuable products and services that improve our lives; they are in the business of extracting value and maximizing profits by any means necessary.
When you see businesses like Microsoft signing contracts with Israel to help the IDF efficiently genocide Palestinians, do you genuinely believe they wouldn't do the same to you the moment it becomes their most lucrative option?? Do you believe they would draw some arbitrary line in the sand between genocides, and magically reject profiting off your murder, imprisonment, or enslavement?
Even then! They can have WiFi for remote managing and still just store the program locally. Just seems wasteful for no reason, most people buying a WiFi pet feeder will connect it to the internet anyway.
Yes I get it for vacations, although even then we don't use it, but just put extra food out so there is enough for the duration. If a cat has learned from it was little that food is not a shortage item my experience is that they rarely overeat. Giving them a little too little every day however, and you will get a cat that can never have enough.
Exactly. We do have an automatic feeder, but it is not “smart” and I still have to tend to it occasionally. It’s main use is scheduling small feedings throughout the day so she gets fed correctly even if I’m busy.
We got one so we could go on vacation while owning a cat who would 100% eat all the food he could fit, vomit, and then keep eating.
With the auto feeder we just had someone stop by once a day for litter and such.
Definitely not networked though. That just seems like bad design purely from a "building a feeder" side. Why would you want to manage servers to coordinate pet feeding? At most an app that can set the timers, but it's not so hard to offload that actual tracking to the device.
Maybe we've been lucky, but we've never had that problem.
Indeed, automatic feeders have existed long before we even had Internet.
Yeah, he was the runt of the litter we think, and abandoned by his mother. We pulled him out from under a neighbor's porch and got him through it, but he always has a bit of a frantic urgency around food time, even for a cat. Our other cat was 100% good with one of those gravity feeders and would just graze over the course of the day and keep himself at a good weight.
We've kept the auto feeder around so the one can get five or six smaller meals throughout the day, since he eats so fast a normal portion often causes issues.
It's basically a dumb alarm clock that drops food in tablespoon increments. Only features I wish it had that it doesn't is an "I'm nearly empty" sensor that could flash a light, and the ability to sync it's clock with the radio broadcast time signal, since it drifts waaay more than you would expect and we need to reset the clock every month.
Hey, it says smart feeder, not smart owner...
Yeah but it's not much of a smart feeder if it can't tell the time without being told/asking someone else.
For some reason I pictured a grandfather clock asking, "should I chime yet?"
What if you're far from home but you suddenly decide you don't want to feed the cat that day? Unless you have a smart food dispenser it would be impossible!
Because pets are accessories, not companions
Yes, that must be it.
I'd even feel guilty about selling an IoT pet feeder that doesn't have a backup battery. Internet/server outtage is a thing, but power outrages happen too.