Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Our cat is a bit of an adorable piggy. We tried a cheaper feeder from a local store, and within 5 minutes, she'd figured out how to reach in and steal food. She also would BEG for food (loudly) whenever we came home, even if we came home early. I normally get home around 5, and she gets dinner around 5:30. For summer hours, I get home by 12:30 on Fridays, and she would beg for dinner for five hours. It was really hard to deny her, and no amount of a "snack" would trick her into stopping; but if we feed her too early, she'd wake us up at 3am Saturday for breakfast. This machine really WAS as difficult to program as others had warned. It is not intuitive AT ALL. But, once I figured it out, it ran wonderfully - no stealing. She can't reach in! My only real complaint (beyond the difficult programming) is that the fractions are only in multiples of 1/8, 1/4, 3/4, etc. My cat eats 1/3 cup of food twice per day. We had to do the math to get a close approximation. But, all in all, it works reliably (so far), she can't steal from it, and she's becoming less anxious about her food. I think that makes it worth it. Update (July 14, 2015): We've had this feeder for a month, now, and I love it. My sweet, greedy cat is getting less and less anxious about food every day. She no longer gobbles down all of her food in five minutes, as if she doesn't know when her next meal will be. She leaves food behind when she's full, and comes back later to nibble -- like what I always thought was normal for cats.