PetSafe SlimCat Interactive Feeder - Combines Play with Mealtime - Adjustable Portions - BPA-Free Plastic - Slow Feeder for Digestion - Lightweight, Dishwasher-Safe Toy - Blue

I read about 100 reviews of this product before I finally sprung for it and bought it (I'm a grad student....$6 can be up to two meals if I try hard enough!) and all my worries have now gone out the window. I have a 4-month-old kitten, Kiki; and I have had this product for about 24 hours now. This is going to be a long review, so here's the major thing that I was halfway expecting that did not happen: THIS IS NOT AN EXERCISE BALL. By "exercise ball" I mean something like a ping-pong ball or tennis ball that kitty will play with herself like she's trying out for the itty bitty kitty soccer league. I sort of thought it might be, due to the product advertising it as a cat weight-loss aid, but in fact most cats (especially fat cats) will bat at this with their paws and push it with their nose, not smack it across the room. It is not going to travel very far per smack and your cat will not be running around after it. I actually consider this a plus because if she were sending it across the room with every push, it might drop food where she wouldn't find it, but instead she pushes it a little way, sniffs around it for food, then pushes it again. You can see this in the several very excellent video reviews that already exist for this product. Every other benefit of this product that it claimed/that others reported in their reviews has now been validated by my own experience. Here are the things I was worried about that did not happen: Worry #1: That Kiki would not be able to figure out how to use it. She's a pretty smart little cat, but I was afraid she'd dislike the idea of working for her food or something, and keep going back to her bowl. Instead, I filled up this ball with 1/2 cup (=4oz., the daily suggested amount) of her dry kitten kibble (it has pretty tiny x-shaped pieces, <1-cm square and 3-mm thickness), twisted the ball so that the holes looked big enough to let a few kibbles out at once, and put it on the floor. I rattled it around quite a bit as I was filling it/carrying it so she was very interested and seemed to have figured out before I even put it down that her food was in there. As soon as it touched the ground she poked it with her nose, it moved about half a foot away from her, a couple kibbles fell out, and she was munching. I didn't even have to take away her food bowl! (That would have been hard because it's attached to her water bowl =P And by the way, she still drinks her water from the usual place.) Worry #2: That Kiki would be too smart for the ball; i.e., she would manage to get her food out too fast and still be eating it all at once. Since she got the hang of it so quickly the first time, I made the holes smaller the next time I fed her with it (basically as small as possible while still allowing kibble to come out). It's pretty difficult to get the kibble out with the holes this size actually -- I can shake the ball gently with the holes pointing downward and have nothing come out. Kiki still rolls the ball around the floor and the kibble now comes out at a rate of 1 kibble every 10-15 seconds. This does not deter her from continuing to push the ball around, and because it requires a non-trivial amount of effort to get food, she won't continue to eat after she's no longer hungry. Worry #3: That it would not be able to hold enough food to last her 1-2 days (I bought the ball primarily because I'm going on a short trip soon and she'll be all by herself for 1.5 days. For longer trips I'd ask someone to come feed her, but this seemed like a better solution for just a 2-day outing). Last night to test the capacity I filled the ball with 1/2-cup around 8pm, gave it to her, woke up the next day at 2pm (long story) and went to check on her and there was still food in the ball. WIN. Worry #4: That the ball would make a huge mess by leaving lost kibble pieces all over the house. We have hardwood floors so it wouldn't have been such a huge problem anyway, but I was concerned about her pushing the ball under the couch (she always loses her smaller balls under there) because that would be a pain to clean. In reality, two things happen: first, Kiki follows the ball closely with her nose -- if she pushes it and nothing falls out, she sniffs all around the ball before she pushes it again. She's basically a vacuum cleaner with this thing. I left her with a full ball for 18 hours and all I found afterward was 1 forgotten piece of kibble in a corner under the sink (which I brought to her and she promptly gobbled it up). Second, the fact that the ball does not travel very far effectively limits it to whichever room you put it down in. I usually leave Kiki with it in the kitchen and by the time she's done with it it's still in the kitchen. After 18 hours I found her with it about 6 feet into the living room, but there was no breadcrumb trail of kibbles behind her or anything like that =P So, maybe all this tells you is that I worry a lot, but basically this product delivers. It limits the amount of food my cat can eat at once, stimulates her instinct to hunt for food (AND reproduces the natural reward for hunting: feeding!), reduces/eliminates begging, keeps her out of trouble by distracting her for long stretches of time, and prevents the bulging stomach I used to see after her feeding times. It's difficult for me to weigh her but just by looking at her I would guess she has already lost 0.5lbs (and she only weighs about 5lbs so this is excellent) and it is all in the belly bulge area. She seems more active too (running up and down the stairs, asking me to chase her, running after her ball toys, etc). For those inclined to criticize: I know she is a kitten and a lot of people free-feed their kittens because they are supposed to be growing at a tremendous rate for the first several months of life, but the other thing to remember is that what you expose your kitty to before the age of 6 months is what she is going to be expecting for the rest of her life. I don't want to teach her bad habits (like expecting a full bowl of food 24/7) just because I can't resist her sad-kitty-whimper face. I can always tell if she is actually hungry or if she is just begging for lack of anything better to do because if she's just bored she'll stop begging as soon as I pick up a toy.

I purchased this for my senior cat as an enrichment activity for him. I have been putting treats in it before I go to work, and at night when he’s just waking up for the night as cats are nocturnal. As far as functionality, it’s perfect! You can adjust the size depending on the size of treats, and for how easy or difficult you want it to be for the treats to fall out for them. It has been a very safe toy for my cat with no issues. My senior cat does not typically enjoy playing with toys, but since this one involves treats, he loves it and it keeps him occupied and happy. The ball is easy to spin in the middle to change the size of where the treats will fall out of and does not stick at all. Someone with lower mobility in their hands would still be able to adjust it. I would recommend this as it’s great especially for the price!

One of my cats is obsessed with food, and she is the main reason I bought these (I got 2 of them). When it comes to eating, she is like a dog, she practically inhales her food, then looks around for more. I got this hoping to slow down her eating get her to eat less, and entertain her in the process. It didn't end up being a perfect solution, but it works pretty well. It definitely slows down her eating, which i am sure is good by itself, but her obsession with food doesn't allow her to eat less. If I completely fill the ball, she will stick with it until it was empty, so I still have to space out her meals throughout the day with smaller amounts. It also fulfills the entertainment part. She loves it. Granted, she loves it because there is food in it, but she becomes completely engrossed with it, and it is fun to watch. I have it set to release food slowly, and she may have to push it a few times to get a piece out, and she immediately pounces on it. It's really funny if two pieces happen to come out at once on different sides. :-) It's important to note that this is not much of a toy for them without the food in it. The food makes it interesting. It won't be interesting if you also have a full dish of food waiting for them. It's easier to eat the food out of the dish. You really need to use this as their food dish, not in addition to a food dish. That said, my cat took to it immediately. Initially, you need to leave the holes open a little more so that the food comes out easily. It is also a good idea to put a few pieces right next to the ball the first time. It may not be necessary, as my cats seem to be able to tell there is food in it just by sniffing it. Once they realize they get food out of it when they push it around, you can adjust the size of the holes to reduce the amount of food released. My only real issue with this is that the holes could have been done better. You can adjust the size of the openings by twisting the top and bottom sections of the ball. There are oval holes in the sides, but the shape of those holes allows smaller pellet foods to come out too easily (for my needs) or not at all. The round holes at the top might work better for those types of foods, but you can't open those by themselves. To use those, the oval ones on the sides are completely open, which would allow way too much food out. I think it could use a little design tweak. Still it works pretty good. I was using Iams Indoor formula, which is small pellets, and food comes out with every push. I wanted it to come out less often for my food obsessed cat, so I switched to Iams multi-cat formula, which is various shapes. That allowed me to set it so that she can push/bat it several times before a piece comes out. Overall, I highly recommend this product. It was effortless to get my cats to use it. I mainly bought it for my one cat, but my other took to it on their own, without any prep. Just keep in mind that it is a food driven toy. If you have a dish of food sitting out for them, and they are always full, they will likely ignore this.

Decent product. It had two different types of holes for of food coming out and you can “click” through the different sizes to adjust the amount of pieces falling out. This works well for Purina Pro Plan Adult cat chicken and rice. The way the product clicked through the settings was not very durable and I could not lock it easily. I think my cats were changing the settings and opening it further, but it still distracted them very well. They are entertained for roughly 30 minutes (2 balls and 2 cats). Unfortunately my dog stole this ball from their room (normally they are separated for feeding times) and destroyed it within 5 minutes, so it is not very durable if you have a dog around. Theoretically should work well for cats that eat too fast, get bored easily, or need to lose weight. Just not durable enough for me

Background: This is a longer background story than most reviews but I felt it necessary so you could see why we trained our cat with the SlimCat ball in the manner that we did and why we were so successful. The story provides a baseline of where Ashe was before and after the Slimcat. We had recently switched Ashe our 12.6 pound Maine Coon mix to a new brand of cat food. It turns out most cat food on the market has wheat in it, and I could not risk her food sending me to the hospital. None of the Blue Wilderness food contains corn, wheat or soy so I don't have to worry about cross contamination either! The only concern was that her new food was much higher in calories per ounce because it didn't contain a lot of filler. Good Stuff: She is already more active and jumping more. Her hair is shinier and growing longer. She defends us from the goblins during the night now. (active play) She loves the taste of it. Her poops are smaller (because she doesn't have all of that unnecessary bulk going through her digestive track? Great for my cleaning and hopefully more comfortable for her.) Concerns that led to us looking at the SlimCat Ball: It is a higher calorie food so we contacted our Vet so they could tell us given her ideal weight how much of the new food she should be fed each day. Most vets offer a free service where you can call in with the name of the cat food and they will tell you how much your kitty should eat daily, since each cat and food type is different. She went from being fed 3/4 -1 cup of her old food per day to half a cup of the new stuff. (1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup in the evening). The kibble isn't something that you can level in a measuring cup so we ran the conversion of how many calories were per gram and measure her food out each morning and evening using the kitchen scale. This way she is fed exactly the same amount each day. With the change in the mass of food, she started to cry for her food hours before dinner time and it was heartbreaking. The food may have the same caloric intake but her little tummy was used to twice the bulk each day. As hard as it was on us though we were the good parents and per the vets instructions fed her only what she should be fed and kept the same routine. Pink Kitty Cat Balls to the rescue!: I picked these up with the following goals in mind. 1. She would slow down her eating, making her full faster and eventually shrinking her tummy, eliminating the crying. 2. It would increase her interaction with the world so she would think and move a little more while she ate. When fed from a bowl Ashe actually lays down on the floor like a log and within five minutes she has finished all of her food. The first day we shook the ball like we do with the food bag to signal that kibble was in there. We placed it on the floor and my husband tipped the ball with his finger so she had a demonstration of how it worked. She promptly ate the food, then stared at him with a look that said "Ok Dad, thanks for that, please tip it again so I can get moar foodz". (Smart Cat, right!? why do the work when you can get Dad to do it for you) For a second demonstration we did the same but this time with her own paw, then we stopped helping her. I made the mistake of getting up and walking past where her food bowl used to be and she went into Vespa Kitty mode. (sounds like a little Italian bike on a rough road when she purrs and runs at the same time) I heard the little scooter just before she could sneak through my legs and trip me. Not wanting her to get the wrong idea I promptly turned around and went back to the kitchen to stare at her new pink food ball with her dinner. Lo and behold she followed me back to the kitchen and started sniffing the ball; then she started playing with it on her own. Day one it took about 45 minutes for her to complete her meal. We had the ball set to the smaller holes but open all the way so the kibble came out easily. The larger holes seem meant for larger treats. Day two it took her 25 minutes to eat all of her food. This told me she was learning and actively using her mind to solve puzzles, something she doesn't do as a lump in front of her food bowl. Day 3 - 10 minutes but with a new development, she didn't eat all of her food! Ashe always finished all of her food within five minutes, occasionally leaving one lonely kibble which we would joke "one kibble for her, one kibble for her homies". This is the first time she hasn't eaten everything since changing to the new diet. While she doesn't run around like in her goblin chasing nighttime romps while playing with the ball she certainly does get up and move a lot more than she did with the bowl. That movement should add up eventually for a slightly healthier cat. After one week at this hole size setting we reduce it slightly so we can keep her eating slowly and playing longer. The full week at the first size is important so that she feels comfortable with using the ball. The goal is a long term feeding solution that will keep her happy, so no extra frustration in that first week just learning the basics. Conclusion: With this success I am giving this product the five stars it deserves for a great price and it working perfectly as intended! The success of the product rests heavily on the cat owner to be feeding the proper amount of food and to not help the cat out too much. Cats are smart and because of how you have fed the cat all these years they are used to being totally dependent on you for food. Let them learn and think about their food, feed them the proper amount as directed by your vet and you should be very pleased by this product.

I do not understand why this food distributor ball is not sold except through Internet. It is a fantastic tool. I do not think the name (SlimCat) is the best descriptor of this product, and it may mislead some costumers. The first effect of this tool is to help your cat to be happier about its eating behaviour, not necessarily to make it slim. Some cats "frenetically" want to eat all the food in the plate at once... and it's not because they are starving (unless you do not feed them properly) at that moment; it's a behavioral issue. They eat all the food and then, after few hours, that food has been digested and they feel hungry again (or they are not hungry, but they need to satisfy their anxiety with food), so they ask for more and owners tend to overfeed them (even more), and cats tend to know which buttons to push to get food (don't they?). The cat I am describing, the one eating "frenetically" all the food, and then begging, and even misbehaving, is not a really happy cat. This tool is NOT to reduce the amount of food your cat eats (at least at the beginning), it's to help your cat to not eat all the food at once, to pace it in a more natural rhythm, and to help him to not eat in an anxious state of mind. Inside the ball, you will put the same amount of dry food you usually put in the plate, and you will control the amount of food dispensed by the ball when it is moved around by adjusting the size of the holes in the ball. It is better to start with big holes, and then reduce the size little by little. Some cats get the idea right away... so they move around the ball and eat whatever is dispensed. The more they move the ball, the more food they get. Easy. I haven't noticed that they get frustrated for not getting all the food at once; probably the novelty of the ball mechanism is stronger than the bad habit of eating fast. They won't keep moving the ball until all food is out (unless you really exaggerated with how big the holes are). They will come back to the ball each time they feel hungry (you should not worry about that, they are intelligent animals) and they will have to "work" a little bit to get the food... which is good for their minds! I have noticed great great improvements in the life quality of these type of cats when using the food distributor ball. They will eventually start leaving some leftovers, and that is when you can start adjusting the amount of food your cat should be eating, depending on its age, sex, reproductive status, and daily activity. Most of the cats eat more than what they need, so they become obese and their life quality decreases. Consult your veterinarian (or at least read the label on the food package) to determine the amount of food your cat should be eating... do not reduce it suddenly... it has to be gradually. This tool is a very great idea, simple to use, and will help your cat to be more balanced (mentally and physically). This is not a toy, so do not expect them to be as exited as they can get with a toy mouse. I have found that some owners are not willing to try it out... some feel that the cat won't eat if the food is in the ball... or that the cat will be hungry for a long time... or that they will have some food pellets scattered throughout the house... or that they won't be able to have the floor as clean as they would love because now the cat eats on the floor... BUT: cats will eat from the ball when they are hungry, following their internal clues, which are NATURAL, and will not eat as a response to anxiety or bad habits (they won't feel abnormal hunger)... yes, one or two pellets will be left on the floor and you will step on them, that is not a big deal... and yes, the floor won't be pristine (but, was it?). Note that some cats won't get it, but it's still worth trying, because if they do, they will be benefited.

This is one of the most amazing cat products I have ever bought. So simple, keeps my cat entertained by herself, easy to use, cleans in dishwasher, and CHEAP! I bought this because my cat is starting to have behavior problems from me being in vet school all day every day. This keeps her active during the day when I dont have time to play her with. She could also probably lose a lb or so. There are already many great responses so I'll keep my review to responding to some of the people who gave it 1 star (very surprising). 1) If your cat is not interested in it: Twist the ball so the bigger holes are open, that way food comes out easily at first to train them how it works. As they begin to get more comfortable with it, make the holes smaller so it is harder to get the food out and they are forced to play with it longer. 2) If your cat knows how it works but is not interested in it: I'm sure if your cat was hungry enough, they would play with it to get food. If your cat is being overfed, they won't be hungry and they won't want to work to get the food. If you make the holes too tiny and it is impossible to get more than 1 piece out in 5 min, I'm sure I would give up too!! You have to be patient with this product and your pet and find the right "balance". If they don't play with it, and you just feed them regularly, then they know you will feed them anyway if they dont try to play with it! Also, if you put moist treats in it at first or something more special than just dry food that will peak their interest. Also, make sure you adjust the holes each time depending what food/treats you put in. It makes a huge diff and if one time you make a mistake and your cat tries for 30 min to get the food out but you didn't adjust the hole size they will probably be discouraged to ever touch it again. 3) The instructions do come in the ball to begin with. If you can't open the ball the get the instructions, then I wonder about your ability think lol. The side of the ball has a circle with a little handle sticking out, you twist it to the left (righty tighty, lefty loosey) and it opens up!! The side of the ball has a little notch that you can lock and unlock. This is what you use to adjust the size of the holes. Look at it carefully, there are big holes and small holes. You can also make it so half of the big holes are open, etc. The lock works well and the top fits well inside of it. It has never broken or opened up when my cat plays with it. 4) If your food spills out all over the floor: look at the size of the holes!! Make sure you adjust it according to the food you have. Easy fix! One person commented on ants, well your cat should eat all of the food up unless they are overfed and not hungry. If the ants still come to the ball even if there is no food then I would just suggest using the ball when you are home only so you can pick it up off the floor when they are done. But I think the real problem is that you have ants...No need to rate a product extremely poor because you have another problem that isn't directly related to the product This is a great product and easy to use. It is also one of the cheapest cat toys i have ever bought! Ive spent a lot of money on random toys for my cat to play with when I'm gone but she is never interested unless I am there to make things "move" for her. She now has a reason to play with a toy without my help and sometimes I even catch her playing with it at night when she knows there is no food in it but she is super hyper and likes to roll it all over the place. The ball is really smooth on the outside so one paw at it and it rolls well. This is important because other ball toys I have bought dont roll well on carpet. I'm sure there may be some cats it never works with, but I assume the percentage is low. Id say maybe only very old or sick cats who cant be active at all. Otherwise, any other cat will eventually show interest if you use the product right and make an effort to combat the problems that I listed above.

Pros: Cheap. Refundable. Love the name and concept, If this works for your personal home situation, a designated enclosed feeding area, maybe? I'm not sure how the people that are successful with this are managing cat food everywhere...anyway, more pros: if your cats like large hard plastic balls as toys, and you don't have an issue constantly cleaning the floor, the good news is it is easy to fill, twist and clean, even for arthritic fingers. Cons: Can't speak for durability because my cats would not touch it. I They like small, soft toys. (Yes, of course I doused it in Kitty crack!) They honestly didn't know what to do with it. Other than wait for me to push it and eat the pile of food. So implementing this concept... Well, Cons: and my personal gripe in this updated review...Neither my cats nor I understand how having them eat off the floor, constantly having kibble *purposely* strewn about... In addition to already trying to keep the cat litter under control... along with their fur + dust bunnies... And now extra bug control...yay...How this combo creation of officially now an unhealthy living environment for both myself and my cats... Is any better than a fat cat! Meanwhile I'm the only one losing weight trying to keep the home clean and bug free! Oh, hi new bug that I've never seen before, what are you? Carpet beetle! "Keep food sealed up, floors clean, vacuuming daily". Even my robot vacuum isn't that "on it"! My cats had absolutely no interest in this big heavy plastic ball, no matter what was inside. They'd look up at me to push it!!! Yes, I got down on all fours and pushed the ball with my nose, at least we were all entertained! Oh, one did copy me by almost touching his nose to the ball. This is my second review, solely due to the arrival of a new bug. My kitties are already good at dropping their food on the ground all on their own and eating..."wait, what are you eating over there?!?!"...off the floor. I even had it on a designated thin non-skid kitty rug. Thinking that ball would know how to not roll off the rug, I guess? It didn't. It rolled under furniture, into other rooms.... along with the kibble that was left there. Fun! Ceramic slow feeders working better. I don't think you can respond to reviews but if anybody has any ideas on how to put a cat on a diet without being driven crazy by said cat, please help! Maybe I will try again after I have a butler, chef, maid and cat trainer, cuz I'm tired! The good news, I'm down 5 lbs!