There’s nothing quite like a sharp paw at the head and the off-pitch crooning of a cat one-inch from your face to start the day. I would know, I made the mistake of spoiling my two ginger cats for the last five years, and they now expect their breakfast at a precise 5:00am. Thebest smart homeproducts create solutions to practical problems, and this past month, I finally tried out an automatic pet feeder after years of cat slaps, meows, and bleary-eyed mornings. The Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder gave me the gift of sleeping-in over the past few weeks andpeace of mind while travelingcross-country.
Prior to working remotely, my schedule (and the cats) demanded an early rise to start my commute, which aided in training the pair of howlers for early mornings. Between its thoughtful materials and design, and a straightforward and useful companion app, the Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder got this cat lady on board toinvest in my sleepand my pets – a win-win solution.
Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder
The Polar Wet Food Feeder from Petlibro allows for automated delivery of wet food for cats. It includes a smartphone app for meal management, keeps food cold and fresh for up to 72 hours, and holds three days of meals in its rotating dish tray.
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Price, availability, and specs
The Polar Wet Food Feeder is available from Amazon and the Petlibro website and retails for $130 from both, with regular discounts to be found on Petlibro’s site.
What I liked about the Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder
Easy entry to smart home products
First off, my cats used the Polar Feeder, so that’s genuinely the best thing about it. It took them about a week-and-a-half to acclimate to the Polar feeding them instead of me or my partner. Don’t worry: They still get more attention than any animal could ever want, but now it’s during my preferred waking hours, instead of 5:00am. I was concerned they wouldn’t like their food cold, but the Polar Feeder stops cooling a dish 30 minutes before serving it, allowing it to get closer to the ideal temperature for my cats.
While the Polar Feeder is a first generation product, it does the job well. Petlibro designed the dishes with feline whiskers, height, and feeding in mind, providing wide and shallow bowls. I like knowing that the device is keeping the food stored cold to prevent bacteria growth.
Setup is absurdly simple: Plug the Polar Feeder into the electricity, open the lid, place food in the trays, and download the app. The materials feel and look premium. While it’s a larger presence than two small food bowls, I think it looks nice in my kitchen and I appreciate the thoughtful design. Even the wired cable has a threaded fabric covering which feels luxurious for a cat feeder.
Petlibro app set up and advice to train your cats to use the feeder
The Polar Feeder is a straightforward product that doesn’t rely on sophisticated smart home integration and settings to use. Download the Petlibro app, input or create your credentials and add the Polar Feeder to your account. From here you’re able to set a meal schedule. I added one meal time and repeated it, but you can make each day a different time if you choose to. You can also share the device with another user, which I did with my partner, so we can both manage meal times. Sharing feeding responsibilities is as easy as the other person downloading the Petlibro app, creating their own set credentials, and then you sharing the device with their account.
My favorite aspect is the feeding log on the app. It tells you how many visits and for how long your pet ate that day. This was really helpful when I recently traveled across the country and wanted to ensure my cats were actually eating.
This will depend on your cat, but my advice to train your cat is to use the product without plugging in the Polar Feeder for a couple of days. Open the lid and feed your cat normally from the tray inside for the first two to three days. Then turn it on, close the lid, and start implementing the smart schedule, but perhaps instead of the recommended one-hour feeding time, make it four hours for the first week, and gradually move it closer to one-hour until all parties are comfortable.
Thanks to this gadget, I could enjoy my last trip without fretting over my cats
The Petlibro Dockstream tracks your feline’s daily water intake and sends the data to your phone.
What I didn’t like about the Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder
First-generation product will likely see improvements down the line
This may be obvious from the photos, but the Polar Feeder is likely meant for one cat, making the $130 price point a bit steep if you have multiple pets. However, to give Petlibro credit where it is due, my cats did share the feeder well as it held a good amount of food. I used to split one small can for them for breakfast, and now I put the whole thing in at once and one cat eats half, then the other pops in for her turn. So this will likely depend on your cat’s appetite and how you have trained them around food.
For me, smart home products should genuinely make an annoying task easier for an everyday consumer, and not require a ton of tech know-how to operate. The Petlibro app is simple to set and forget… for three days that is. I wish it had five dishes to better accommodate longer travel, but given the attempts to keep the size relatively small while balancing a cat-friendly dish design of wide, shallow, and elevated bowls, it’s understandable why Petlibro went with three dishes.
For pet parents who prefer more smart features, you may be disappointed by the simple app options available for the Polar Wet Food Feeder. Other Petlibro products, such as the company’s dry food feeders, have more options as they have more integrated technology, like cameras for live viewing, recording, and night vision, or microphones for two-way talk. I already have a dry feeder with a 4K camera and two-way talk that includes all the bells, whistles, and then some, so for my household, the simplified product is preferred. Additionally, the Petlibro app is an all-in-one management hub for their products, so you’re able to have multiple devices all under one app. Unfortunately, my other feeder is not a Petlibro product, so I now have two apps for feeding cats… which feels a bit silly.
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Should you buy the Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder?
If it’s within your budget, then yes, I recommend the Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder. The biggest check mark in the pro column for me is that my cats actually use it and seem to like it. I could barely get a photo of them using it without my cat Fred’s face buried in the dish chowing away. The wide, elevated, and shallow bowl design is comfortable for them to eat out of and, thankfully, they are both used to sharing, so it works for both of them, despite there being only one main dish to eat from. Depending on how much you value your sleep and how loud your pets are in the morning, the $130 price tag is 100% worth it.
