Anyone have any recommendations for a good automated pet feeder with good HA integrations? Preferably with an RTSP camera.
I suspect I will eventually need to just build my own (since the whole point of the camera is to make you use the app so that you eventually pay for premium), but wouldn’t mind spending 100-200 bucks to get something “now”.
From a quick google, it looks like there is a pretty good HACS for PetSafe. No camera, but so be it. But curious if I am missing something.
So I was looking at this, and was about to pull the trigger on this since this was decently regarded a few months ago and was inexpensive: https://www.aqara.com/us/product/smart-pet-feeder-c1 It integrates with Zigbee but does not have a camera.
However I decided against it. What happens if your HomeAssistant goes down, the feeder loses power, or the feeder’s sensors no longer function? If this is something that you’re wanting to use for long-term unattended food needs, I think you might want to reconsider. If this is something just to have during the day then it’s probably not an issue.
The model you linked seems to have a backup battery and supports scheduled feeding, so I wouldn’t worry about a HomeAssistant failure too much.
If the power goes out (and you have no UPSes or similar backups) or your entire infrastructure falls over, there is really no difference between having nothing. Same with if you decide to never refill the food hopper because you are an asshole.
Whereas, if things work, you have a nice tool to cover nights when you might not be home for whatever reason or to make things easier on friends checking in on your little buddy while you are out of town.
But hey, thanks for responding to a question about autoamted feeders with your misunderstanding of how animals are fed or what they are used for.
Also, the model you specifically looked at has a battery backup for exactly that reason
Why are you being an ass? I’m raising a serious concern in good faith that I’m hoping you have considered.
I have two cats that I sometimes leave at home for the weekend at times so I’m well aware of how to keep an animal fed. Battery backup doesn’t solve everything if the actual device malfunctions. My solution is to leave out an extra bowl of food and water just in case, in addition to their normal food/water dispensers. Granted, they do not have dietary restrictions on how much food to eat, so I recognize this isn’t the proper solution for everyone.
Not everything needs to be automated. But monitored? Sure.
You are the one who rolled up and accused someone of being a neglectful pet owner because they are looking for a quality of life improvement for their companion.
And you did that in the context of “What happens if this all fails and you just have a food bowl?” as though it were actually an argument.
Also: Not all animals are good at portion control. Some animals, particularly a lot of rescues, will hoover up that extra food bowl the moment they see it and get sick. That is WHY people get automated feeders. Same with portion control. Rather than dealing with a little fur baby climbing me while I am using the scales, I can just check to make sure there is food in the bowl a few minutes after feeding time and know that “close enough to” the appropriate portion has been dispensed.
Also: I know from experience that it is a lot better when a friend says “hey, can you check in on Fluffy in the evenings? Make sure it looks like she had food in her bowl and clean her box” rather than “Okay, dinner time is at 6 and if she doesn’t get that she will destroy the house. Also, she doesn’t like to eat when people are in the room so make sure you feed her, go downstairs to clean her other box, and then wait until she is done before you clean her main box”.
But hey, good to know you don’t like automation. That means you don’t have to respond to this thread. Rather than come in, throw shade, accuse others of being neglectful, etc.
There were no accusations against you in their post. Their comment pointed out something someone might not have thought of. If it doesn’t apply to you it doesn’t make it an attack. Posts don’t just disappear after you get answers, someone in the future might be looking for the same information and what they stated may be applicable to them.
The implication that people are just leaving these running and never checking in on anything is a pretty big accusation.
Similarly, it is also a stupid one. Because if the feeder stops working? Then you literally just have a really expensive food dish.
ALSO: Many of the gravity based ones with battery backups are designed to fail open rather than fail closed. The idea being that if a sufficiently low battery level is detected the gravity hopper just opens up and your furry friend eats until they vomit.
There is a way to point out flaws. Something like “Hey, be careful with the rotary kind. If they fail, your pet can’t even force open the latch to get more food”. Which still has implications of neglect, but is a much more polite version than
which is an accusation of neglect that also fundamentally misunderstands how these devices even work (or what their capacities are).
And while I will tolerate a lot of stupidity and ad hominem accusations of lying if someone thinks differently: I draw the line at being accused of animal neglect.
No, none of that is an accusation. They said you might consider. That’s a suggestion. You are reading into what they’re saying instead of taking what they said at face value.
The only one being disrespectful here is you. You’re telling them how they should state things so as not to upset you. Meanwhile you’ve been going off on them rather than respectfully disagreeing with their points.
Got it. By the way, next time you are setting up a camera, make sure to use Frigate so that you can turn it off in case a kid enters your bathroom.
I am providing respectful advice.
Thanks for the respectful advice that has nothing to do with the topic unlike theirs which was on topic in regards to pet feeders.
I’m not accusing you of neglecting your pets. I don’t know what your use case is. Some pet owners want to use smart pet feeders to monitor their pets eating habits for health reasons, others use them for portion control during the day, and there’s some folks who rely on them for dispensing food while they’re out of the house for a weekend. Depending on the pet, leaving them unattended for a couple days wouldn’t even begin to register as neglect.
Well, not necessarily. Depending on the device, it’s now a small and expensive food dish that may remain empty for a period of time. Some pets are trained to eat all of the dispensed food at their meal time, hence why I said if this is to be used for an extended period of time, consider a backup plan.
There is no implication of neglect even with calling this out. The failure modes of automated feeders are usually not very well documented and the mechanism used to dispense food is usually not even advertised with the feeders. Often the product photos will not show how the hopper mechanism operates either.
I apologize if my phrasing came across as trying to paint you as a neglectful pet owner, that was not my intent.
After messing around with a lot of different devices over the last decade, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of home automation products can be fickle and malfunction. I want to make sure people consider a “Plan B” for important devices. If the “Plan B” is to have a friend check every-so-often, then you have clearly thought about it.
Then maybe, just maybe, you don’t need to pop into a thread (on a board about home automation solutions) about someone asking for recommendations for a product that you don’t like? I don’t go into threads about crocs and tell people they are bad shoes. And I especially don’t then imply that they are bad parents if they haven’t had their children checked out by a podiatrist to see if they need additional support before even considering getting them a pair of shitty plastic clogs.
And if you still need to make sure your voice and “wisdom” is heard: Maybe don’t instantly assume everyone is a neglectful asshole? Because that mostly just speaks to your personal thought process.
The first thing in my comment was listing a product I looked into, strongly considered, noted it was reviewed fairly well, and pointed out a flaw that may lead it to be a dealbreaker in what you were looking for. The only information I could’ve included was an anecdote that a friend has been using this device successfully for a few months without issue.
I don’t know your experience level with home automation or home assistant. Handling failure modes is often, but not always, overlooked.