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.
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.