I got one of these auto feeders at wal mart for like $4. It holds about a pound of food and is gravity fed. It is easy to clean (except that darn sticker that comes on the front) and works just as promised. I've always free fed and never had any issues but i would assume if you had an over eater in the house this wouldn't be a great choice, unless you put the pets entire food allowance for the day and let them chose when to eat it. This product is a good buy, cheap, durable (mines lasted through 4 years, and way too many cats)

Pros: Leaves out food for your hungry pets!

Cons: I guess they could eat too much

Cats should never be left alone for more than 24 hours at a time, and people are misguided when they think their cats are fine because they provided them with enough food. Sure it will feed them, but cats can become seriously, or fatally, ill within 24 hours. An automatic feeder does you no good in that case. If you love your pet, have someone check on your kitty at least once a day. They need the interaction, and it will provide you with more peace of mind than any automatic feeder will.

Pros: Convenience

Cons: Not good for your pet

Automatic feeders are a great way to provide a constant food source when you can't be there but it also allows us humans to be lazy and our animals to get overweight.

The feeder itself is a pretty basic design and works just as advertised. I do use it when I'm going to be gone for more than a day, but still prefer for my petsitter to come in and do the feeding whenever possible.

Pros: Convenient

Cons: Cats overeat

the only problem is that our cats gain weight because they think the other cats are gonna eat it all before them! so its gone within a day and a half

Pros: we use it when in a bind

Cons: cats don't know when to stop eating!

I had to go away for about three days, and I got the automatic feeder, which hold two pounds of food and left some extras just in case. The cats were fine, but I know they would not ordinarily eat that much, so I would only recommend it if going away. I did have peace of mind from using this product.

Pros: Works well, don't have too worry about cats going hungry

Cons: Cats tend to overreat