I bought this at least 4 years ago, still works exactly as I program it. We have 2 cats and to keep their diet regular we use 3 small servings a day. The hyper skinny cat gets their first and eats his fill before the fat slow one. This resulted in the hyper cat getting a but of meat and the fatty losing some weight and showing a bit more energy when she hears the feeder go off. It sounds mean but it's helped them quite a bit. We use to just fill up the bowl everyday....one got fat and slow while the skinny one would eat until he threw up knowing once fatty got to it there'd be none left. then the fat one ate everything else and slept all day. Thus helped a lot and both cats seem happier and the fat one even plays more now. Portion control is key. Only downside is having to use battery's (x3 D battery)