If you have a slow-eating cat like Pierre, you may leave food down for him all the time just to be sure that there’s food waiting when he decides to eat a few more bites. Unfortunately, most people who leave food out for hours on end opt to use dry food because they think it doesn’t go bad as fast. The problem is that dry food isn’t good for your cat.
When our friends at SureFlap offered to let us test their sealed pet bowl that closes over the contents of the bowl to keep it fresh, we thought this could be the answer to the dilemma of keeping food fresh for slow eaters, so we had to check it out.
Why is Moist Food Important?
First, let’s talk moisture. Your cat needs it to keep from getting dehydrated, and the older your cat is, the more likely your cat needs even more of it.
Here’s part of the contents label from a bag of dry food. Check out the moisture content:
Now here’s the moisture content of a can of cat food I had on the shelf of Pierre’s canned food. That’s a lot more moisture!
A cat eating dry food has to drink a lot of water to offset the lack of moisture content in his food, and a lot of them don’t keep up with the necessary water intake. Cats eating canned food are getting it as part of their dinner!
So… why do so many people feed kibble? In a lot of cases, it comes down to convenience, and I get that, believe me! When I first tried feeding canned food to my cats, it sat around a long time, and it ended up looking like this.
Did you say yuck when you saw the brownish dried-out parts? Me too! Cats aren’t big fans of it, either. If your cat is a slow eater and prefers to eat a little now and a little later (I’m looking at you, Pierre), this can be a real problem, and it’s part of the reason that a lot of people abandon the idea of feeding canned food and go back to dehydrating kibble.
Keeping Moist Food Fresh with the SureFeed Sealed Pet Bowl
What if you had a butler who would stand next to your cat’s bowl and put some cling wrap over it when your cat walked away and then took it back off so that the food was nice and moist when your cat was hungry for another bite or two in a little while?
I’m totally not going to tell you about that, because I have never had a butler, and if I ever do, I have some other tasks for him first. But even better than a butler is a bowl that will do the same thing for you 24 hours a day. That’s what I found with the SureFeed sealed pet bowl when Pierre tried it out. It comes with a bowl that has a silicone lip around the top and then a battery-powered bowl with motion sensors on three sides.
It’s pretty neat because it opens up when it sees your cat approach, and it closes tight again. Just watch. (If the video below doesn’t display for you, view directly on YouTube)
As you can see, this bowl doesn’t limit access to only one cat, so you would want to use it in a situation where all of your cats are eating the same diet. (SureFeed does make a bowl that limits access to a single cat. More about that here.)
The bowl has a training mode where the door only has limited motion so that you can gradually get your cat accustomed to something on their bowl moving like that. Since Pierre has been eating from a SureFeed microchip bowl for about eight months, we didn’t have to go through the introduction process for this bowl, but he learned in less than a week with his previous bowl using the same gradual process.
I did notice that this bowl is very quiet. When Pierre finishes eating and steps away from his usual bowl, I’m accustomed to hearing it from all the way at my desk in the next room, but the SureFeed sealed pet bowl is so quiet I couldn’t hear it from a room away.
SureFeed Sealed Pet Bowl Really Does Keep Moist Food Fresher
I was kind of skeptical about how well the SureFeed sealed pet bowl worked to keep food fresh. I mean, how sealed could that hinged top really be? So I put half a can of cat food on a saucer and the other half in the SureFeed bowl, then I left it in my spare bathroom.
You may remember we wrote before about Newton and Pierre objecting to a closed door in the house, and some of you wondered what was behind the door. Those photos were of frustrated kitties who could smell the food in the open saucer for nine hours while it was sitting in the bathroom for this test. Cats have an amazing sense of smell, so maybe the two of them could smell the food inside the sealed SureFeed bowl, too, but I can’t smell it when the bowl is closed. That led keeps in smells and keeps flying insects out when it is shut since it sits snugly over the bowl against the silicone lip of the bowl.
So how did the SureFeed bowl do for keeping the food fresh? You can see that the food left on the plate for hours had dark, crusty parts from exposure to the air, while the food that spent that time closed in the SureFeed sealed feeder still looked moist and fresh.
I was surprised at how fresh the food looked, since I expected it to look a little worse for wear, but the bowl sealed it up really well.
Fresher food has to be healthier for slow-eating cats, so that’s a paws-up win for everyone.
FTC Disclosure: We were compensated to review the SureFeed sealed pet bowl. The opinions in this review are our own and not influenced by any outsider. We receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.
I saw one of those at the Cat Style Lounge at BlogPaws! I thought it was a little bit strange. especially since there was candy, not cat food in it!
Mommy saw this bowl at BlogPaws and thought it looked really interesting!
that is interesting….though usually there aren’t too many leftovers in this house 🙂
That is *such* a good idea!!! Mudpie is a really slow eater, and not a huge fan of wet food anyways, so I’m always trying to find ways to keep her leftovers from crusting over while still leaving them accessible to her.
And now we’ve solved the mystery of what was behind that closed door 🙂
I saw this at BlogPaws too, and it’s super quiet! Seemed very well-made also. This would be perfect for my boys since they are slow eaters too.
guys….how….kewl….iz……thiz !!! manee thanx for sharin; thiz iz
for sure a bowl we will bee lookin in two….N de best part; NOE CORDZ
for sum one { tuna } ta chew. we all R big time fanz oh canned; N yea, we
noe eggs act lee what cha mean bout “cruncheez” …best fishes two all
in the contest 🙂 ♥♥♥
This looks really great. My cats will sometimes wait a couple of hours to eat and the food looks nasty. 😛
I typically give my cats mostly dry food because neither of them eats wet food fast enough. It sits in the bowl and gets all crusty and dry. Having a bowl like this would give me the option of feeding them more wet food.
Wow, this looks like a terrific bowl for my wet cat food! I’m glad that Pierre likes it so much – I think that I would also!
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs, Spike William
This is amazing, I never knew something like this exsisted…. this is a money savor considerin I have very finicky cat who won’t eat if it’s not just right
Elliott says he’d love one of those since he is a slow eater, but with the two little vacuums here it would never work. Mom has to stand guard to make sure those two don’t run El and Caroline from their dinners (even though they are allowed to eat on the counter for just that reason).
What a smart idea! Most of fosters get 100% wet food and it makes their coats super shiny. This would keep their food fresh for longer, a money saver!
This looks awesome!! My cat would just love this & I would love this for him 🙂
That is very cool and we might have to look into one of those!
That looks like a great contraption. I like to nibble my food just a little bit at a time.
Shadow and Sarah
That would work great in our house because they never finish all at once and keep coming back to check on the ‘leftovers’.
How do you think it would do against ants?
You know, we currently have ants coming out of an impossibly tiny hole in our bathroom tile grout. So it’s hard to expect anything to be ant-proof. It definitely cuts out odors, which are an ant attractant, and it would slow down ants. I am not sure whether it would stop then entirely or not.
I would love to try this for my old guy to get more wet food in him!
Interesting ! We have no left over since we’re fed raw, though. Purrs
That is a good idea. Flynn has his food down all the time as he only eats a few mouthfuls at a time but needs to keep eating. I am forever throwing out food that has hardly been touched.
We’re all slow eaters here so we really could use 3 of those bowls. You should see our food after a few hours. But y’know what? We’ll still eat it!
Rats! The Rafflecopter isn’t coming up for us…we’ll try to remember to come by later to enter.
That looks perfect for Minchie!
I LIKE my food with a srust on it. I don’t understand why TW takes it away when it’s so yummy. Sometimes she does cover it with plastic wrap when I refuse to sniff my gut rot for lunch while telling me that it’s gonna be my dinner. I’m glad you mentioned that it’s quiet cos I don’t like things that make noise.
That is a great idea. Snowball needs this, she eats very slow and we need to keep Sammy away from her food.
Wow, this sounds amazing. I am wondering if Rosie would think it’s a toy seeing it open and close or possibly be afraid of it. I would definitely like to try it out.
Would love to try this for the wet food because of fly’s and my Cornish Rex female will only eat a little food at a time so this way she can eat when she wants.
Never heard of this before but it’s a great idea. I feed my cat both wet and dry and while he loves both types, he’ll only eat the wet food right when he’s fed and will never go back to it as it doesn’t stay fresh.
This is very interesting. I am wondering how long wet cat food can be at room temperature and not spoil?
I feed a very slow eater who gets only gets wet food so I put down small amounts about 6 or more times a day. It works for me because I am at home but I have wondered how he will do when we have to have a sitter feeding him if we have to be away.
So, how long to you think wet food might be safe from spoiling in one of these? I will check with the makers of his brand of food and see if they can give me an idea.
Thanks for featuring this. I’d love to try one.
Lily
I checked a couple of places online and it seems that some wet cat food can be left at room temperature, depending somewhat on how warm the room is, for around 4 hours. I think different ones might vary and will still check the makers of our brand.
Thanks again,
Lily
Holy kibble! My problem with wet food (besides that Bear has to free feed otherwise he scarfs food down) is the protein content. Even a superior wet food isn’t going to reach 20% protein. Bear’s kibble has 42%. You are spot on about moisture – ESPECIALLY for neutered males. Bear actually drinks quite a bit (he always has – I hawk over that to watch out for symptoms of diabetes) – so I’m lucky on that count. I do give him a treat of 1/4 of a 5.5oz can of wet food every day too. I like this product – beyond the protein issue, the biggest reason I haven’t switched is the issue of keeping it fresh. I’d be interested to try it!
This is really interesting! I’ve never seen anything like this before.
The article says the contest closes July 5th but the contest page says June 25th. I hope it’s still open I’d love one for my cats, both grazers.
I would like to win this for my son’s cat who likes his food fresh at all times.
This would be a dream in our house for 2 kitties with special needs who are on a wet food only diet and are grazers when it comes to eating. Thank you thank you for featuring this product, as we had no idea a perfect solution for a long time problem for us existed! We can always count on our wonderful kitty blogs to let us know important and helpful things to benefit our fur babies lives for the better.
email we are signed up with and use for newsletter etc: beth.emmons@ymail.com
Sadie & Austin could really use this! They often will leave some food for later, but it’s all dried out and gross by the time they come back 🙁
This is really nice. To keep Husani’s food fresh and ant free. This is a great feeder, I am very picky so I know I wouldn’t dare eat anything that looked dehydrated and nasty. All good Cat Parents should get one.
My permacats are slow eaters as well, and this would come in really handy. Plus I would imagine it would be helpful in keeping the flies off in the summertime. 🙂
We’re slow eating our wet food too. What a creative way to keep it fresh.
I would love to get this for our new rescue Batty!!!
I have never seen this before, this looks AWESOME! I especially have a hard time keeping my cat’s wet food fresh considering he saves it for later all of the time. This is such a great idea, i’m going to have to look more into it!
meow!
I make my cat’s food and it is definitely moist – the morning’s are no problem, he guzzles that stuff down and licks the bowl clean but in the evening he prefers to eat little bits at a time over a few hours.
This would be a great help to keep the food from drying out (because once it gets too dry, my cat wants no part of it) 😀
thanks!
This is cool. I love it!
This is a great idea. I have six cats and some need less than others. So smart.
My cat finishes his can food pretty quick but my dog wants food only when she wants it. It would work for my Yorkie if I can keep my GSD away from it.
We have a dog that overeats and this is just what the vet ordered!
This is a great product. I never heard of it and am so glad that I read this review!
Never saw this before. Would be very handy, although the 6 cats would probably wear it out!
I would love for my boys to try this’ Thanks for the chance 😻😻
This is a great idea. My sister’s cat never seemed to want to eat her moist food after it was out for more than an hour or so. I bet she would if she had this bowl!
This is a miracle product! Chloe loves the wet food that has some gravy in it and it gets so gross if she doesn’t eat it all right away. Then she comes back crying for fresh food later because she wants the normal gravy again – I waste so much.
what a seriously neat bowl! i have never heard of these definitely would be great for my kitty!
I think this is great and unique, I am going to look into this more for my fur babies
this bowl is really cool. i would be awesome.
Very good idea. I hate wasting the food.
This is cool, but would not solve our problem with the dogs trying to share the cat food!
With having only 1 older adult cat in my house it seems the moist food always dries up before my Trouble can even eat the whole can throughout the day. This would be my answer to the problem.
my little mags would love this thank you great giveaway such a great prize
What a great idea. This would be great fr my cat, Cowboy
I can’t stand the idea of insects lingering around the cats’ food. This device has a lot of appeal.
Not crazy about bugs being around the pet food. This would come in handy.
This is an interesting idea. My cat gobbles his dry in the morning but the wet that he gets in the evening he grazes for hours. I would be interested in trying this for him.
This would be awesome to win for my Bootsie she has chronic kidney disease and has to take meds 3 times a day along with needing wet food and this would be nice to help me keep from throwing so much of the wet food away and which helps big time since her meds can get expensive.
I would love to win this.
This would be great! I would love to have this. I have 4 cats! They are my babies and are spoiled rotten. I have not seen these yet.
This is such a great pet bowl. I love how it keeps their food fresh.
This is such an amazing invention! This would be great for my cats
This looks great, I think my mother in law would go nuts over it for her 2 kitties.
This is something I could use daily with my three little ladies. Thanks for sharing and I hope I win!!
What a wonderful bowl! It would be great to have one!
I love this product! The design is awesome and it will be very useful in my home.
Stella needs this for her food!
This would be perfect for my little dog. She is very picky with what and when she eats and we end up with so much wasted wet food because of it drying out.
Great idea! I sometimes feel that may whole day is spent putting small dishes of cat food out.
I really wish that the company that makes this would alter their mircochip ones to have openings that were geared towards the size of the cat. I want one of those but I know that the front opening is too wide and my other cat will just come in and push his way through. Therefore, I’m getting this model and will keep it in a closed room where I will only let my slow eater into.