The Best Smart Pet Feeders

Lately, a new breed of pet feeders has made its way to the market. They offer the usual functions of giving treats and providing meals but have extra features to make your life as a pet parent easier.

You can check in on your pets while you're away, and interact with them to keep them from getting lonely and to keep them on their feeding schedule if you're delayed. In short, these new feeders deliver the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your pet is doing well.

Top pet feeders and treat dispensers

Here are our top picks for smart pet feeders — both those that deliver full meals and feeders that just offer treats.

Best overall: WOpet automatic pet feeder

WOpet's automatic pet feeder goes beyond meeting your basic needs — offering different serving sizes, the ability to schedule feedings at any time of day and remote access via your smartphone.  The WOpet smart feeder gives you more flexibility than other feeders: You can schedule up to four meals a day at any time you want, as well as start a manual feeding remotely. And you can determine the size of each meal in servings of between 1 and 10 portions of 24 ml each — a level of granularity not found in most feeders.

With this level of control, you can maintain your pet's regular eating habits when you're away instead of having to adjust to the limited preset intervals and portions of other pet feeders. And the app for creating the feeding schedule is easy to use.

The WOpet also comes with a 120-degree HD camera to record your pet and lets you play back pre-recorded messages at mealtime.

Hopper capacity: 17 cups

Food type: Dry

Serving options: 24 ml, up to 10 portions

Smart home compatibility: None

Scheduling: Up to 4 meals/day any time of day

Manual feeding: Available

Power: AC power adapter, 3 D batteries

Extras: Camera, voice, removable storage and feeding tray

Price: $129.99 on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

Best for wet food: Feed and Go smart pet feeder

Designing a wet food dispenser brings a unique set of challenges, the biggest of which is figuring out the best way to store the food without sacrificing freshness. Feed and Go has come up with a simple, if basic, solution — storing an ice pack underneath the food to keep it fresh.

Feed and Go designed their six-compartment (thus, six-meal) smart pet feeder with an airtight lid so that each eight-ounce meal, wet or dry, is kept fresh. There are no extra steps. You simply fill up the compartments and then replace the lid. You can also use the compartments for medication or treats.

Beyond meal dispensing, the Feed and Go has a built-in camera with 320 x 240 resolution, a voice recorder so you can prerecord yourself calling your pet to meals, and an app that lets you access the camera and schedule feeding time down to the minute.

As far as wet food dispensing goes, Feed and Go is currently the best you can get.

Hopper capacity: Six 23-ml compartments

Food type: Wet, dry

Serving options: 236 ml per compartment

Smart home compatibility: None

Scheduling: Any time of day

Manual feeding: No

Power: Power plug with USB cable

Extras: Camera

Price: $99.00 on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

Best design: PETKIT Fresh Element smart pet feeder

PETKIT Fresh Element's strength is in its design, both aesthetically, with its sleek, aqua-on-white casing, and mechanically, with its three-way self-adaptive wheel system. This system boasts an oscillating bar at the top to even out the food in the hopper, and a spring check-board and silicone impeller to distribute the output. These three things work together to prevent kibble from getting stuck inside and piling up. There's also a backup infrared sensor to ensure that food release follows the feeding plan.

Fresh Element has a weight sensor that tells you when the food quantity is low and a soft silicone sealing ring at the hopper door to keep the food fresh. A sensor at the outlet door makes sure it doesn't shut if your pet's paw or nose is at the opening. And the app lets you customize your pet's meal schedule and portions.

Hopper capacity: 6.78 liters

Food type: Dry

Serving options: 24-960 ml per meal

Smart home compatibility: None

Scheduling: Any time of day

Manual feeding: Yes

Power: Power plug, 4 D batteries

Extras: Removable bowl, low quantity alert

Price: $199.00 on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

Best for cats: Petdiary Automatic Cat Feeder

If you’re looking for a smart feeder with smaller portion sizes, Petdiary Petwant has you covered. You can schedule meals and snacks in sizes as small as 12ml up to six times per day or dispense food at any time with the Petwant app.

The feeder is generally pet-proof, including a locking top lid, to prevent your pet from overfeeding. And cleaning is easy: the lid, hopper and bowl are all top-shelf dishwasher-safe.

Hopper capacity: 2.8 liters

Food type: Dry

Serving options: 12-60 ml per meal

Smart home compatibility: None

Scheduling: Up to 6 per day plus remote feeding anytime

Manual feeding: Yes

Power: Power plug, 3  D batteries

Extras: Removable bowl, low quantity alert

Price: $99 on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

Best for playing with your pet: Petcube Bites

There's a lot of fun to be had when you've got Petcube's Bites. Set it on a stable surface or mount it on a wall (mounting accessories are included), and this treat dispenser will help you and your pet reconnect when needed. After all, Petcube was started because founder Alex Neskin wanted his chihuahua to feel less lonely and anxious while he was at work.

Petcube Bites' main function is to dispense treats whenever you want. With its feature-rich app, you can activate this pet feeder's 1080p HD video camera with 138° wide-angle view and night vision as well as its two-way audio to check in on your furry friends, get their attention or just let them know you're thinking about them. You can even record photos and videos to your heart's content.

To give out some well-deserved goodies, just swipe your finger to tell the treat dispenser to work its magic. A cool feature is that you can fling the treats up to six feet away in arcs of varying degrees, which is amazingly useful when you've got several pets and you want to spread the wealth.

Petcube Bites is also Alexa-compatible, which means you can enable the app on your Amazon Echo and, when you're at home and feeling lazy, have Alexa deliver the treats. Add more functionality by pairing it with the Petcube Play, which not only comes with HD video and two-way audio but also has an interactive laser. And if that isn't enough, you can connect to the Petcube network so you can play with and "visit" other users' pets.

It's well built, effective and one of the best. Your dogs and cats will never be lonely again.

Container capacity: 100 treats

Food type: Treats

Serving options: Several pieces, depending on treat size

Smart home compatibility: Amazon Alexa

Scheduling: None

Manual feeding: Any time of the day

Power: Power plug

Extras: Camera, removable container, two-way audio

Price: $149.99 on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

Best for dog-driven play: Furbo Dog Camera

If you're looking for a way to connect with your canine friend throughout the day, the Furbo Dog Camera is a great option to consider.  It has a wide-angle HD camera with a 4x zoom, night vision and two-way audio, so you can see what's going on and communicate with your pet.

Smart Dog Alerts notify you when your dog is active, when she's facing the camera or when a human is nearby. It also has a sensor that detects and will send you an alert when your dog barks. You can customize this feature according to your preference so you don't get inundated with alerts.

Additionally, the Furbo works with Alexa, so you can do some hands-free treat-tossing when you're at home or schedule one before you leave.

Container capacity: 100 treats

Food type: Treats

Serving options: One per toss

Smart home compatibility: Amazon Alexa

Scheduling: Any time of day

Manual feeding: No

Power: Power adapter with USB cable

Extras: Camera, Smart Dog Alerts, barking alerts, two-way audio

Price: $199.00 with coupon on Amazon (as of 5/14/2018)

[Image credit: WOpet, Feed and Go, PETKIT, Petdiary, Petcube, Furbo