Automatic feeder so you can leave dog alone for 8 days :-(?

Question

Is this product disturbing to anyone else?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4875658

It's an automatic feeder that will feed your dog for 8 days. Do you think there are people who are leaving their dog alone with this gizmo for 8 days and hoping everything works out okay?

SCARY!!!

Answer 1

Yes...that's pretty scary. To think people would leave thier dogs alone for 8 days! I think it's probably more for people who want to make thier life a little easier...the auto feeder is there so they don't have to think about feeding them! That's a little scary in itself too! I love feeding my dogs...they get so excited and I love to have that interaction with them.

Answer 2

I would say up to 4 days is okay. Get an automatic waterer and one or two automatic feeders, like you said. Just make sure there's enough food. Cats are pretty good about eating a little bit each day if you leave a bunch out. A dog would eat it all in one day and starve the next 3 LOL.. If it's more than 4 days, or regardless, you can pay a neighbor/neighbor kid that you trust 5 or 10 bucks to check in on it, or feed it once or twice while you're gone. kids always like an easy fiver. Oh, and totally change the litter the day you leave, so it's spanking clean. That way up to 4 days should be okay.

Answer 3

I saw that earlier and wondered the same thing!

I just assumed the product was made for cats, though. I hope no one in their right mind would seriously leave a dog alone like that. I wouldn't even leave a cat alone for more than a day or two.

I really hope the people that buy that product are not reproducing....very scary, indeed!

*Edit....Lol! You can tell who owns a lab! I saw the person comment on the lab eating everything. That's exactly where my mind went too....No way could I leave that thing unattended with my dog! I didn't even consider that this feeder was used for something other than leaving your dog alone for extended lengths of time.

Answer 4

While this is a novel idea, it says all the wrong things about being a responsible owner. Leaving your dog alone for more than a week without social contact or exercise is a recipe for disaster! If it broke the dog would be starving, and when you got home you would find a very sick dog.
The best thing would be to find a quality kennel to board her while you are away, or have someone watch over her and feed her every day. This does scare me to know that people might be using this product on extended vacations. Cheers!

Answer 5

My first thought on seeing it is that it would be really handy.

Anyone who is willing to leave their pet alone for 8 days is going to do it anyway.

For responsible owners though, this could be a lifesaver. I work 12 hour days at one job, another one randomly and my wife works varying schedules each week. This would allow us to give a more stable eating time for the dog, and also to give him 4-8 smaller meals during the day instead of 2 larger ones.

Its a great product that can be abused easily just like a prong collar.

Answer 6

It would be ideal for an older person with back problems. They just have to fill it up once every 8 days. I think it would be handy for them.

And maybe somebody would leave their dog alone for 8 days and rely on it. People are crazy. But it's not the feeder's fault if it is used by a crazy person. ANYTHING can be dangerous to a dog. A person could easily strangle their dog with a simple leash but I don't see anyone freaking out over leashes. So no, it's not scary to me. The only thing that scares me is abusive owners.

Answer 7

OMG!!! I HAVE one of these...and I just found out that I OVERPAID for MINE!!!!!

We have a dog that had intestinal issues last year. The solution...after much diagnostics at Cornell...was to feed many small meals. Eight was the magic number when we found this!!! It is really hard to fed a dog at eight evenly spaced times aver a 24 hour period!!!! He ate EVERY 4 hours around the clock!!!!!!! I was not going to get up at all hours to feed him, so this was a great solution!!!!!! We did this for 6 months, and slowly decreased the number of meals and increased the food amount. He is now back to two meals a day and everything is GREAT!!!!!! This was quite a life saver!

That being said.....I DOUBT this was made for that reason. We did loan it to the neighbors when they went away recently. We were "dog sitting" for them but the dog will only eat for them and won't touch it when we were there, so we set it to feed her and hour before we came in the morning and an hour before the eve walk. Worked really well!!!!!

This has it's place....not surely NOT for leaving a dog for 8 days!!!!

Answer 8

I don't think any responsible person living with a dog or a cat would leave them home alone for 8 days.

Though it does look like a nifty little machine for those who are super busy (which if you are too busy to feed your dog yourself, then you are too busy to be living with a dog) or those who maybe have a change in schedule but don't want to mess up the dog's eating time...

Answer 9

That product looks like it would be for cats and not so much for dogs, cats you can leave for a few days as long as they have a litter box they are fine. I'd never leave my dogs alone for days, can you imagine the mess you'd come back to??

Answer 10

I hope not, especially for Labs. They're ominvores and will eat themselves to death if left with an unlimited supply of dog food. Perhaps if the dog had a nice fenced in back yard and a comfortable dog house with plenty of water...I suppose they'd be ok. However, most dogs like people and need companionship. 8 days is a long time no matter how you slice it.