Best Feeder
- PetSafe Smart Feed 2.0 Automatic Cat Feeder
Best Toy
- PetSafe Bolt Interactive Laser Cat Toy
Best Water Bowl
- Catit Flower Plastic Cat Fountain
You probably like getting your cat things if you’re’ a cat person. There are plenty of cute toys, scratching posts, and beds to get. It might seem like the only tech gadgets available for cats are laser pointers. However, these are certainly fun, they’re not your feline friend’s only tech gadget.
To help you find some of the best options, we’ve drawn up our list of the best tech gadgets for your cat in 2022.
Key Features
- RFID smart cat flap
- Comes with cutting template
- Solid door
Specifications
- Available sizes: 2
- Number of included tags: 1
- Number of supported tags: 5
The PetSafe Electronic SmartDoor is a smart cat flap that uses RFID tags to identify pets that should be allowed through the door. The door can be programmed to recognize up to five tags, though only one comes included. It features a weather-resistant design with a solid door. A switch inside the door allows you to manually lock or unlock the cat flap to keep your pet in or let them in if the battery runs out.
While this is a cool concept, it has a few issues. For one, the tags are relatively large, which isn’t ideal for smaller cats. The size is down to the inclusion of a battery making the tag active rather than purely passive. This also means that you need to change more batteries more often. The solid door is somewhat heavy and can slam down on the tail of a cat or dog passing through. There is also a fifteen-second delay between unlocking and locking again. This means there is a window when unauthorized animals may be able to leave or enter your home.
- Weather-resistant
- Can be locked and unlocked manually
- Excessive battery requirement
- Excessively large tags
- Can slam on long tails
- 15 second delay before locking
Key Features
- Won an innovation aware in 2020 as pet feeder/waterer product of the year
- Schedulable meal times
- Variable meal amounts
Specifications
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Alexa, Amazon Dash replenishment service
- Daily schedulable meals: 12
- Meal size: 1/8 cup – 4 cups
The PetSafe Smart Feed 2.0 Automatic Cat Feeder is an award-winning automatic cat feeder. It can automatically dispense meals between an eighth of a cup and 4 cups in size, up to 12 scheduled times a day. It also features a feed now button in case your cat is hungry or deserves a treat. An alternative model is available that splits the meal into two bowls, ideal for people with two cats, especially if one is protective of the food.
For those people with cats that eat too quickly, a slow feed setting is available that spreads the food dispensing out over 15 minutes. It also has dishwasher-proof parts to make it easy to clean. If you’ve got many cats, you may find the 24-cup capacity low enough to require regular refilling. Also, like most IoT products with Wi-Fi connectivity, the cheap Wi-Fi module doesn’t support 5GHz networks, which can complicate the setup process.
- An alternative version is available that can split meals for two pets
- Slow feed setting
- Snack/treat button
- Dishwasher proof
- Doesn’t support 5GHz Wi-Fi networks
- Only holds up to 24 cups
Key Features
- 3 water flow settings
- Petal top catches a small amount of water
- LED night light
Specifications
- Water capacity: 3L
- Colours available: 3
- Filter life time: 1 month
The Catit Flower Plastic Cat Fountain is an easily configurable water fountain for cats. Its design minimizes or eliminates open standing water, reducing the dust and hair that fall in and fouls the water. It features a water filter to help determine what contaminants get in. The design has three water flow methods. First, the water can simply flow over the dome with a bubbling center. Second, you can insert the flower stem to have a set of streams and a bubbling centre. If the bubbling center is an issue, you can add a flower topper that leaves just the streams.
It’s powered by USB and comes with a wall adapter. It has a three-liter capacity and comes with a window to let you see the water level easily. The LED night light probably isn’t that useful for the cats but can help prevent you from tripping over it in the dark. There are a few downsides. However, the filters are proprietary, which is annoying. The flow rate is also a little low, which prevents the entire dome from being smoothly covered in water.
- USB powered
- Water level window
- Water filters
- Requires proprietary water filters
- Relatively low flow rate
Key Features
- Laser toy
- Automatic mode
- Manual mode
Specifications
- Class II laser
- Shut off timer: 15 minutes
- Batteries: 4x AA
The PetSafe Bolt Interactive Laser Cat Toy is an automatic laser toy for cats. Once turned on, a mirror moves to move the laser point around the room. The toy will run automatically for fifteen minutes before turning off. It can also be used manually if you want to take over. The mirror angle can be adjusted for use from high surfaces or the floor.
It takes four AA batteries, which can last for months, depending on your usage. Unfortunately, the tall and narrow design makes it easy to knock over. Some information on the Amazon store page suggests that there are two different models, with a newer, inferior model now being sold. This model only moves the laser in circles rather than randomly as before. It also has a much louder motor sound.
- Long battery life
- Cheap
- Adjustable mirror
- Newer version is inferior to original and has contradictory information
- Automatic mode only moves in a circle
- Relatively loud
- Easy to knock over
Key Features
- Self-cleaning
- Odour containing
- Efficient use of litter
Specifications
- Suitable for up to 4 cats
- Up to 50% less litter used
- Optional Wi-Fi connectivity and app
The Litter-Robot 3 is a self-cleaning litter tray. It automatically senses when your cat has done its business, then waits a set amount of time and sifts through the tray to move the used litter to the waste tray. Sifting the litter is more efficient than scooping it by hand as less unused litter is thrown away.
An activated carbon filter helps to reduce odors from the waste tray. An optional accessory set includes a mat, stairs, and more. The single biggest issue with this item is the price, as it is costly. With the moving parts, it’s also more mechanically complicated than standard litter trays. So there is more potential for it to break.
- Can use any waste bag
- Optional accessory set
- Cat sensor
- Very expensive
- Moving parts are more likely to break
That was our roundup of the best tech gadgets for your cat in 2022. Have you recently bought a tech gadget for your cat? What sold you on it, and what has your experience been with it so far? Let us know down below.
600 bucks for a cat toilet. I’m glad mine just poop in the garden now.
PetSafe Bolt Interactive Laser Cat Toy
it’s a Class IIIa Laser Product, not Class II, not that safe as Class II