Smart beds for pets

[Catherine]

Quote:It would no doubt stop working if there was a power cut though or the water was turned off, as it is plugged into the mains electricity and water.

I think this is the real danger of automated pet feeders. The power can fail. Unless it has a built in back up battery, in the event of a power failure, the feeders would not dispense food.

The lack of human contact is bad. The fact that is can only dispense kibble is not good. It is the risk that it could fail all together that makes it a bad idea. A pet's life could be endangered by relying too much on technology. If it was used for a mid day feed and that was missed the pet will still be okay, not happy, but okay. However, knowing how people do foolish things, we can expect some person to go away and leave a pet with an automated dispenser for food for a number of days. It leaves the pet too vulnerable. Many things could go wrong. I would never want to trust a pet I love to machinery that could fail.