PETLIBRO Automatic Pet Feeder: Cat Lid Flaw Fixed in New Model

Edit number three at the bottom This works fine if you do not have a food driven cat. And the company is very unresponsive. I would advise thinking long and hard. Its a great idea, but they are not learning nor fixing a several years long apparent issue, blaming smart cats, versus just putting in a decent latch. Not long after I got my youngest cat, my oldest cat developed bladder stones, and I had to put her on a prescription diet. The problem is she is a nibbler. While she only get a 1/12 of a cup at a time (in the machine) , she nibbles and doesn't eat the whole portion at one sitting, which is why I was driven to look for this. As food picky as he is, the younger one LOVED the nasty prescription diet. So I got the RFID feeder and it worked... at first. Now that he is a year older, he has figured out how to flip open the lid ( and from online questions this seems to be a big problem)> You see there is no real latch on the lid and it just slides shut, so he gets his claws under there and pops it right out, then eats all her food. Now I wrote the company, not asking for money back, but to advise and ask for advice. Rumor said they might have a better lid they would ship out. I would have eve paid for it. I got "send us a copy of the receipt, a number on the battery??, and video of the cat doing it." Well, I sent a copy of the receipt. And told them there was no way I was getting video. He isnt that dumb. He does it while I am asleep or at work. They still insist they NEED a video. I sent a picture. I have not heard back after several days. They KNOW this is a problem and yet they actively deflect it. I tried cardboard across the edge of the rim, but he rips that off too. I am going to try again with duct tape. I also have placed cat tape across the lower part but he thwarts that, and you cant use it on the upper half because it sticks. I think he has moved to grabbing the middle rubber gasket. So be prepared. While it is great for portioning and protecting from young dumb cats, it isn't that great for food motivated "smart" cats. Until they fix the lid problem I would not recommend this product. Edit: the next day. I did finally get a email back they are sending me something. So we will see. And I used a double thick cardboard duck taped to the heck, as a barrier across the lip so hopefully he cant rip that out easy. Will keep notified. Edit three: They actually sent me a whole new kit. The new model, and I even gave it a few months... but it is wonderful! They have a latch that works, and they got rid of the way for the cat to catch the gasket in their claws to open. I would highly recommend the new updated model!