Where to begin? I purchased two - one for each cat since they have different dietary needs. One needed to be returned within a week. Great start.Whoever decided the programming method on this contraption was acceptable needs to be fired and banned from ever designing another consumer product. Petmate obviously chose the very cheapest conceivable design and it shows. These things keep horrible time, the three buttons to perform all functions are confusing and not easily pressed, and the programming is kludgy and buggy to say the lease. The minimum serving size is 1/4 cup and the maximum number of meals per day is 3. These limits are much too restrictive.At the time of purchase, there were no competing products on the market. Now I see a unit from ERGO for twice the price, which may be a ripoff but since it has better reviews I'm considering them.