Features:

  • ENRICHMENT: Watch your cat's natural instincts come alive as she chases the SlimCat across the floor
  • EXERCISE: Combines mealtime with exercise to improve weight loss and fight obesity
  • PERSONALIZATION: Convenient adjustable openings work for many kibble sizes and allow you to control how quickly your cat gets her food
  • IMPROVE DIGESTION: Great for eager eaters; SlimCat distributes meals into several smaller portions so dinner is easier on your cat's stomach
  • VERSATILITY: Can be used for fun with treats or as a daily feeder
  • DISHWASHER SAFE: Top rack only
  • HERE TO HELP: Call, email or chat with our expert U.S.-based Customer Care specialists six days a week; they are ready to assist you and your pet with your product needs
  • EXPERIENCE: PetSafe brand has been an industry-leading U.S. manufacturer of pet behavior, containment and lifestyle products since 1991, helping millions of people and pets each year
  • Distributes an adjustable amount of food as your cat plays
  • Helps your cat fight obesity and maintain optimum height
  • Can be filled with treats or meals
  • Improves cat's digestion by feeding several small portions
  • Fun source of play and exercise
Awesome food ball

I got this for my cat because he eats very fast and then is hungry right away. He is also very lazy. As other reviewers have mentioned it took my cat a few days to get the hang of it. I also mix food so he has easy (round) and hard shapes (ones with edges) to get out. Sometime I also put treats in here and not his full meal. I would recommend this product! & already have :)

Food ball w/Training tips

We are going on vacation this summer and our cat sitter will stop by twice a day to tend to our cats, so we needed a toy that will stimulate the cats while everyone is out of the house. The ball was easy to fill and adjust to the food flow desired. I bought a hamster loop track to keep the ball contained in one area. I also placed clear packing tape over the top & bottom of the track so the food doesn't fall through the bottom and is easy to wipe clean. One cat figured out how to push the ball around to get the food out and our other cat needed more training. I put some of their favorite treats in the ball with their dried food for more enticement. I put their favorite toys in the center of the loop, so if our cat bumps the ball getting the toy, then food would fall out and that encouraged them to push or pat the ball around more. Our cats are not food driven, but one likes to be feed at a certain time and likes to graze throughout the day and this snack ball is working well with them with a little training. This ball fits in the size of my hand, holds about a cup of food and is easy to clean, albeit it needs to air dry, since you can't wipe inside the door slide mechanism. I would buy again with another hamster ball track, definitely!

Make chubby feline work for his dinner

Slimball + Hamtrac = happier, healther cat. My chubby cat can now eat whenever he wants, but he has to work for it. To keep the ball from getting stuck under furniture, I put it on a foil-lined Hamtrac. Super Pet Run-About Hamtrac.

The videos showed a frisky cat happily chasing this through the house

The videos showed a frisky cat happily chasing this through the house. My cat figured out that she can just lay there and bat at it, occasionally scooping a piece of food into her mouth, like a giant, smarter-than-average blob. Oh well. The one good note is that she is usually too lazy to try to get all the food out, so she isn't scarfing down the kibble at the alarming rate she used to, and since we use this as her "breakfast," she has something to do all day. She eats high-protein, soft food for dinner, so it's not exactly like she needs kibble anyway. But our vet recommended we give it a try, and after about four months she actually has lost a little bit of weight. I am now contemplating buying one of these for myself! (haha)

Cat approved

My cat really seems to like it. We use it strictly for treats. Specifically kittles by wellness. He took to it right away and sometimes if we forget it on the floor he double checks to see if it has been refilled. I like the simple but effective way to change the size of the openings. His current favorite treats are quite small and the ball was easily adjusted. Overall a good purchase. No complaints from kitty!

Comparison between PetSafe SlimCat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser and Northmate Catch Interactive Feeder for Cats

Cute, inexpensive, and works well! I got this as well as the Northmate Catch Interactive Feeder for Cats, and here are the comparisons between the two for my cat (results may vary since cats are not all the same). My cat likes the PetSafe food dispenser ball better (maybe because it's easier), and will always use that one first until it's empty. He will empty that one within about 10-30 min. The more expensive Northmate however is great since he will use it for only 5 minutes at a time before walking away and doing something else. Since he only can get out one kibble at a time, he doesn't get too many in a 5 min session, which means that he takes probably 5 - 10 sessions before emptying it totally. This makes it last much longer, which has helped considerably in preventing him from meowing and waking me up too early in the morning for food. The Northmate is also much easier to refill if you're in a rush in the morning. You just dump the scoop of kibble in there, and you're on your way. The food dispenser ball takes rotating the holes closed for filling, opening it, then rotating to get the optimal hole dimensions again, then setting back down. It can be a bit tricky to get just the right size opening for the kibble to make it challenging enough. Since my cat really likes the ball, I usually split his food evenly at dinnertime between the two food puzzles, and give him food just in the Northmate in the mornings. The Northmate wins in both ease for me and difficulty for the cat. It takes longer for him to empty it, which spreads his food out better and keeps him from being whiny around meal times. I like having both products though to switch things up, and he definitely loves the food ball and is cute when using it. We'll continue using both for more variety and stimulation.

Cool idea for fat cats that eat too much, too fast

My fat cat managed to get a few pieces of food out within 1 minute; then she decided it was too much work and walked away to go sit in front of her food dish! I will not give up! My plan is to feed using this exclusively -- since my cat has proven she can get the food out. She's just gonna have to work for her food from here on out! She needs to lose about 5 pounds, and is guilty of eating so fast her food comes right back up. I had put her on the Iams Sensitive Stomach formula, but as her vet says: it wasn't the food at fault -- it's her eating too much, too fast. Anyway -- I love this food dispensing toy even if my cat is skeptical and lazy. Give her a couple days and she too will be a pro at this thing! (fingers crossed) UPDATE: Big hit. My cat mastered this device well and has lost more than a pound of weight so far. I fill this up with her portion size for morning and fill it again in the evening. Now she looks to the toy for her food instead of crying and tripping me for meal times. My vet recommends this now for cats who eat too fast and vomit. After some pretty heavy usage (my cats bangs this against wall to facilitate quicker food dispensing) it has not broken!!!! February 2018 update: My cat has about reached her desired weight. And this thing hasn't broken yet -- and let me assure you -- my cat gives this feeding ball a rough work-out!!! I don't think my cat has vomited after eating more than 2 or 3 times since I bought this amazing feeding ball 8 months ago! If it breaks tomorrow, I will replace. I am sold on this amazing product!

Smart and lazy cats won't benefit from the full features of this product

Welp, my fat cat has officially mastered the laziest way possible to retrieve food from this ball, and it only took 2 days. Doesn't surprise me. Nope. I'll just go ahead and add a photo so you can see... He just lays down, uses one paw to roll it back and forth in front of him and eats whatever drops. I should have known he wouldn't fall for it. Regardless, this is still great for him since he can no longer scarf his food down then throw it all up a bit later. Not so great for additional exercise.

Provides much needed enrichment!

Provides much needed enrichment. My cat is not overweight. He is an indoor cat and gets absolutely no enrichment because he refuses to play. At all. We've tried everything...catnip sprayed on fake mice, balls, yarn, feathers, you name it. He has a cat condo with hanging feathers and a lot of hidey-holes. He walked over to it, yawned and walked away. He did play in the box it came in for a moment. We were so happy we were going to keep the ridiculously huge box....in our house...seriously; if guests came we were going to claim it was a piece of art. Then he lost interest in it and we recycled it. At first he hated this ball too. We got in the floor with it and took his paw and made him bat at it. He saw the food fall out and gobbled it up. Didn't make the connection. So we kept making him paw at it. We did it again all the next day. Then, after crawling around on our 50 year old knees, and some salty language, he got it. Now he chases that thing all over the house. He bats at it and uses his nose to nudge it. Of course I have little crunchy food nuggets here and there. When we step on them we see stars....FIVE STARS to be exact! We are so very happy with this product!

Full Reviews