Ding, Ding, Ding! Dinner is served. Fresh from the cold can.
Petlibro, a pet tech startup that designs automatic cat food and water dispensers, released the first smart fridge feeder on Thursday. The company’s new Polar Wet Food Feeder aims to solve a well-known problem among pet owners: how to keep their cat’s wet food fresh while they’re away.
While dry cat food can be left out longer, scientists have hypothesized that cats prefer wet food because it is similar to their natural diet. Also, some pet parents shy away from dry kibble because of the high carbohydrate content. However, leaving wet food out when you’re out of town can lead to bacterial growth and spoilage. Owners can now ditch the ice packs and be sure their pampered cats are being fed fresh food that won’t make them sick.
“The value of incorporating liquid food into a cat’s diet cannot be understated, especially when it comes to weight management, digestion, urinary health and more,” said Christie Long, chief medical officer at Modern Animal. “What Petlibro has developed at Polar makes a difference for cats and pet parents alike.”
Image Credits: Petlibro
The Polar has three compartments and can hold up to 22.2 ounces of food (7.4 ounces per serving), allowing owners to be gone for up to 72 hours without the need for a pet sitter. Using semiconductor cooling technology, the device keeps food nice and cool (30-50°F). Additionally, the bowl trays are BPA-free plastic and dishwasher safe.
The accompanying mobile app allows owners to control the Wi-Fi enabled smart feeder via iOS and Android Appliances. They can adjust their pet’s feeding schedule and be alerted when the cat starts eating, thanks to motion detection technology. It should also be noted that if a user’s Wi-Fi ever goes out while they are out of town, the app will alert them that the device is offline. If there is a power outage, Polar will keep food cold for 12 hours.
During a week of testing, we found the app to be reliable and never lost any power time. The device is not very loud, it emits only a low noise that can be easily ignored when sleeping at night. One downside is the three compartments, which could be a problem for owners who feed their pets more than twice a day. We found similar products on Indiegogo — Catsomat and Happy Llama Tech — have twice as many apartments.
Polar costs $129.99 and is available for purchase at petlibro.com and Amazon.
Image Credits: Petlibro
The first time-controlled feeding device for pets dates from the 1940s, and if automatic feed for horses invented in 1997. Decades later, it’s time for modern technology companies to come up with advanced cooling devices for cats.
With a large portion of cat owners buying liquid food, Petlibro’s new product is aimed at a growing market. The liquid pet food industry will reach an estimated $35 billion in 2023 (cat food makes up 61% of the total market). According to Petlibro’s data, customers particularly requested an automated cooling feeder. Of more than 900 survey participants, 56% of cat parents said the biggest downside to using liquid food is keeping it fresh.
“When we look at the pet tech industry, there’s not a lot of innovation,” Petlibro founder and CEO York Wu told TechCrunch. “We spent a few years refining the concept [of Polar]developing the product with testing to make sure it was safe… I think this is a game changer for how people feed their pets.”
Since selling its first product in late 2022, Petlibro has sold over 3 million devices. The company sold more than 1 million units in 2023 alone.
