Retrain your Cat and get some Sleep!
Nothing disturbed me more than the cats waking me up at 6:00am because they were hungry...just because I can't lay around and sleep 23 out of the 24 hours, does not mean that I very happy when they want to disturb my sleeping for the 15 minutes they will be away eating and pooping.

This curbed the morning feeding almost instantly. Get this... I set the timer for an hour later than when they were waking me and guess what? they stopped waking me and know that the food will drop. It seems they can hear that food hit the bowl from any room in the house. I do admit that the first few days of hearing this noise, I was a bit startled. Now I know the sound and can block it out just like I do when the kids are fighting in the car.

The feeder has been a godsend for our "fat cat"--a hefty 20lb. We have been trying to monitor his food intake for the past three years but he would sit by the food dishes and eat both his and the other cat's food when he could. This caused us to "cheat" a little knowing that the skinny cat didn't get all of his food. With this feeder, we set it and forget it. Not only are they not begging for food, the heavy one's belly is not touching the ground anymore. Wow. We should have got this years ago.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this product. I did find it odd that it took size D batteries--this is the only thing in my house (probably since the 1980's) that take these huge batteries. The programming can be a little difficult for the technologically challenged. Most of the setting are self explanatory with the exception of the portions size. They use a code (ie 1, 2, 3, etc) to mean things like 1/4 cup, 1/2, and so on. The "legend" is located in the instruction manual which is usually already in a landfill before you need it again.

I did find the manual online at http://petmate.com/Products/LeBistro-Portion-Control-Feeders__24240.aspx and also printed a copy and saved a copy to my computer in my "important" folder....might be worth taking the time now to download it, just in case it isn't there the next time you go for it.

How can you beat the price
It's been exactly a month since I got the feeder and it has worked flawlessly. I'm so pleased that I bought another one. And guess what, the price at amazon has dropped from $50 to $45 a month later! Wow, how can you beat that. I went to petsmart and it was sold at $79 there.

The product is very well designed. The pet could knock the feed flat but the food will still be securely intact. Yes, some small cat may sneak some food out of the opening as does my miniture Schnauzer but I don't see how that can be a big issue. The programming is easy. The material of construction (plastic, so the whole thing is light)is not the best but it costs a mere $45.

Le Bistro Pet Feeder
This has been a great product. My cats were a little stand offish at first but now they look forward to the times the food dispenses. Great Product! Good for vacation time and everyday use (for weight control).

Second one works great
I read the review about this product about the direction, so I read it carefully. I got it to work BUT the portion size was huge, on the small amount (1) and on the large (8) amount. I return it to Amazon for a new one and this one works. I did not have a problem with programming it. Altho, the buttoms you have to push acouple of times to go to the next setting.

Finally, a full night's sleep
While we desperately love our cat, we have become sleep deprived. She wakes us up earlier and earlier begging to be fed. On top of that, we went away for the weekend and she ate more than double the amount of food she should have. It was time to do something. I read reviews of this product and was worried about purchasing it, but I had to give it a try. I took it home yesterday, spent about 1 minute programming it and filled it up. My husband was going to set his alarm clock, the first time in years, but I told him there was no way it would work the first day. Sure enough, he was late for work this morning. I realize that I haven't owned the product long enough to write a full review, but I wanted to help people worrying about the programming. Apparently, they have have revised their instructions. There was nothing to it. The lid was another concern, but it does snap on. The food hopper has two notches on the side, so I set it the base and twisted it a bit. It seems to be securely in place. I will update my review after owning the product longer. So far, it's fantastic!