I absolutely love this product, and I wish I would have found it sooner. My kitties are currently on a diet, and they were getting fed twice a day. They would all scarf down their food, sometimes too fast and they would throw it up (not good for them or me!) I ordered this initially as a treat feeder, but quickly changed it to my cats' permanent feeder. Although they still get fed twice a day, this feeder makes them work for their food, slowing them down so they can't inhale their food. Additionally, even though the amount of food that I give them has not changed, there is frequently food left over when it is time for the next feeding. I think that this indicates that they only eat what they really need, because they are too lazy to work for more food than they are hungry for. The center has 4 sections (well 5 if you count under the arch). I have found that there are really only 2 sections that make my cats work for their food. Going from the picture, on the far left is the arch. On top of the arch there are little sections that can fit several pieces of food, but a couple of my cats can eat them right out of the sections, which defeats the point of making them work for their food. The next section is a set of wavy dividers. My cats quickly figured out that they can take their paw and pull back all of the kibbles in a wave divider, and then eat a bunch at a time, again defeating the point. The next section is full of vertical fingers. This is one of the sections that I put their food in. They have to use their paws and they can only get a couple kibbles at a time, which serves my purpose of slowing them down and making them work for their food. The final section is 4 bubbles with holes at the top. I also put their food in this section. They can use their paws to scrape out a couple kibbles at a time. All of my cats (6) quickly learned to use each section of this, although they tend to have their favorite sections. I know this is anthropomorphizing, but I really think they have to concentrate and think when they get the kibble out, and they seem to enjoy the challenge. Since purchasing this, I have gotten several other thinking food puzzles for them, but this remains my favorite that all of my cats can do. Some of them are too complicated for some of my less gifted kitties, but all of them can do the activity center, which makes it a great feeder. I also love that it can be thrown in the dishwasher! Even though I am not using it for what I thought I would when I bought it, I like it even more using it this way, My kitties have only been on a diet for a couple of months, and some of them still have a ways to go, but using this eliminates the begging because they can get the food when they want it, but it makes it hard for them to overeat. The ONLY bad side to this is that it is plastic, and I have heard that it is not good to feed animals from plastic (though I am not sure exactly why). Perhaps chemicals from the plastic? If you are looking for something to challenge your cats, or just something to help put them on a diet, give this a try!
