The problem is access, not the feeder
An automatic feeder solves timing beautifully and fairness not at all. It drops food at six in the morning exactly as promised — into a bowl that your pushier cat reaches first, guards, and empties, while the quieter cat arrives to crumbs. The machine kept its schedule; the social reality of your two cats undid it. Fair feeding in a two-cat home therefore means designing the access, not just the clock: each cat needs a route to her own portion that the other cat cannot intercept.
Two feeders, two places
The simplest reliable setup is two basic feeders rather than one elaborate one. Place them in genuinely different locations — different rooms, or opposite ends of the home — and set them to dispense at exactly the same moment, so the pushy cat is fully occupied with her own meal when the quiet cat's food lands. Portion each hopper with that cat's own ration. A shared hopper doubled up always drifts toward the bolder cat; separate hoppers make each cat's intake something you can actually see, because a hopper that empties slowly tells you its cat is under-eating.
Give the quieter cat the more sheltered location — the room she already rests in, away from doorways the pushy cat patrols. If she is fed somewhere she feels exposed, perfect timing still will not get her to the bowl before she is displaced.
Selective access for determined thieves
Some pushy cats finish their own meal and immediately tour for leftovers, outpacing any same-time trick. For that pair, a feeder that recognises an individual cat — opening only for the cat wearing its paired tag or chip — protects the slow cat's portion even when it sits uneaten for an hour. This matters most when the two cats eat different foods, for example one on a vet-directed diet the other must not steal. Set the access feeder in the quiet cat's territory and keep the pushy cat's ordinary feeder in its usual spot, so stealing attempts meet a closed lid rather than an argument.
Proving fairness in the first week
Do not trust the setup until you have seen it work. Watch, in person or on a phone recording, the first several dispenses: does the quiet cat reach her bowl promptly, eat without looking over her shoulder, and leave food only when she is genuinely full? Weigh both cats at the start and after two weeks — fairness shows up as two stable weights, while kind intentions alone can hide a slow transfer of calories from one cat to the other. Adjust dispense times if one cat consistently sleeps through hers; a feeder that fires while its cat is in another room just stocks the bowl for the thief.
Keeping both feeders' schedules, portions, and each cat's weight checks listed in KinsLe with Care Teams means anyone can verify both cats were fed their own rations, with completed checks timestamped rather than assumed.