As far as I can tell, it works as advertised. We only used it once while we were gone from the house and my cat didn't eat (stress I think). We have to use wet food though and the ice pack didn't last as long as I'd hoped. We were gone overnight and the ice wasn't cold when we got home, we threw out the food that the cat didn't eat. So if someone can come in to change the ice, it would work. There must be a way to do it where it would last longer, but we've just had someone come feed the cat instead. If someone knows of a way, please let me know!