Echoing the others, this is totally fixable. I recommend buying a silicone gasket rather than the standard rubber ones they come with. My rubber gasket was obliterated within 9 months of daily use, but then I bought a pack of 3 silicone gaskets on Amazon maybe four years ago and the first one is still basically pristine.
Our vet told us that cats don’t really chew their food, they just kind of horf it down and sometimes use their teeth if there’s a big piece of something that they can’t swallow whole. Kibble seems to horf down just fine!