SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap

I just installed this flap today after having problems with next door's cat coming into the house to eat. This wouldn't have been an enormous issue (he does no damage and my cat gets along with him) except that he has a long running feud with the local bully, a black cat who attacks all the other cats in the area. Last night was the final straw when they evidently were both in my kitchen yowling at one another! This freaked my cat out so I decided enough was enough and went out to get a file to make the existing hole fractionally bigger so I could install this flap which arrived a week or so ago. That was no problem, I enlarged the hole and slipped the SureFlap in place. Within a few minutes, the interloper was trying to get in, to no avail. I programmed my cat into it without any difficulty, her chip is right between her shoulder blades. But getting her to use it... there's another thing! I went outside and lured her out. It took a while but eventually she figured out that she had to push it with a paw and not just her nose. However... going back in. So far she still hasn't done it. Once outside she sniffed about then took a look at the new door. It was very sunny and the plastic is highly reflective. She saw herself in the door, thought it was a strange cat inside her house and freaked out. She puffed up to twice her normal size and shot off around the side of the house. It was very funny but obviously I had to solve that. So I got some mud and smeared it on the outside of the flap so that it wasn't as reflective as it used to be. You can still just about see out of it if you're inside, but on the outside unless the light is on indoors you can't really see through it any more. She then was happily sticking her head in the tunnel and you could hear it click quietly which makes her start just a little. I'm hopeful that she'll get used to it quickly because I can't be having the big bully coming into the house tearing her to pieces. My main concern right now is that she is used to hurtling through the door when she runs away from him. (Until last night he didn't seem to have any notion that he could come in but now he's seen the other male do it I think he figured it out.) I don't know if it will react fast enough and open the flap without her smacking into it. It may put her off of using it altogether. I'll report back on progress in a while. Jan 9, 2012 A month has now gone by since my cat began using this new flap. It took her a couple of days to start using it to enter the house. I ended up having to cover the inside and outside of the flap in white Scotch tape so she couldn't see her own reflection (but you can see kinda see through it). That was freaking her out a bit so perhaps something for SureFlap to consider in future. Maybe offer an opaque door flap as an option. On the whole though this door has been a life saver. It stopped the other cats from entering - maybe he's brighter than your average kitty but the main offender learned almost immediately that he could no longer get in that way and stopped trying. The only problem, if you can call it that, is that my cat can no longer hurtle through the door, it just doesn't react that fast. But she's learned that and doesn't try to enter it at a run. I worry a little that she may get caught by the big bully cat who occasionally chases her but so far that hasn't been the case. My only other concern and perhaps someone can inform me - does it give you any warning when the batteries are about to die or do I need to test them periodically to see how long they're likely to last? March 10, 2012 There's a slight flaw in this door but I guess not likely to affect most users. My cat is constantly being chased by her enemy, the female cat who lives next door. One day recently she was in hot pursuit and when Mizz came through the door she was so close behind that she was simply able to follow her in because the door hadn't yet shut. This can't be called a design flaw, it's more to do with the nasty character of the cat next door but if you're thinking that it's completely fool proof, it's not. As luck would have it, my husband and I were both in the kitchen when this happened so no fight ensued. The interloper was terrified to find herself in this strange situation and being unfamiliar with cat doors she didn't simply turn around and go back out, instead running off into the house. Hopefully the experience scared her sufficiently that she won't do it again! Regarding the batteries, I tested them and three months after installation they're still almost at max strength so they're going to last a long time. Overall I highly recommend this product; it's miles better than the ones that rely on a collar tag, the microchip isn't going to get lost!

I have two cats - one is a bit of a bully and the other is the victim of his bullying. I use this door to give my female cat access to my utility room without my male cat being allowed in. This results in a better quality of life for her by giving her a private place with food, water, litter, and a bed where she can escape from the other cat for a while if he tries to start a fight. The door does a great job at opening only for the cats it's supposed to open for. When she approaches, you hear it unlock, and it locks behind her just a second or two after she gets through. It would conceivably be possible for another cat to follow in the cat who is supposed to be allowed in the door, however the timing window would be tight and while it is technically possible, it's unlikely the other animal would act quickly enough to get in before it locks again. Installation into an interior wall was easy, I can't speak to installation into glass or an exterior door or wall - any of these are likely much harder. I can't speak to battery life - I've had it for a couple months now and the batteries are still going strong. But the product works and works well. If you have a space that you want your cat to be able to access and no other critters, this will do the job. There are cheaper devices on the market which use a magnet that you put on their collar. However, that would mean that you have to put a collar on your cat and if it ever lost its collar, the door wouldn't work. This solution is much mor elegant as long as your cat is chipped. It doesn't depend on anything that the cat could possibly lose. All in all, it's a solid product. Expensive, but it does what it says. Think about whether you really need this or whether a similar model that uses a magnet on the collar will do. If you do need the feature that this offers, it's great and you won't be disappointed.

I am a pretty handy guy, but this thing still took an entire Sunday to install through the wall. The flap only has two mounting screws, and is meant to be held in place by the tension created when the two screws pull the inner and outer pieces together tightly. The problem is that since I was going through a wall, none of the screws provided were long enough to attach the inner and outer pieces. So, after trying numerous mounting strategies, I finally was able to get the thing installed using threaded rod with various nuts, washers and spacers; not a fun day. Once installed, the cats are either locked in or locked out. The problem is that the tunnel is so narrow that neither cat can get through it. Going out, it makes a loud snap when the lock activates, and it scares the cats, so then they hesitate just long enough for it to lock back, then the whole process repeats. So then they finally get in the tunnel, then they get stuck because the tunnel is so narrow that they have to extend their legs all the way backward in line with their spines and have to pull themselves out. My two were rescued declawed, so they can't catch the ground to pull, and end up in this awkward struggle to get out of the tunnel, which makes me feel concerned that they might get stuck while I'm at work and languish there all day. Then comes the struggle to get back in, they get in the tunnel, get caught up in this awkward position again, and then the door locks itself before they can get through the door, and then they end up stuck in the tunnel pawing at the door, unable to get in or back out. In the time it took me to write this, I had to go rescue my male cat both on the way out and they way in, so now I have to prop it open or lock it shut until I can put the old door back. He's pretty big cat at 14 pounds, but my girl actually has more trouble than he does and she weighs only 8 pounds! That's a really small cat, and if she cant get through because the tunnel is too tight, I can't see how this can work for any cat.

Muy contentos con el producto nunca falla y nuestras gatas entran en casa sin problemas. A la vez siento que solo hace falta en el caso de que haya gatos potencialmente intrusivos. En nuestro caso nunca he visto un gato intentando entrar así que se podría haber comprado una gatera más barata.

Es la segunda que compro, mis gatos la usan todo el tiempo y es super facil de programar. Pero esta puerta gasta mucho las baterias, cada dos dias tengo que cambiarlas, son recargables y nuevas. Ya probe con las de la otra puerta y ocurre lo mismo.

Très facile à installer, dimension idéale, ne fait pas bcp de bruit et mon chat a vite compris comment l'utiliser. Les chats indésirables ne rentrent plus chez nous. Si j'avais su, je l'aurais acheté plus tôt.

I'm new to owning cats and have two 5 month old kittens. I became desperate to have a flap fitted so they could come and go as they pleased and I could have the back door closed as to avoid pesky flies coming into the kitchen during the summer. I was intrigued by the design of Sureflap and I thought it was an excellent idea reading their chips. So far so good! The product is of robust construction and pretty nifty looking. My upvc door doesn't have a metal lining, just solid polystyrene, so there's no issue of interference with the optical scanner. What I would say is, take your sizes correctly if it's to be fitted to a upvc door with dressing panels. The unit only just fitted between the dressing and the border trim of my door. It couldn't have been any tighter to be honest. The unit is 21 cm by 21 cm, square shaped. The actual aperture is 14.5 cm wide by 12 cm high (that's with the flap being in the open position). It's not a great size if you have a beast of a cat, but as we all know, cats can make themselves quite slinky so I don't think you'd have problems unless your cat was ridiculously large! It's perfect for my two. At the moment. The male doesn't stop eating! But I really can't envisage any future problems. It was quite difficult getting them used to having the flap, however, presenting a bag of treats on the opposite side of the glass worked instantaneously lol. It is a little more expensive than other flap designs due to the technology of the product, but it's well worth the extra for the peace of mind that only my kittens can enter my house and they don't have to wear collars. The mechanical locking mechanism for the flap is genius! There are 4 settings on a rotary style lever. You can set it to locked closed in both directions, remain open for entry only but locked to go out, remain open for exit only but locked to come in and finally, locks off for both in and out. Well handy! I'm just wondering how long the batteries will last in reality but other than that, I can't fault the thing. Top product!

Ça fait maintenant 1 an que la chatière a été installée et le bilan est très positif ! Pour commencer, c’est très simple à mettre en place (nous l’avons mise sur une porte fenêtre), la première détection de la puce des chats est également très simple : il suffit d’appuyer sur le bouton et de faire en sorte que le chat approche sa tête de la porte. Avec ce système, les animaux vivent leur vie, plus besoin d’ouvrir la porte sans arrêt pour les faire rentrer ou sortir. Surtout l’hiver, la minette veut sortir et une fois dehors elle veut rentrer ! Un calvaire ! Désormais elle va et vient à sa guise. Le système d’ouv Automatique fonctionne parfaitement, en 1 an nous n’avons eu aucun souci. Nous n’avons pas encore changé la pile (il s’agit d’une duracell) et elle ne montre aucun signe de faiblesse pour l’instant (sachant qu’un voyant rouge clignote si la pile est à changer). Notre minette n’a eu aucun mal à s’habituer à sa chatière, de toute façon étant seule en journée, elle a vite compris qu’elle pouvait sortir par là ! Nous avons depuis récupéré un autre chat, celui qui était chez les parents, un vieux matin de 11 ans très très peureux. Je lui ait montré la chatière une fois mais il a eu si peur de la porte qu’il s’est sauvé. Et bien contre toute attente, quelques mois plus tard’ et alors même qu’il a peur des portes battantes (même celle de la litière...) il s’est mis à utiliser la chatière en voyant la minette Aller et venir. Comme quoi, tout arrive. Bien évidemment, la chatière n’est pas totalement hermétique à l’air, l’hiver on sent un petit courant d’air mais ça reste tolérable. C’est finalement le seul défaut que je lui trouve, mais c’est valable pour toutes les chatières je pense. Je recommande ce produit qui a prouvé son efficacité et sa qualité dans le temps, elle est sécurisante dans le sens où vous savez que seuls vos chats peuvent rentrer. Les instrus resterons dehors ! Édit septembre 2021 : soit 4 ans après l’installation. Nous sommes toujours ravis de notre achat. La chatière fonctionne impeccable, je change les piles une fois par an. Nous avons néanmoins constaté que la porte se détériorait progressivement notamment au niveau de l’aimant qui a fini par rouiller et se casser. J’ai chercher à acquérir une nouvelle porte : j’ai écumé tous les sites mais impossible d’en trouver au détail et ça me faisait suer d’acheter une chatière complète (60€) juste à cause de la porte ! Je suis finalement tombée sur le site de sureflap sur lequel il y avait une vidéo pour le remplacement de la porte, c’est donc qu’il est possible de la changer ! J’ai envoyé un mail au service client pour savoir où m’en procurer une et ils m’ont proposé de m’en envoyer une toute neuve gratuitement !! En 3 jours je l’ai reçue à la maisonet j’ai pu procéder au changement grâce à la vidéo sur YouTube. Très simple a réaliser d’ailleurs. Franchement le service client est top. Ils ne m’ont demandé que le numéro de série de la chatière et mon adresse. Super marque, super produit : je suis RA-VIE !!