SureFlap – Sure Petcare Microchip Cat Flap, White, Scans Pet’s ID on Entry, Check Your Cat’s Size,Flap Opening is 4 3/4” (H) by 5 5/8” (W)

Beautifully made, sturdy and functions as advertised
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, 2012A 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, 2012There’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!

We have two indoor/outdoor cats. One large and skinny and one small and round. Previously we had a cat flap that we could manually lock, but it was loud and the cats realized it could make louder sounds if they pulled on the inner door when bored. Our bedroom is in direct ear-shot of the door (with no door on our bedroom loft), so we lost sleep every night. On top of losing sleep we would get stranger cats in the house at night eating our cat’s food, we would also get up to chase them out. After trying many different tactics to try to out smart the stranger cats, and even taping down the noisy door this prompted us to spend over $200 on this microchip cat door after considering it for about 6 months.Best $230 we ever spent. Hands down.The door is SO quiet when opening and closing, there’s nothing the cats can pull at when bored. They enjoy looking out the clear door like a window. Both cat’s chips were programmed very easily (putting a treat in the door frame). The door width itself is a tiny bit smaller than our existing door so it took our one cat about 5 days to get the hang of using it, the other cat got it day one.We are using lithium batteries for the longest life. And will change them out before we go away.The only downsides I have noticed is 1. the chip reader takes a second to read the chip and unlock the door, our one cat will try to bolt through the door when running away from her pestering brother. Not so great for her because she runs directly into the cat door without it opening (she understands she just then has to wait a second and try again), funny to watch though. No stars off for that. 2. There is quite a gap between the door and it’s edges, not sure how much cold air this will let in in the winter months, but the quietness of the door and lack of stranger cats visiting the house will help me overlook that.

Estoy muy contento con esta compra.La tengo desde mayo del 24 y tras nueve meses las pilas siguen funcionando. Recomiendo pilas de las mejores para evitar sustos. Yo he puesto las Duracell Optimum.La tengo puesta en una puerta de hierro como se ve en la foto, y me está funcionando sin problemas.La utilizo con dos gatos que “adopté” de la calle, y les puse el chip cuando hicieron un año. Durante su primer año de vida los tenia en unas casitas que les hice en la terraza techada que tengo encima de la estancia donde está la puerta, pero ahí los comederos eran visitados por muchos otros gatos y tuve que optar por esta opción.Ahora mis gatos tienen un espacio de mas de veinte metros cuadrados para ellos solos con ventanas al jardín, la comida me dura tres veces mas y en invierno duermen ahí dentro. No estoy con ellos a diario, porque es mi segunda residencia. Tengo instaladas 4 cámaras para verles cómo están y qué comida tienen, y los fines de semana es cuando nos juntamos y entran y duermen en casa. Cuando se quedan solos pueden hacer vida en semi libertad, que es lo ideal, en Madrid no tengo ni terraza ni jardín y allí tienen 200 metros cuadrados de finca y árboles para jugar, correr e interactuar con otros gatos.El resumen es que gracias a esta puerta lectora de chip he puedo montar bien todo este “ecosistema” y tener felices a dos gatitos.