Cat flap issues .... Help

[thoughtsbecomethings]

My 2 cats use their catflap with no problems but other cats keep coming in! And eating all their food etc.
Anyone used microchip cat flaps ?
My 2 have never worn collars so don't really want to get a magnetic one.

[MyDogEatsBalloons]

Yep - microchip ones are great. We stupidly tried the magnetic collar one first of it, which is absolute rubbish - as soon as the cat has a drink the mahoosive bobble/reader on the collar gets saturated and stops working.

[PestoSnowissimos]

Get yourself a SureFlap - no more intruder worries

[thoughtsbecomethings]

Do they run off batteries?

[thoughtsbecomethings]

Do they make a noise ?

[Archfarchnad]

Yes, the Sureflap works off batteries (whereas the other microchip one, can't remember the name, runs off the mains so it has to be near an electric supply). Supposedly they last for ages (we've only had ours 4 months), and when they're about to run out a little red light flashes. They do make a click when the microchip activates the release button as the cat stands next to it, it doesn't worry our cat but some don't like it at first.

[slippermaiden]

We have a micro chip one.husband fitted it one morning, cat introduced to it and that's it??

[Rollypoly100]

We've got a Sureflap microchip and it is brilliant. No more 3 am interlopers in the kitchen. We got ours from Amazon for about £65 - it's well worth it.

[PestoSnowissimos]

My SureFlap doesn't buzz. Have had it since last June & the batteries are still going strong. It is so nice to not have to worry about intruder cats getting in & wolfing PestoCat's food He is so much more less stressed aswell - Yay!!

[jaffajiffy]

Another vote for sureflap. We've had it 5 years with two cats.

[LastingLight]

We've had our sureflap for several weeks now and our cats don't want to use it. In light of all the positive stories on here we will persevere and hope they get the idea... after all it's in the door now and we can't uninstall it!

[givemushypeasachance]

I got a Sureflap a few months back, with a special modification to prevent it being opened by hooking inwards with a claw when it's set to entry only - one of my boys is a sneak who learnt how to do that with a basic flap. It's worked really well, prevented the escapee activities and I've seen other cats looking through from the outside but they can't get in - I didn't notice any actual intruders with the old flap, but I'm glad the boys have a sense of security in the house. They got used to the click unlocking sound straight away and I quite like it too - when I'm upstairs and hear a quiet click I know someone has just come in, so jump out of my skin at a sudden "meow!" right behind me less than I used to!

[steppeinginto2015]

lasting light - how do you cats use their flap?
I ask because my stupid cat has a habit of sitting and tapping the door with his foot. Trouble with a microchip flap is that from the outside the door won't open if they go in feet first. they have to get their head/nose down to the door to activate it.

Despite stupid cat's tapping habit, our door has been a life saver, we had the neighbours cat in all the time, and another cat coming in and spraying.

Ours is surecat, and you can program it as sunbathing said. And add up to 20 cats

[LastingLight]

Steppe the short answer is "they don't". They won't go near it. Grey girl used to wake up DH every morning between 3 and 4 to be let out. We then started to push her out through the flap rather than opening a door for her. This hasn't worked really - she hasn't woken him up for 2 nights in a row now but she doesn't go out through the flap either.

[CuthbertDibble]

We have a petporte smart flap but we had to build a set of steps outside so that the cat can get in. It reads the microchip in her neck and it's easier if she comes in walking flat rather than jumping up at an angle.

[wanderings]

We have Petporte, which does the job, and we too had to build steps outside for the cats to come in! It can beep when the cat comes in, which is nice because you can hear the cat enter without him or her sneaking up on you.

I found Petporte quite tricky to set up: it only has two buttons, so there is lots of holding the buttons for certain length of time, going through invisible menus where you listen for a certain number of beeps, and woe betide you if you take too long, especially when getting the cat to go through so it can "read" the cat for the first time!

Other makes might be easier, I don't know.

[MsDFye]

If you follow this link you can buy a sureflap via the pdsa and they get a donation:

www.pdsa.org.uk/shop-online/sureflap

[steppeinginto2015]

lasting, we always taught ours to use a flap by hooking the flap open in some way, then putting hungry cat outside and food inside. They get used to going in and out first , then you lower the flap so they have to push through, then close it.

[LastingLight]

Thanks steppe, we've done that. They happily went in and out through the open flap for a week before we closed it.

[LolaCrapola]

Hmmm, we need one of these methinks...but I also have cats that don't come in head first but flips the flap open with a paw and darts underneath it....do these cats ever get the hang of using a cat flap properly????

We need something more secure as a neighbours cat keeps coming in and spraying! Not to mention eating our premium cat food!