Catflap company say I have a defective cat. Vet says I have a defective catflap - who is right?

[Stupiddriver1]

If anyone can solve this mystery which has been plaguing me for months I would be very grateful.

We have one middle aged cat and for years have one of those microchip catflaps which only let recognised cats in. It worked fine, including for our previous (now deceased cat).

Then we got a new cat, who is to remain a house cat. The cat flap lets any cat out so obviously this wouldn't do. We purchased a new 2 way microchip one and programmed it so only the older cat could go in and out.

Apart from she can only come in, she can't get out.

We have tried resetting it so many times and it just doesn't recognize her when she tries to leave. Is fine coming in. DH has a keyfob for work with an rfid chip in so we programmed that to the cat flap and that works in both directions.

I contacted the cat flap company who sent me another rfid chip in a ruler widget to measure how far away the range is and it's 26cm both sides so they say their cat flap is fine. I said it can't be and to shut me up they sent me a new one.

We have exactly the same problem.

I took the cat to the vet to get another chip fitted and vet wouldn't do it. She scanned the cat and the chip shows up fine. Vet says the cat flap must be faulty. But if it was faulty why would it work for 2 X Non cat inserted chips. And why would both flaps have the same issue?

It's been 4 months now since cat could let herself out.

It’s a good job he’s so cute because he’s a total arsehole!

You have a Persian kitten, geez they are too thick to even find the catflap

Actually MILs Persian managed to get stuck in their cat flap once and FIL had to go to A&E for stitches and antibiotics!!! The cat was a complete runt with such short legs and so greedy he earned the nickname of stumpy 😂

Kitten is a Birman not a Persian.

Defective cat is a normal moggy.

My old dog got wedged in the previous cat flap once. I came home to find the dog in the garden when he’d been left in the house and the cat flap was also in the middle of the garden....the entire frame as well as the flap.

We have cat flap issues in this house.

Just a heads up.. depending on bastard kitten you might not want the flap to work. Girl from work had a similar idea.. her posh house cat waltzed it’s arse out directly behind the chipped cat since the flap doesn’t lock instantly like a trap door.

I also have a defective cat.. he chases the postie and miaows at the door, loves water.. sleeps inside the toilet bowl if you forget to put the lid down/put him out the loo and has a big head on a fortunately with age not so skinny body but he is a good guardian of tiny humans, coincidentally how we worked out white noise worked on ds.

Place marking as thoroughly invested. Don’t own a cat so can’t offer any advice on defective cat, though with all that holding up to the cat flat DCat probably thinks you are a defective slave/owner.

I think you need to accept your new role of chief door opener. Get yourself a comfy chair and position yourself near the exit door, be willing to leap up whenever your cat desires a glimpse of outside. Obviously the ratio of door opening to actually going out will be about 5 to 1. Also, invest in a large net so you can scoop up bastard kitten as he makes a dash for freedom as it will become his life's ambition to be OUTSIDE.

Birmin, sort of like a rag doll with Persian, you are so screwed 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Moggies rock (I have pedigrees but my mog was the best).

Our dog has been stuck in the cat flap before 🙈

Dh has raised the possibility of kitten barrelling out after the cat.

He tries to sneak out behind me when I go out the front door!

Forgot to mention that PILs had to have their cat flap taped open for a few years to get their Persians and Ragdolls to get the idea they could use it to access the garden...

Oh I spend half my life stood at the back door trying to convince the hovering cat to get her shit together and go outside while yelling at the dog to come inside while repeatedly sticking my foot in front of the kitten to prevent an escape.

I think you’re right, I need a seat. I may drag a sofa out the living room and install it in the middle of the dining room.

I wouldn’t trust the older cat not to let the kitten out. It may be coincidence, but when my older moggy realised the kitten was trying to follow her out she started just walking past the cat flap to open in. Which then turned into the kitten sprinting for the cat flap.

I’m convinced she wanted to let the kitten out so the kitten would get lost!

🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣 This title

And defective cat thinks I’m a cat abuser. She appeared out of the under stairs cupboard yesterday and I approached her for another try. She swiftly reversed back into the cupboard and disappeared into the darkness.

I haven’t actually seen her since then...she’s probably still in there.

Well kitten certainly recognises the click of the cat flap when defective cat is coming in and sprints for the flap. Luckily his way is blocked by the incoming cat.

Maybe the status quo is the best situation?

Wouldn’t it be easier to cat proof your garden & install a pet door they can all use?.

Garden is quite big. Over 100ft long so would be expensive. But I've been eyeing up a firm which come and install spinning logs on your fences to stop cats getting over. It's next doors fence though so not sure he'd appreciate spinning logs.

Build a catio?

I’d still have the issue of defective cat wanting to get out the catio. She’s used to roaming.

I came home to find the dog in the garden when he’d been left in the house and the cat flap was also in the middle of the garden....the entire frame as well as the flap.

Me too. Except the dog wasn't in my garden he was in someone else's 😂

You know that job as door opener... well at least it will just be for defective cat?

Yes, only door opener for one cat....who’s 12 years old as well so maybe only for 8 years max? Probably not even that. After she dies I’m bricking the bloody cat flap up.

I don't know if they still do, but the sureflap flaps used to have a timer option so that you could set how long it remained unlocked for once the cat activated it (to stop it flapping back and forth and allowing tailgaters in or out!). Could it be that the timer on the outward leg of the journey is set to 0?

I haven’t seen anything in the manual about a timer. Don’t think my flap has one.

I think the timer option is on a different model, we have 2 cat flaps on the front and back door, not sure why, but it can be helpful sometimes, eg the kittens can only get into the back garden which is effectively enclosed until they learn to scale the 5 foot fence. One has a timer, the other has the twiddly knob.

OP, if your DH has been at the catflap, has he tried testing or swapping round the aerials round, assuming he's not completely buggered it of course.

On the matter of tailgating, we found that the big cats sometimes inadvertently or deliberately let the little cats out of the forbidden front door by sitting outside the catflap, thus opening it, allowing the kittens to get out.

We have the connect ones now so have total control on function and can also tell from anywhere in the world if the cat who hasn't been seen for 3 days is coming in and out which is useful for peace of mind for us and the lady who feeds our cats when we're away.

I'm not a techy person but I really like them and they might be available on a black Friday deal, you need a hub as well and even the non connect ones sell for decent money on eBay, as long as they're working of course, so by getting a deal, finding a discount code and selling our non connect cat flaps, I managed to reduce an initial cost for the 2 catflaps and hub of about £270, which is clearly ridiculous, down to less than half that, which is still a lot of money but more bearable given the benefits.