Talk to me about catflaps

[ocelot41]

OK so the building work is about a month off being finished so we aren't far from adopting now. There are a lot of cats round where we live so I had thought of getting a microchip cat flap do that we didnt get random cats in, but I have talked to two rescue places now and both say there are loads of problems with them and not to bother. What do you all think?

We'd be lost without ours as cat is timid and our area is packed with cats. She is often chased to the flap but then they can't get in. We also used to have one come into the house and attack her/eat food at night which was dreadful. We can't use a magnetic flap as she won't wear a collar.

I wouldn't be without ours. We've got the Sureflap pet door (which is bigger than the cat flap) which we bought to keep little grey bastard cat out. We had problems with the first one after about a year but Sureflap replaced it free of charge as there'd been a faulty batch.

Ours is brilliant, we had stray cats coming in and eating our cats food and generally terrorising them. The microchip cat flap works 100%. Took just one mealtime for the cats to work out how to use it.

Thanks for your responses. Does sureflap work with all microchips? Do you need to get it wired in?

We've had two sureflap ones now (two different houses) and they've been great. No wires required, just batteries

We have the Sureflap Pet Door too. It only works on batteries and works with all chip types I believe. We had the faulty batch too but I have no qualms about recommending them as their customer service was wonderful. We have a nasty local tom and my baby knows that he can't get through the flap.
The other great thing about the Pet Door model is that it has a timer. This means that we can set her curfew without having to wait until she comes in. Also, our cat flap is not in the house, complicated lay out, so it means we don't have to go outside.

Well that's a full house thumbs up for sure flap. Are they £££?

We live our microchip cat flap. Stops the neighbourhood cats coming in and terrorising ours and eating their food. We have the plug in one and have never had any problems with it at all.

Not going to lie Ocelot, it's not cheap. The timer version that we have was £100 I seem to recall. However it is worth every penny to keep my girl safe. Our local nasty tom chased her into our kitchen when we were both there and attacked her. The Sureflap stops the bugger.

Here is a link to Sureflap, but you can buy them in loads of places. www.sureflap.com/en-gb

One of our cats has figured out how to get out of the cat flap which we lock at night (unpicks it with a claw) - but I wouldn't be without one ever again because so far it's been 100% effective at keeping intruders out. We used to have a local bully cat who came into our house, terrorised our cat and ate her food and peed everywhere - no more.

We got ours from zooplus for about £50.

We've got the Sureflap cat one as well and love it. We switch it to "in only" in the evening so we don't have to wait for them to come in either, once they're in they stay in till we open it in the morning.

I ordered mine through the PDSA website as it was discounted and Sureflap made a donation to the PDSA - www.pdsa.org.uk/shop/sure-flap

We have a Pet Porte if you have toddlers they love pressing the buttons we are on our third.

I'm having huge problems with mine! I'm on number two so far and it STILL doesn't shut properly and we're getting random cats in. I'm going to ring up customer service AGAIN tomorrow...

Basically we paid 80 quid for something that is no better than a standard one.

So Sureflap seems to get the thumbs up from most folks. Its going to have to go in a wall, rather than a door. Has anyone had that done?

Yes me!! It's a heck of a job and my dh really knows what he's doing but it took all of Saturday. Unless you are really competent get someone in to do it.

I spoke to customer service again- they're sending me one with a stronger magnet.

Another thumbs up. We got a young rescue cat about 2 months ago and the vet recommended a microchip flap.

We thought we'd see how we went with our old magnetic cat flap first, which we'd had for years with Old Cat. Unfortunately New Cat kept loosing her collar with the magnet on! So we got a magnetic flap 3 or 4 weeks ago, no problems so far. Even better, it fitted into the same hole.

Typo, brain fart. We didn't get a magnetic cat flap 3 or 4 weeks ago, we got a microchip cat flap 3 or 4 weeks ago. A Sureflap one.

We have a Sureflap. It's been generally good and Sureflap replaced without a quibble after a year when there was an issue. Our cats are a bit weedy so it's a godsend.

We have a Sureflap installed in a wall, with five of the 'middle sections' between the outside and inside bits. Never had a problem with it, and the same battery is still going after nearly two years now! The only issue with wall flaps is psychological - the cats don't have a good view around as they go through so it makes them more nervous, whereas inserted into a glass window or door they can see that the coast is clear. Doesn't stop Archcat from using it, but he often spends a good five minutes sitting in front of it psyching himself up.

Five extenders? How thick are your walls?! We have one and that's enough for our cat, he'd give up if it was any longer

That stretch of wall is nearly 30cm wide. I've just double-checked and it's actually only four extenders - but we originally bought five, which is why I had that in mind. Archcat is fortunately a large-framed and very bendy cat, so he can just about stand with his front paws on the ground outside and his back paws on the floor of the living room, and his body squeezed like a sausage along the tube.