Does anyone have the sureflap microchip hub all singing and dancing app catflap thing?

[iPodge]

Does it actually work as good as it looks? We clearly need a cat flap as one of the Scaredy cats is in fact a hormonal teenager in disguise (she's spayed!) and looks at us with the disdain that only a teenager can express to old fashioned embarrassing parents if we try to keep her in.

So cat flap it is. And I love an app and the ability to control it remotely if we stay out later or whatever.

We don't have the app version one but have the normal microchip version. The catflap is great but our cat refuses to use it with the microchip censor because of the noise it makes so basically it's now the most expensive basic catflap we could've bought 🤦🏼‍♀️ you might have more success if the cats haven't got a flap they're already used to though 🤞🏻

No, no flap at all. Just some human servants who answer the door to them

We have the normal microchip cat flap, our 3 love it and it stops the local riff raff coming in and eating their food. They aren't scared of the click and learned how to use it pretty fast!

Yep, we have. It's great - apart from in the summer when they are in and out of the doors and windows. You can tell whether they are in and out, how long they have been in/out. You can even download graphs of their activity to analyse

However, it takes a bit of getting used to, because they have to present themselves, wait for the click and then go through. The first few days were full of "StupidCat 1 looked through the door" 10 times before finally achieving the "StupidCat 1 left through the door" notification.

I've tried to use the curfew feature overnight but that blew their tiny minds, they'd spend all night trying to get out - as proved by the app - and then refuse to go near it for the next few days as it was clearly broken.

Yes we have the basic one, why do you need an app,what does it do? It's great,took cat about a week to get the hang of it and we used lots of treats as rewards.

I only need the app because I'm an app fiend and like the idea of tracking their activity.

Does it tell you when they go near it then Fanjo? Excellent!

I have one!! App tells us when he's out and how many times and length of time. Also has monthly features so you can tell how his activity outside has increased as the sunlight has increased. I also like to be able to control the opening of the catflap on my phone. My cat is currently allowed out from 7am to 9pm. But if he's in and a storm hits I can shut the flap early (likewise with fireworks)

We just have the basic microchip one, it took me a day of literally posting our cat through it for him to 'get' it

It's fab though as only our cat can get in and as he's literally scared of his own shadow, I'm sure it makes him feel safer.

iPodge yep you can tell when it's raining, as there's lots of "looking through" rather than leaving. Ditto when the kids have friends over, there's lots of looking through rather than entering the house. Also it's very noticeable during the night, when the cats are locked in the kitchen, that when Cat1 enters, Cat2 goes straight out. Or they'll both be in and then leave at the same time huge rat walks past the window. Sometimes they have a strict 45 min nap then out for 45 mins, back in for 45 minutes, out for 45 min. No idea what they achieve in that 45 mins but it's like a timer goes off.

During the winter when they are holed up at the back of a wardrobe it's very useful to see whether they are out - so we can shut the kitchen door and go to bed - or have just found an excellent hiding place inside and they can do zoomies at 2am.

I love the sound of this app, dh and I could check it obsessively during the day.

Resurrecting this thread for anyone’s current views. Please. We have 5 cats, one of whom goes walkabout and is a worry. They are all used to a chip enabled cat flap (which is now broken) so looking to be convinced to upgrade. Is the hub necessary for tracking, or is it just for remote control? Many thanks

@MargoChanellingBarbara We have the hub and yes you wouldn't know if they were in or out without it, but saying that ours only very randomly tells us when they have entered through the catflap, I don't know why and I've never done anything other than a quick troubleshoot to rectify it.

Thank you

We have the basic one, and they are good to a point. It depends how clever your cat is. We got ours to prevent one cat going out unsupervised at night (we have 5) - the others are rescue cats who have always had free range, but Maisie's a pedigree Burmese and we didn't want her to be catnapped at night. However, she's a clever little cat (and 100% adorable) and worked out that if she stood on the little retaining clip, and stuck a claw or two on the rim of the flap, she could be off on all four paws. We haven't come up with a plan B yet.

We got this about 2 months ago. So far working well. As others say the main restriction with it is that if they leave the house through another door or window it doesn't log that obviously then things can get a bit confused! Do your cats have different schedules? It does allow for this but one cat can let another out by looking through the flap which unlocks it and the other quickly taking advantage of this and darting through.

Thank you all. Our cats go in and out at will, so we are unlikely to create different settings (unless one was unwell) it is more to track the wanderer; who is more than capable of just returning in the dead of night for a quick snack and not alerting us to his presence- so we worry

I should have said our rarely tells us when they exited not entered. It always tells us when they've come in. Sometimes there's a min or two delay but I think that's to do with the sim router rather than anything else. I find it reassuring to keep tabs on them particularly when we're away.

@MargoChanellingBarbaraoh yes it would work perfectly for the purpose of seeing if he'd popped in during the night! I have my notifications off as one of our cats constantly just goes in and out so it was getting a bit much. But you can just check on the app where they are and it logs all their entries/exits which are viewable.