Microchip cat flaps - are they any good?

[LunaTheTuna]

I have an 8 month old kitten. She's been allowed to go outside for a long time and is starting to become a typical cat, going off for hours at a time. She's quite adventurous!

A big white cat has appeared recently, and is chasing my cat. My cat, sensibly, rushes in through the cat flap, but the other cat has followed her in twice now. As soon as white cat sees me, it legs it.

I was wondering if it might be worth fitting a microchip cat flap. Please can I ask for thoughts and recommendations.

Here she is!

Oh she is absolutely gorgeous

And yes they work. We have one, never had any issues, lets our cat in and keeps out the big neighbour’s cat who she is frenemies with.

Thanks for your reply. Please can I ask which one you have?

Yes, they work. And if you get the Sure one with the app, you can track where your cat is, and have a curfew as well.

Yes, mine is brilliant! Had the original one for a few years then upgraded it to the one with a curfew after DNinjaCat had a brush with a car - so it turns itself to in only at a time you set. No more issues with intruder cats!

Would highly recommend programming it with your cat before you fit it - you can put it in the right mode, then put it over your cat's head to register her chip, rather than trying to post the cat through the new flap once it's installed

Same as PP, I’d recommend. I have a Sure Flap and we like the app which shows me whether mine are out or in.

I’ve got the sureflap. It’s definitely prevented intruders!

We bought an all singing a dancing one it cost a bomb to stop neighbours cat Comming in and helping himself to cats food... bastard cat then followed my cat in nose to bum (so the lock didn't close) hen was be stuck inside if he didn't go out with cat. We gave up and bought extra dreamies

Is this the one with the app?

Yes, they are fantastic. Sureflap is the one to get. We had another make before with a kind of overhang outside and that was rubbish. the Sureflap is great though.

No you need the Microchip Cat Flap Connect with Hub

Yep. Love ours. Keeps the neighbours’ cats out and with the app I can tell where ours are.
I also adore the fact that my phone ‘meows’ at me when they come in / go out and I get a ‘Mabel has left through the back door’ notification 🤣. Never gets old!!

www.viovet.co.uk/SureFlap-Microchip-Cat-Flap-Connect/c39959/ the hub bundle

Yeah we got ours from Lidl a while back and it’s great, have had them for years now…..one cat did manage to sneak in a friend but that’s the only time it’s ever gone wrong

This one?

That’s the one. 👍

Oh, it does go through batteries quite quickly, so keep an eye on the app for battery life.
If the batteries go, it goes into ‘always let them in, never let them out’ mode. I thought ours was broken first time but no, just very low battery.

I'm not sure my budget can stretch to something that expensive ☹️

Possibly a silly question! It appears to be the same size as the flap I have now, would I be able to fit it myself? Is it as simple as taking the old one out and slotting the new one in?!

@Stillcrikey

Oh, it does go through batteries quite quickly, so keep an eye on the app for battery life. If the batteries go, it goes into ‘always let them in, never let them out’ mode. I thought ours was broken first time but no, just very low battery.

We found that too initially, then I read the manual and it's says you need to keep the inside of the door very clean. The day it works is by scanning the white surface so if it's dirty it ends up scanning all the time and wearing out the battery. Also check that the furry inserts around the edge of the door (the bits that stop the draft) aren't loose as this can stop the slap from closing properly and again lead to the batteries wearing down quickly.

*way it works

There's a non-app version which is more sensible pricewise :) this one is the standard: amzn.to/2X3gONE and this one is the one I have with curfew mode which is slightly bigger: amzn.to/2VpgLeI

The standard size one yes, I think unless it's fitted into glass you can just take old one out and put new one in!

I've got one that doesn't have an app (couldn't spare that much money!) and it's fine - I can programme it differently for both my cats if I want to, can set it to "in only" at night time etc.

Have you had your beautiful kitten spayed yet?

@TempNameChangexx is it a SureFlap one? I did see a cheaper one.

Yes, spayed when she was 4 months old.

We've got an older Sureflap (no app) but next doors cat has manage to tailgate one of ours in occasionally, I've seen him do it, he can get a paw on the threshold while her tail is still keeping the flap up a bit. Batteries last about a year with our two cats.