Microchip Cat Flap...

[ChandlersMum]

I definitely want one, but I have so many questions and am hoping some of you might know some answers...

Is the sureflap one the way to go? Or is there another equivalent/better brand.

I read that you need to keep your door clean as it scans the white door to detect if anything is there - and battery will run low quickly. But my door is black/grey inside and out! I don't know how to overcome this!

I don't think the basic one will work for us, as I want to be able to programme to keep at least one cat inside at night (he has three legs). Although tbh, he's such an arse and he's definitely not slow, I'm tempted to just let him do his thing and see how he gets on. Or maybe they can both be in at night.

Aesthetics wise, I'd like the flap to to grey/black both sides to match the door, but I've seen brown, and I've seen grey outside/white inside but not one with grey both sides.

Once the cat flap is installed, how can I encourage them to do their business outside? Do I just set up an outside litter tray and hope they catch on? I'll have to keep an indoor one for nighttime.

Lastly...are they simple enough to fit yourself? My DIY is OK, I can put up shelves etc.

I got someone in to fit mine. It's Sureflap and it was good while we used it. Current cats don't go out - it was for the previous cat. He used to come in specially to use the litter tray so I'm afraid I can't help with that one!

My back door is white and I don't think I've noticed any different coloured ones?

I'd definitely keep them both in at night. I've never allowed my cats to roam overnight - too much potential for disaster!

I got sock of changing the battery so took them out - they run low so fast. The magnetic catch doesn't open in the wind and I have a dog so don't get stray cars coming in. The dark brown one passes for black if in a corner.
As fir getting them to use it, I just held it open and put a treat on the other side. They had no problem using it to come back in. Might take a couple goes but they started using it pretty quickly. I did scatter a bit of used litter outside but for quite a while they'd go outside them come back in to use the litter tray. Then they stopped. Of course they still prefer an open door 😁.

You can't allow one cat out but not the other. You have to physically lock it.

The surepet cat flaps that connect to the internet let you programme each cat differently but the pet door doesn't. However if you have chonky cat you will need a pet door.

We 'trained' our cat before it was installed in the door. We had to activate his chip anyway so we stuffed him through the flap a few times to help him understand how it worked! He was deeply unimpressed but he loved it when he got the hang of it.

He was used to a flap because he was a stray when we got him - cat distribution system! - and he had a cat kennel in the garden for a long time before he got all posh and moved indoors!!

Cats much prefer toiletting outdoors. When they use the cat flap, you won't need a tray unless you lock them in at night. In that case, some may wake you up to let them out in the early morning.

I wish you had been here to tell that to my dearest late cat!

He didn't get that memo...

It's so expensive! But I'm going for it.
I don't want to have to manually lock/unlock, especially if we're home late or leaving early. I don't need another thing on my to do list.

Really hoping they prefer toileting outside, but I'm not convinced. They'll wait by the door for me to let them in currently.

I'm waiting for the development of cat flap which only allows cat in if nothing in its mouth. I've seen a sort of prototype one.

We loved ours and so did our cat! I didn't find that the batteries ran out all that quickly either. Our only issue was that there was the back door step was low compared to where the flap had to go due to the shape of the door, but we got a block of wood and he used it as a step!

It was brilliant as he could come and go as he pleased and we could lock it at night, though tbh he did go out at night for a bit as that's what he was used to. It also meant that when we went on holiday, our neighbour could feed him outside without having to come into the house.

Unfortunately he lost the sight in one eye, and the catflap was locked forever! He did get out but only under supervision and by then he was so old he really couldn't have cared less anyway!

All of our current three cats had been used to being outdoors and we fully expected them to want to go out when we adopted them, but no, they're happy as larry indoors and if you as much as drip water on them when washing your hands, they flee like they've been scalded!!!

We have a sureflap one (brown) and its fine. We had it fitted into a glass panel so had people to do it. It was installed 4-5 months ago and the battery is still going strong. Put a treat in the tunnel and she got the hang of it with no problem.
The only other thing I would mention is that there is a cat flap available, not sure of the brand but it can detect if the cat has something in its mouth (ie mouse, bird etc) using AI and then wont allow the cat to enter the house. I would have had one of these if I had known about it at the time.