SureFlap - Sure Petcare Microchip Cat Flap, White, Scans Pet's ID on Entry, Check Your Cat's Size,Flap Opening is 4 3/4” (H) by 5 5/8” (W)

I hate that it runs on batteries It works like a charm. I bought his cat flap to make a food enclosure for one of my cats, who likes to pick at dry food all day, because my other cat, who pigs out on her food, would never stop eating if not restricted to puzzle balls between meals. I made an enclosure out of plywood, 2x4s and galvanized mesh for air movement. Because the door only locks to let things IN, I flipped the door around and installed the "inside of house" portion on the inside of the enclosure. Getting my cat accustomed to the door was a challenge, since he never goes outside-outside -my cats have a DIY 9x9x9 chicken-wire completely enclosed structure (filled with catgrass and catnip plants ~_^) with tinted plastic roof panels for shade/rain protection and free access to it from the basement window, but they do not go out to roam the town-, and I had no reason to cat-flap-train him previously, but after a couple of weeks, he uses it on his own all the time, and has been for several months now. Overall, I'm very happy with my choice. It made feeding time stress (mine, probably the cats', as well) vanish completely, and fatty's diet seems to be working, now that she can't gobble all of skinny's food. I can't speak for how it works in it's intended application, but for what I bought it, it's a life-saver. As a bonus, my shelter chips all animals, so when I get another cat, if it, too, is a slow eater, the door can remember several chip numbers; programming is the push of a button, and the push of a cat (the latter of which is obviously the more difficult step ~_^) Positives - setting the memory of the flap was cake. push button, shove cat through hole.. Alternately, if you are in training phase, prop the door open, and hit the button while luring the cat through. only had to do it once before it worked, but I did it several more times just in case. Battery life seems pretty decent. I've had the same set in since I got it. Install was a breeze, seriously. Sturdy and quality materials. thusfar shows no sign of damage whatsoever Reads the microchip without problems, and I don't have to replace collar fob batteries (always a PITA) or screw around trying to figure out how to hang said fob so that it actually reads. Drawbacks Hair gets stuck over the sensor, as others have mentioned. if not caught quickly enough, some cats might get frustrated and stop using it entirely, or your pet might be stuck outside. I like to try to see him use it at least once a day to check how it's working, especially as this restricts his access to food. Can never be completely unlocked going both directions. This makes training a cat to use it a nightmare... Or it would.. I put tape over the lock part (it's a plastic bit that sticks up when locked) so the cat could get used to the loud clicking noise it makes when the lock engages or disengages. this would also be a good way to transition a cat from a non-automated door to this one, as the noise is rather loud, and must be even louder if your huge ears are right in the hole, as with a cat.

I just installed this flap today after having problems with next door's cat coming into the house to eat. This wouldn't have been an enormous issue (he does no damage and my cat gets along with him) except that he has a long running feud with the local bully, a black cat who attacks all the other cats in the area. Last night was the final straw when they evidently were both in my kitchen yowling at one another! This freaked my cat out so I decided enough was enough and went out to get a file to make the existing hole fractionally bigger so I could install this flap which arrived a week or so ago. That was no problem, I enlarged the hole and slipped the SureFlap in place. Within a few minutes, the interloper was trying to get in, to no avail. I programmed my cat into it without any difficulty, her chip is right between her shoulder blades. But getting her to use it... there's another thing! I went outside and lured her out. It took a while but eventually she figured out that she had to push it with a paw and not just her nose. However... going back in. So far she still hasn't done it. Once outside she sniffed about then took a look at the new door. It was very sunny and the plastic is highly reflective. She saw herself in the door, thought it was a strange cat inside her house and freaked out. She puffed up to twice her normal size and shot off around the side of the house. It was very funny but obviously I had to solve that. So I got some mud and smeared it on the outside of the flap so that it wasn't as reflective as it used to be. You can still just about see out of it if you're inside, but on the outside unless the light is on indoors you can't really see through it any more. She then was happily sticking her head in the tunnel and you could hear it click quietly which makes her start just a little. I'm hopeful that she'll get used to it quickly because I can't be having the big bully coming into the house tearing her to pieces. My main concern right now is that she is used to hurtling through the door when she runs away from him. (Until last night he didn't seem to have any notion that he could come in but now he's seen the other male do it I think he figured it out.) I don't know if it will react fast enough and open the flap without her smacking into it. It may put her off of using it altogether. I'll report back on progress in a while. Jan 9, 2012 A month has now gone by since my cat began using this new flap. It took her a couple of days to start using it to enter the house. I ended up having to cover the inside and outside of the flap in white Scotch tape so she couldn't see her own reflection (but you can see kinda see through it). That was freaking her out a bit so perhaps something for SureFlap to consider in future. Maybe offer an opaque door flap as an option. On the whole though this door has been a life saver. It stopped the other cats from entering - maybe he's brighter than your average kitty but the main offender learned almost immediately that he could no longer get in that way and stopped trying. The only problem, if you can call it that, is that my cat can no longer hurtle through the door, it just doesn't react that fast. But she's learned that and doesn't try to enter it at a run. I worry a little that she may get caught by the big bully cat who occasionally chases her but so far that hasn't been the case. My only other concern and perhaps someone can inform me - does it give you any warning when the batteries are about to die or do I need to test them periodically to see how long they're likely to last? March 10, 2012 There's a slight flaw in this door but I guess not likely to affect most users. My cat is constantly being chased by her enemy, the female cat who lives next door. One day recently she was in hot pursuit and when Mizz came through the door she was so close behind that she was simply able to follow her in because the door hadn't yet shut. This can't be called a design flaw, it's more to do with the nasty character of the cat next door but if you're thinking that it's completely fool proof, it's not. As luck would have it, my husband and I were both in the kitchen when this happened so no fight ensued. The interloper was terrified to find herself in this strange situation and being unfamiliar with cat doors she didn't simply turn around and go back out, instead running off into the house. Hopefully the experience scared her sufficiently that she won't do it again! Regarding the batteries, I tested them and three months after installation they're still almost at max strength so they're going to last a long time. Overall I highly recommend this product; it's miles better than the ones that rely on a collar tag, the microchip isn't going to get lost!

I did a lot of research before buying and installing this, and after having it for less than a week, the cat has figured it out. In fact, he's super happy with it it too! It works just as advertised, and seems reasonable well made. Worth the money. I rated it five stars (I just downgraded to 4 stars, read the update), but there are two small improvements that could be made: 1. The door is pretty small. I have a big boy cat, and even though I installed the door at the perfect height for him (the bottom of the opening level with his belly when walking), he still has to wriggle through. Also, because it is installed through a wall, the tunnel is 6" deep, which is more challenging then stepping through a single door. Let's hope he doesn't gain any weight. 2. They really ought to have put a label on the lock settings. Once you understand how it works, it makes sense, but a label-maker helped me make sure that I don't make a mistake. BTW, it is important to understand (as other reviewers have pointed out), the electronic portion of the lock only unlocks the door so it swings in for cats to enter. The door will always swing out, and the lock that prevents the cat from exiting is purely mechanical. In short, the microchip reader will not prevent selective exits (for example, let one cat out but keep one indoors; or let the cat out but prevent your pet rabbit, snake, weasel, chihuahua, etc. from getting out. It only allows authorized pets to enter-- anyone (small enough) can exit, unless locked. UPDATE! My cat has been able to force open the door twice this year, so I am guessing a determined raccoon probably could too. My cat has caught mice and been so eager to share them (my wife quickly locks him out), he holds the mouse in his mouth and mashes its bloody body against the door until he finally gets in! There is no finess involved-- just brute strength and determination. I still love the door, but fair warning to you.

I am a pretty handy guy, but this thing still took an entire Sunday to install through the wall. The flap only has two mounting screws, and is meant to be held in place by the tension created when the two screws pull the inner and outer pieces together tightly. The problem is that since I was going through a wall, none of the screws provided were long enough to attach the inner and outer pieces. So, after trying numerous mounting strategies, I finally was able to get the thing installed using threaded rod with various nuts, washers and spacers; not a fun day. Once installed, the cats are either locked in or locked out. The problem is that the tunnel is so narrow that neither cat can get through it. Going out, it makes a loud snap when the lock activates, and it scares the cats, so then they hesitate just long enough for it to lock back, then the whole process repeats. So then they finally get in the tunnel, then they get stuck because the tunnel is so narrow that they have to extend their legs all the way backward in line with their spines and have to pull themselves out. My two were rescued declawed, so they can't catch the ground to pull, and end up in this awkward struggle to get out of the tunnel, which makes me feel concerned that they might get stuck while I'm at work and languish there all day. Then comes the struggle to get back in, they get in the tunnel, get caught up in this awkward position again, and then the door locks itself before they can get through the door, and then they end up stuck in the tunnel pawing at the door, unable to get in or back out. In the time it took me to write this, I had to go rescue my male cat both on the way out and they way in, so now I have to prop it open or lock it shut until I can put the old door back. He's pretty big cat at 14 pounds, but my girl actually has more trouble than he does and she weighs only 8 pounds! That's a really small cat, and if she cant get through because the tunnel is too tight, I can't see how this can work for any cat.

I have two cats - one is a bit of a bully and the other is the victim of his bullying. I use this door to give my female cat access to my utility room without my male cat being allowed in. This results in a better quality of life for her by giving her a private place with food, water, litter, and a bed where she can escape from the other cat for a while if he tries to start a fight. The door does a great job at opening only for the cats it's supposed to open for. When she approaches, you hear it unlock, and it locks behind her just a second or two after she gets through. It would conceivably be possible for another cat to follow in the cat who is supposed to be allowed in the door, however the timing window would be tight and while it is technically possible, it's unlikely the other animal would act quickly enough to get in before it locks again. Installation into an interior wall was easy, I can't speak to installation into glass or an exterior door or wall - any of these are likely much harder. I can't speak to battery life - I've had it for a couple months now and the batteries are still going strong. But the product works and works well. If you have a space that you want your cat to be able to access and no other critters, this will do the job. There are cheaper devices on the market which use a magnet that you put on their collar. However, that would mean that you have to put a collar on your cat and if it ever lost its collar, the door wouldn't work. This solution is much mor elegant as long as your cat is chipped. It doesn't depend on anything that the cat could possibly lose. All in all, it's a solid product. Expensive, but it does what it says. Think about whether you really need this or whether a similar model that uses a magnet on the collar will do. If you do need the feature that this offers, it's great and you won't be disappointed.

Great product, works exactly as described. Feels sturdy and well made. The flap door feels secure when closed. Easy to program by following the instructions. I am using this product in the same way as another reviewer- I attached it to a large plastic storage box to allow my kidney failure cat a private "room" to eat her special prescription food without my other cat stealing it all. We have the flap programmed to only recognize the microchip of Kidney Cat, and Other Cat has not been able to go inside the box. It does not unlock for Other Cat, and (most impressively) she cannot pry open the little door with her paws/claws. Huge win! I will say that depending on your cat, be prepared with your patience and willingness to spend a LOT of training time. Both of my cats have been indoors their entire lives (9 years) and I guess they do not understand doors. Kidney Cat still does not really understand the concept that she can push open the door by herself, without human help. We've taken many baby steps to train her and she has made great progress, but we are still not there yet after 1 month of consistent every day use for all of her feedings. If you want to know what our training process has been, I will detail it below. Otherwise, my review ends here that this product is really great and I would buy it again if I needed another microchip reading door. 1. Place food bowl next to, but outside of, the storage box. 2. Gradually move food closer to box, until she is eating inside the box with lid off. 3. Cut hole where cat flap will go. Allow cat to walk through hole to eat from food bowl. No flap yet. 4. Install flap, tape open door so cat can walk through opening without needing to figure out the door yet. 5. Gradually lower the height of the flap so cat gets used to the idea of the flap plastic touching her head/back as she passes through. We thought out cat would figure it out at this stage, but she did not. So training continues!... 6. Attach string to both sides of cat flap door. Tape the microchip/locking mechanism down so you will be able to pull open the door with those pieces of string ahead of your cat as she tries to enter. Maybe this helps cats with more brain cells than mine to disassociate the human from the door opening/closing. Since the magnetic closure is pretty strong, this step helped give my cat a little extra help with pushing open the door. 7. Remove tape on the locking mechanism so cat will start to learn that she needs to push the door more quickly once she has put her head inside. Because she has been putting her head in there and day dreaming too long about her food that is mere inches away but since she took forever, the flap locked itself again. 8. Give cat a thousand yard stare as she begs and cries for food, even though her food bowl is full inside her bowl and all she needs to do is push open a flap to get it. 9. Put cat in front of flap and give a little nudge to her front paws to urge her to use paws to open the door if she does not prefer to headbutt the door. 10. Write a review on Amazon and hope that another user will have some more training ideas to get this concept to stick with your cat! Hopeful that she will learn someday but in the meantime at least it keeps her prescription food safe from my other hungry cat. :)

Update: Summer 2014: My 18 pound cat gained enough weight over the past frigid winter that he got stuck in the cat door long enough to damage the tunnel. So, I bought SureFlap's new, "second-generation" "Pet Door" and we are all living happily ever after. See my review of that much-improved product, elsewhere. If in doubt, do not buy the "Cat Door", buy the "Pet Door". You will not be disappointed with it. Update: June 4, 2013: Ongoing maintenance issues: One side of the weather stripping came off months ago. Not too big of a deal, since air leakage is minimal without it, but still a nuisance. Awhile later, one of my cats was walking-around with the soft plastic "claw-proofing" bezzel (I assume it is supposed-to be) wrapped around her. Apparently it came off the backside of the flap where it must not have been too securely attached. No real harm done: cats clawing their way in has not been a problem for me. With (now) three cats, dirt builds-up on this thing pretty fast. Really needs wiping every week or two, including it's direction lock knob. Fair enough. But, the motorized catch extends from a hole in the bottom of the frame. Enough grit fell in the hole and collected around the catch arm over the course of a year, or so, to cause it to jam, keeping the cats outside. All that was needed was disassembly and cleaning, but some people will not be able to do that, or will not want to bother. Recently, the magnet on the bottom of the flap, that works with one in the frame below it to hold the door shut, fell off. This leaves the flap literally moving in the breeze. That might not sound like a problem, because the catch still works. But, the flap has gotten trapped on the inside of the closed latch, preventing the cats from leaving the house. Fortunately, I found the tiny magnet. Now, I'm off to try to glue it back into place, or otherwise reattach it somehow. Wish me luck. Does all of this justify downgrading to a three-star rating? Anybody listening at SureFlap? On a positive note, the unit has been quite happy with my modification for five 1.2V NiMh rechargeables. It runs for months and months on one charge, so long that I've recharged the batteries for other reasons, before ever seeing the low charge LED come on. Update: March 21, 2012: SureFlap nicely sent me a Mark V front frame to replace the Mark IV, and it works very well. Quieter and with a fuzzy weather stripping added. My experience with new alkalines was about three month's battery life, with four cats using the door. So, it may be that the advertised one-year battery life is for one cat. No matter, I went back to NiMh 1.2V rechargeables by adding a single AA battery holder to the side of the unit, for a total of five NiMh AAs, to give it the 6 volts it wants. Has worked beautifully for over three months on one charge of those, as would be expected. Down to four stars, though, as SureFlap really should be able to accommodate NiMh rechargeables, not just throw-into-the-landfill alkalines. Update: July 27, 2011: Operation became intermittent as new NiMh batteries aged. Works fine with alkalines. I've suggested SureFlap simply say it won't work with NiMh, rather than that they are "not recommended". I hope they will redesign the electronics to work with the lower NiMh voltage, which I assume is the problem. Many devices accept both alkaline and NiMh batteries. It's the green thing to do, after all. Maybe I will try the rechargeable alkalines they suggest, in the mean time.// Original Review: April 28, 2011: My four cats, 11, 14, 17, and 19 pounds, respectively, are nearing two months using this cat flap. The five of us could hardly be happier with it! We had a neighborhood tom using our old Johnson Pet Door at will, spraying urine around, eating our cat food, and causing a lot of angst for us all. No more! The tom sits outside, sometimes, but simply can't get in. And, I have every hope that the occasional racoons that used-to trespass are also things of the past. The door is sturdy and elegantly designed in its simplicity. One button for setup and one LED light mainly to signal when the batteries are low. Yes, batteries to replace, but therefore no other electrical installation needed. The four rechargeable Eneloop AAs I'm using have lasted two months so far. Power consumption is minimized, because the mechanism optically senses a cat entering the tunnel and that triggers the radio exchange. Very cool. The manual suggests testing if it will work with your cat's chips before you install it. For me, that just meant gently lowering it over each cat's head, in approximately the orientation as when a cat uses it for entry. It learned all four chips without a problem, making it already programmed before installation. The frame's integral short "tunnel", which is where its radio antenna coil is located, incidentally, slipped snugly inside the wall tunnel I made originally for the Jonson door. The flap and works mechanism ("inside frame") are located inside the house, so you can use any sort of tunnel to the outside. You need not buy the optional spacers SureFlap offers, if you are at all handy. I screwed my inside frame to molding around my tunnel on the inside wall of the house, by drilling-througth the flap's four holes that accept screws from the outside trim frame, which I am not using. My first reaction to the flap was that it has a much smaller area than the Johnson door the cats were accustomed-to, and that, at-least for the two bigger cats, it might simply be too small for them to fit through. I was quite worried. Happily, though, the seventeen and nineteen pounders have no trouble with the door in either direction. The frame and flap, though sturdy, are plastic and the clear flap will probably get scratched over time, to the point where it won't be easy for the cats to see who is outside before they exit. And, grit has already gotten-into the otherwise very clever four-way manual twist-lock mechanism. But cleaning that is keeping it operable, and wiping the rest of the frame and flap clean is easy. And the flap is replaceable. Air entry through the thin boarder between the flap and frame is minimal compared to the old bi-directional flip-flop rubber flap that only slowly returned to shape in winter. This flap is rigid, so the air entry gap is a fixed (small) size. Also, I infer that a newer model of SureFlap has some-sort-of weather stripping. But what peace-of-mind our multi-species household now has! Writing a review like this is an arduous chore, to me, but the ones most other's write are amazingly helpful, so I feel obliged to contribute, now and then, especially when a product deserves kudos as this one does. The SureFlap people have done a fine job developing this product. It is a winner. You almost certainly will be delighted with it.

Update 07-11-12 I have two of these cat flaps and they have been good up until now. Minus one more star because I have had raccoon problems for a few weeks now. I think they are using their claws at the edge of the flap and pulling the flap towards them. They get in very quickly so it must be very easy for them once they have figured out how to do it. No solution except to lock the flap every night. If Sureflap had used tighter clearances around the flap they might not be able to get their claws into the crevice. I'm considering building up the edge of the door with epoxy putty to make the crevice too small for their claws. --------------------------------------------------------------- Worked well for 3 months then suddenly stopped functioning. Changed batteries - Didn't fix problem. Tried "Factory reset" by holding down button for over 10 seconds but even the reset function wouldn't work. Manual says there is a "two year guarantee" but there is no contact information in the manual. I couldn't find a phone number on their website either. I had to call Amazon to get a phone number. 1. Called SureFlap and couldn't speak to a technical person. I was told they would call back within 24 hours. They never called. 2. Called again and was told they would call back before the end of the day. They never called. 3. Called again and they said that it sounds like the unit will need to be replaced but she has to refer the case to "corporate" in order to do that. Of course they said they would call back and they never did. Why does "corporate" need to get involved in a simple product replacement anyhow? 4. Called again and was told to call a different number for customer service! At that number a recording tells me to leave phone number and I will get a call back. Of course there was no call back. 5. Repeated #4 above. Finally I called Amazon and explained that I was getting the run-around by SureFlap. She said (In good American English for a change.) that she can do the exchange for me since it was a product fulfilled by Amazon. The new one works fine and Amazon even provided a shipping label for the defective one. I would never buy another product from SureFlap if it wasn't for Amazon! Update 06-26-11: The replacement cat flap works very well and I noticed that the sharp clicking sound made when the microchip activates the latch has been made noticeable quieter. The sound tended to make the cats shy away from using the flap. Update 09-20-11: Just bought and installed a 2nd SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap. Installation in my very old doors is a lot of work but it is working good. I never would have bought another if it were not for Amazon because SureFlap customer service was so bad when the 1st one stopped working. What's wrong with these corporations? Don't they know that good customer service leads to more customers and profit?

Muy contentos con el producto nunca falla y nuestras gatas entran en casa sin problemas. A la vez siento que solo hace falta en el caso de que haya gatos potencialmente intrusivos. En nuestro caso nunca he visto un gato intentando entrar así que se podría haber comprado una gatera más barata.

Es la segunda que compro, mis gatos la usan todo el tiempo y es super facil de programar. Pero esta puerta gasta mucho las baterias, cada dos dias tengo que cambiarlas, son recargables y nuevas. Ya probe con las de la otra puerta y ocurre lo mismo.

Très facile à installer, dimension idéale, ne fait pas bcp de bruit et mon chat a vite compris comment l'utiliser. Les chats indésirables ne rentrent plus chez nous. Si j'avais su, je l'aurais acheté plus tôt.

I'm new to owning cats and have two 5 month old kittens. I became desperate to have a flap fitted so they could come and go as they pleased and I could have the back door closed as to avoid pesky flies coming into the kitchen during the summer. I was intrigued by the design of Sureflap and I thought it was an excellent idea reading their chips. So far so good! The product is of robust construction and pretty nifty looking. My upvc door doesn't have a metal lining, just solid polystyrene, so there's no issue of interference with the optical scanner. What I would say is, take your sizes correctly if it's to be fitted to a upvc door with dressing panels. The unit only just fitted between the dressing and the border trim of my door. It couldn't have been any tighter to be honest. The unit is 21 cm by 21 cm, square shaped. The actual aperture is 14.5 cm wide by 12 cm high (that's with the flap being in the open position). It's not a great size if you have a beast of a cat, but as we all know, cats can make themselves quite slinky so I don't think you'd have problems unless your cat was ridiculously large! It's perfect for my two. At the moment. The male doesn't stop eating! But I really can't envisage any future problems. It was quite difficult getting them used to having the flap, however, presenting a bag of treats on the opposite side of the glass worked instantaneously lol. It is a little more expensive than other flap designs due to the technology of the product, but it's well worth the extra for the peace of mind that only my kittens can enter my house and they don't have to wear collars. The mechanical locking mechanism for the flap is genius! There are 4 settings on a rotary style lever. You can set it to locked closed in both directions, remain open for entry only but locked to go out, remain open for exit only but locked to come in and finally, locks off for both in and out. Well handy! I'm just wondering how long the batteries will last in reality but other than that, I can't fault the thing. Top product!

We have 4 cats and works perfect, since it stops other cats entering