SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap

The best cat flap I’ve ever owned. Super easy to install and set up to my cats chip. No extra collar needed which is important because my cat is an escape artist and I couldn’t keep him in one. One year after purchase he managed to get the knob off(he’s a brute) and the company sent us a new one no questions asked. Great customer service. I’m impressed with the quality, ease of use and all around positive experience.

Well, took me a while to get this installed. But once we did, I am very happy with it.As the other reviews I read (either on Amazon or another site) said, the click is loud and can scare the cat. I was not expecting my cat to be frightened of this but she was. But after a day or two she was quite content with her door.There have been no other break-ins by other cats! We have had this occurrence a few times. Once or twice it was a cat fight inside the house, another was some cat eating my cat's food. Regardless, and probably stating this obvious, this has not been a problem since we installed this door.I love that it does not swing loose like our earlier cat door! In the winter, cold air just came drafting through the door. In the summer, the heat. Well, this is not the case with this; it is sealed around the edges with a little felt or something and this is definitely more energy efficient.Looks like we also had an unexpected perk; Flopsy, our kitty, apparently cannot get large birds or rats through the door... I believe her full mouth stops her head from getting all the way in so her chip cannot be read. Therefore, we get little moths or small (more manageable) mice. Believe you me, this is great; the amount of huge birds and rats she used to drag through her old door was not appreciated (yes, I KNOW they're gifts!). :) I do not know if this is true, it's just that since we installed the SureFlap, no huge birds or rats have been dragged in... If this changes, I will update this review but so far, so good (it's been about 6 months).The battery has run out a few times, or at least gone low, and, though I know this defeats the purpose, I tape down the little latch if I need to run out and get batteries (just in case it gets so low it stops working for Flopsy and she gets locked out).Love the feature that you can lock it three ways; only out, only in or completely locked. While my other door had this feature, that broke within a few months so it was just hanging loose. This one is very sturdy and has held up. We've had to lock her out when we were painting once and lock her in when we were getting some external concrete poured and it is a very sturdy little latch and holds up well.If you have a larger cat, I do not suggest getting this door; the opening is definitely smaller than our other cat flap.It is loud when it closes but I like this because I like knowing when my cat goes in and out. Others may not appreciate this.I do recommend this door though, makes me feel better about leaving my cat at home alone, knowing that other cats and animals will not get to her. :)Update: January 2015 - still no large birds or rats. Just small mice and birds. Ah, what can you do; it's in their nature. Still loving our SureFlap Cat Door. Been very cold as of late and it does keep the cold out. The felt or whatever it is has not worn out and overall, still very happy with this product.I was having an issue with the batteries draining way too fast (within days of replacing them!). I thought it was the batteries. I would tape the latch down for weeks at a time. I replaced one batch and there was a little battery juice (like the batteries had leaked). I did not clean the connections. So the next batch ran out really fast. So taped the latch down once again. I finally replaced that batch of batteries about 4 weeks ago. This time I look wipes and thoroughly cleaned the connections and the battery compartment and then waited until completely dry (I waited probably an hour or two) and then replaced the batteries. That fixed it; no more fast-draining batteries! Cool thing is that the door has a little light that flashes every 5 seconds when the batteries run low so I always know.I do not think it was the SureFlap Cat Door that was the problem; I believe it was a bad batch of batteries that leaked and then cause any other batteries placed in the compartment to run out fast. Regardless, if you ever have this problem, fully clean out the battery compartment before the next batch of batteries are used and see if this fixes it.Again, very pleased with this product and I highly recommend it.

The media could not be loaded. I knew what i was getting into. But it ended up being harder than i imagined.One of my cats took weeks to get used to it.Actually registering the chips was easy. That one cat of mine doesn't let me touch him but i placed food inside the door (before it was installed) and he came for it. Other cats i just pushed through the door.And i did have a cat door before that they used with no problem.Pros:- a drop in replacement for my previous dumb cat door (i think the dimensions can be found in other reviews, i forgot what they were)- does keep other cats away- failsafe in a way that cats can always get out of the house, even if batteries die or anything breaks. My cats are farm cats so outside is safer for them somehow.Cons- smaller than a dumb cat door with same outside dimensions. My 1yo cats barely get through. I will need a bigger door later on.- does not keep racoons out. None of these would, most likely. The one-way ones they just pull out the flap with their hands. The ones that control the in and out based on microchip, racoon would probably just break the door. They can bend thick metal wire, very strong. I understood that it would not keep racoons out, there's always catch and relocate option for them. You cannot relocate cats.- even a cat can break in with enough force. When i had it installed backwards (more on that below), a cat got in but could not get out until he rammed the flap open with his head and all the force he got. Surprisingly, the mechanism didn't break.- some cats will be afraid of the click it makes when it opens. There's also no way around it. I had to train one of my cats by installing the door backwards. He wanted out more than he wanted in, so in the end he conquered his fear. If you can take your cat ans push him or her through the door a couple times that would be the best.