Microchip cat flap

PinkTulips

does anyone have one? do they work?

we can't have a normal cat flap due to foxes, terriers and lots of other cats all of whom seem to lurk outside our door 24/7 waiting to get in (if i leave a window open for 5 mins next doors cat is upstairs in our bedroom!)

but with several cats the constant in and out through doors and windows is getting a bit wearing. one cat in paticular asks to go out one door and walks around the house to the window to be let in again, then straight through the house to the door again.... repeat ad nauseum!

i'm not a fan of collars so one of those flaps with magnetic collars isn't an option either.

funnily enough i was just saying to dp yesterday 'they should make a cat flap that works of the microchip' and lo and behold when i went on zooplus last night to order food i spotted that actually... they do!

Blueprint

I don't have one, but have considered it! The only snag to it (apart from wondering if it'll break as fast as the infra-red) that I can see is that you have to have it plugged into the mains, which is awkward if it's in a door.

We have an infra red one and it gave up the ghost after less than a year, the bit that goes up and down stopped retracting. Added to the fact that we had to change the batteries on the fobs every few minutes and my male managed to lose 5 collars in as many weeks (only 2 fobs, as I hadn't got around to putting them on yet the rest of the time!) we decided that it's more hassle than it is worth! So we have the flap set to out only; my very smart male has learned how to open it using his claws from the outside and the two females have to make do with asking to be let in or climbing through my bedroom window.

PinkTulips

they have one on zooplus that's battery operated and says one set of batteries should last 6 months. it's the cheaper of the two though so possibly the flimsier of the two as well?

i'm still torn, we live in a rented house so if i install one it'll mean replacing the door for the landlady when we move in a few years so it's alot of expense if it doesn't work or the damn cats refuse to use it.

Blueprint

That's actually new, I hadn't seen that model before! It's half the price of the other model.

My late cat was 10 when she first got her cat flap, as it was the first time we had our own house. She took to it within days and loved it. She spent many happy hours sitting in front of it looking out at the world and loved being able to come and go.

PinkTulips

just saw someone raving about it on another forum..... apparently it works brilliantly so i think i will pick one up now!

kiffer

We have a PetPorte cat flap...
It's powered off the mains and it's very robust. I've seem big toms bashing away at it. It cost about a hundred pounds though...
"They" say that the battery powered ones last 6 months but they don't scan/react as fast/often as the mains powered one (to save power) so some times the cat has to wait for the door to unlock... I don't know if that's true and with the mains powered one I guess the cat could be locked out in a power cut not that that happens much round here.

Anyway I think it's a bloody great cat flap... No collar on cat. No cats with similar collars getting in (cat from down the road had a magnet and could get into the house with the old flap)

Blueprint

Kiffer, do you have it in a door and if so, how does the mains cable stand up to the door opening and closing?

Also, how long have you had it and how robust does the opening/closing catch seem next to the magnetic and infra-red ones?

The PetPorte does sound better as it lets you programme in stuff like the times they can come in and out and only letting certain cats out, but it's a big investment, so I'd like to make sure it'd work before buying one - I've spent a fortune on the Infra red one already!

kiffer

well we had a staywell (I think) magnetic one before. The catch on the petPorte flap is much better than the little mechanism that was on the staywell... The Big Stray Tom forced that a few times. PetPorte stood up well, we watched the BST bashing away for ages and felt a little sorry for him...

As for the power cable ... I taped it to the door frame while the door was open and made sure it didn't catch when the door shut and that's worked find so far...

There's a bit more install work needed for the PetPorte ... I had to cut the tunnel to size and I put putty around it to make sure the electronics stay dry.
It wasn't forgiving of my slightly lob sided hole and the flap didn't swing free untill i fixed the hole.

It's an expensive cat flap alright...but it is good. There is some small room for improvement though (like in any product I guess) ... I'd be happier if it had even a short term battery back up... And a log of which cats go in/out at what times :-)

Edit: I could say more but I'm posting using my phone... I'll try to make a clearer post when I'm at a Pc.

PinkTulips

interesting that the petporte has more functions, i too was a bit put off by it being mains powered though, especially as it'll probably be in the front door (easier to make a hole in wood than upvc) and the socket in the front hall is on the opening side of the door, meaning the wire would have to be looped around the top of the door which could be a nightmare.

how long is the cable for it?