Sue, the only one of mine who can't use the sureflap is Tuffers. There are two reasons why he doesn't like it :
1. Sylvester has prime spot just inside the doorway (unfortunately by the fridge where he camps out most days) and only admits his Friends, of which Tuffs is not one. This involves either barricading the flap itself with his paw or his fat bum, or just scowling through the door.
2. There is a rather loud "click" on my two year old model which Tufty has always been freaked out by. I feel if he'd got his head round the click before Sly took to ambushing him, he'd be able to get past Sly too. But as he's not food or treat oriented (really!) we've no way of convincing him that catflap is a good thing so although he can use it to exit no bother, getting back in is still not possible for him. Hence the "Tuffs still on the windowsill, let him in!" photos
I have two "tappers" who've both mastered the Sureflap - Sam and Polly. Both will sit there and tap for a few minutes till they realise I'm not coming to open it for them, then just nose their way through no bother. Both are food oriented so it was easier to convince them to stick their heads in the tunnel with a bit of chikkun.
There's is a training mode which disables the locking mechanism while they get the hang of pushing the flap with their nose. It won't stop Burglar Cat BC from breaking in while its in training mode so you'll need to have an intensive chikkun session with them both before setting it to "Unwelcome" all non-scanned intruders.
There is also a new softer "click" locking device on the more up to date model, I've ordered an upgrade - should be here any day now. I'll let you know how much softer it is.
I honestly wouldn't think about going back to an ordinary flap now,
we had so much trouble with intruders in the past.
Big strong strays shouldering their way in, neighbours' cats with magnetic collars even small foxes were found to be breaking in stealing food, crapping on the floor (fox crap is so
) and spraying up the kitchen cupboards would set my boys off on counter-peeing expeditions of their own. Beau became so totally phobic about the cat flap he moved into a cupboard.
The only way to stop the cycle was to either close off access completely or get a microchip flap.
I've had not one single incident since fitting it
The spraying stopped, my food bill halved and no-one has to sit and guard the door as before (poor Theo would, every night, and poor Jarvis (RIP) for many years before him)
I chose sureflap over the other one available at the time because it doesn't need plugging in to the mains - not an option for us as my nearest plug socket is in another room plus we get our fair share of power cuts and I wasn't convinced the mains fed one would retain the chip details each time.
Are you absolutely sure Dickie has a chip? If so, it will recognise him just the same as Ross, but I think you already knew that.
