has anyone used a 'microchip' catflap?

[Lady Magic]

We had one with Harley and will be using it for the boys once they are old enough .

Its really the bizz, 'Big H' was constanlty pursued by a huge maine con cat  who lived two doors away , but as 'Big H' was very fast he always ran straight home as soon as he saw his head and could get from the front gate to inside the house in 4 seconds flat    I used to lay in bed at night and listen for 'big H' to come flying through the cat flap followed by the bang and a muffled clatter as the other cat smacked its head on the locked  cat-flap door .............. sorry but I had to laugh as time and time again it did it and it never learned, the big cat moved away two months before we lost 'big H' .

It is so easy to use and once set up to the ID chip in your cats neck the cats can come and go as they please and NOT ONE other cat can get in , I did get little visitors brought in by' big H' and did  wake up some nights  to find he'd put a live mouse on my chest for me to love ......so sweet of him and I do miss my night time scampers around the house trying to catch the little dears ( cough...cough)

Anyhow , the cat-flap runs of electric 24/7 it has various settings like :  just in......... just out.......... or in and out ( makes me want to start singing  the ocky cocky !!!!!!)  it does a night time lock down ( sounds like inmates at a prison ) or vet lock ins  .........in fact althought the cat-flap cost us over £100.00 it is one of the best things we have ever bought for the cats we have owned. and I for one wouldnt be without it now . Just don't keep fiddling with the on top lights and  buttons as it can be confusing if you lock everything down when your trying to lock everything open ..........opppppppps

Ami and her all dancing boys 

[sheilarose]

I quite like our recently fitted Sureflap. You don't need a constant hard wired electricity supply and 6 out of 7 cats have mastered it straight away.

Only one refuses to use it as the "click" frightens him, but then he never figured out how to use the old catflap either (it's Tufty, he's a bit dim).

Takes 4 AA batteries, is easy to program a couple of dozen microchips to (do this before you fit it to your door to ensure compatability) and fits the hole from most old style standard catflaps, but comes with an optional halo which is exactly the right size to cover the larger hole made by my previous magnetic Catmate flap.

I will say, the flap is quite small, so if your friends' cats are larger than average, check out the flap size before you commit to buy (the site has dimensions very helpfully included)

This is the cheapest link I found ...

http://www.youronlinepetshop.com/sureflap.htm

[Jiskefet]

I have two, one from the hall to the garden room, placed backwards, to keep unprogrammed cats inside, and the second in the garden room leading into the garden, placed the usual way round, to keep strange cats out.

If I have a new cat , he cannot go into the garden room, and therefore not go out, while the other cats can. When the new cat has settled in and is allowed out, he will be programmed into the cat flaps, too.

I am quite happy with my cat flaps, though some cats will manage to get in, anyway, especially if they are close friends of mine. If they follow close enough behind, the resident cat's tail will keep the flap open for his friends to come in.

My red tom Jiskefet used to do that on purpose (we had a magnetic flap with a collar key in those days).
He could always get in if he lost his collar by closely following one of the others.

[faye at pawprints]

hi,

friends are thinking about getting one of the cat flaps that scan a cat's microchip, only allowing that cat through. they are having a problem with neighbouring cats coming into their house and scaring their own cats 

has anyone used one? are they good?

faye x