Automatic Cat Flaps

DorsetDude

DorsetDude

Spud
Suspended / Banned
Messages
7,018
Name
Keith
Edit My Images
Yes
Do they work? The ones that trigger and release off a magnet or something on the cats collar?

Next door have a ginger kitten and he's found my cat flap so I cant leave it open during the day when I am at work so my own cats can get back in when they want. :-( Meaning they are effectively house cats or I risk having a kitten trapped in my house til I get home.

I have a Staywell flap so am hoping they do one which I could swap straight into the hole already cut.

Cheers
 
Yes, they work. We have had cats all our married life and they have all had the little magnet on their collar. Getting out is no problem as there is no control on that, but coming in they have to stick their heads at the flap and there is a little sensor that picks up the magnet and flicks some sort of micro switch. Runs off one of those flat 9v batteries that last a lifetime.
Takes the cats a couple of days to get used to the different movement but after thast it's plain sailing.
Can be quite comical watching a visiting cat trying to get in while yours is sat inside growling in safety!
Never happened to us, but if a visiting cat had a magnet then you'd have a problem, but cats with magnets tend not to stray.
We used Staywell and they worked well.
 
Cheers mickledore. Next doors seem to be the type that just leave the cats out all the time, no collar of any sort on.

Can the auto cat flaps be set to control egress as well as ingress? I have an old boy who I dont want outside when I am not there. (I realise I could probably google this)

thanks.
 
We use a cat flap that is triggered to open by the chip under the cats skin ( would recommend strongly all cat owners have their cat chipped) . You can programme it for up to 20 of your own cats or as in our case just the one. As the cat nudges the flap a reader reads the cats chip and if it's yours lets it in. Stops any cat that has no chip or has a chip but has not been programmed for entry. Works like a dream !
James
 
they do work to a certain degree.

we've had neighbouring cats manage to brut force them open before. also any magnet will work, so if the neighbouring cats also have them they will still get in.

also its amusing how many screws etc your cat can collect on a daily outing :D
 
We had a big problem with other cats coming in after we moved into a house that had been empty for 18 months but had a normal cat flap in the door.
One of the cats that were coming in was a very aggressive male.
We bought an automatic cat flap from the local Pets At Home shop which works perfectly.
The cat wears a collar with a device that emits a signal and you link this to the cat flap after installation.
It cost about £30 three years ago and has been well worth the money.
The cat flap itself works on 6 aa batteries and the collar has 2 small cell batteries.
They can also be set to work 'manually' if needs be.
BUT :
The new cat flap was larger than the old one so an alteration to the hole in the double glazed door was necessary.
Always keep spare batteries as they run out at the most inconvenient time.
Be sure that your cat is comfortable with the collar and that it fits properly as they are expensive to replace.
Good luck.
 
DorsetDude said:
Cheers mickledore. Next doors seem to be the type that just leave the cats out all the time, no collar of any sort on.

Can the auto cat flaps be set to control egress as well as ingress? I have an old boy who I dont want outside when I am not there. (I realise I could probably google this)

thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can change settings. Ours has four different settings controlled but the low tech system of a plastic turnbutton. Easy to stop cats going out, though it will restrict all cats in the house. We found it useful to stop them going out when vet trips were due - they somehow knew and tried to run out and hide!
 
One potential problem of the chip ones is that if your cat sits close to the flap growling at intruders, the door can sense the chip and unlock the door... Not sure if the sensor's sensitivity can be adjusted to stop this - it's a mate who has this problem, we have a manual flap since we're around most of the time.
 
We had one of the magnet type and it worked well, had to get a specific colour coded magnet, think there was a choice of four.

Wired it up with one of the little variable voltage transformers you get for radios and other electrical devices so it ran from the mains, didn't want poor old moggy stuck outside when the battery went
 
DorsetDude said:
Do they work? The ones that trigger and release off a magnet or something on the cats collar?
Click to expand...
Yes.
DorsetDude said:
Can the auto cat flaps be set to control egress as well as ingress? I have an old boy who I dont want outside when I am not there.
Click to expand...
I haven't personally come across one which can be selective in that way. But in principle it might be possible with the type that reads cats' chips.

Ours is triggered by a magnet on the cats' collars. It has a manual control with four settings (in and out, in only, out only, closed) but they affect all cats. As far as I'm aware, it can't tell the difference between one magnet and another.
 
Last edited:
As above - we have a microchip one.. i.e. works off the chip in her neck so if she sods off etc.. any vet can track her...

Think it works and is programmable for up to about a dozen cats, but we only have the one feline unfriendly to other felines feline.
 
DorsetDude said:
Can the auto cat flaps be set to control egress as well as ingress? I have an old boy who I dont want outside when I am not there.
Click to expand...
StewartR said:
I haven't personally come across one which can be selective in that way. But in principle it might be possible with the type that reads cats' chips.
Click to expand...
Ta-daaaa!

http://www.sureflap.co.uk/support/faqs
Q: Can I use SureFlap microchip pet doors to stop some of my pets leaving the house?
A: The DualScan Microchip Cat Flap allows you to control the access of your pets both into and out of the house.
Click to expand...
http://www.sureflap.co.uk/products/details/27-dualscan-microchip-cat-flap

It's £100 and might be a Rolls-Royce solution and there might be cheaper ones that do the same job. But they do exist.
 
Last edited:
Not sure why I'm sniggering at "sureflap" but there we are.
 
Yep, Sureflap gets good reports generally, triggered by the cats own microchip. None of them are perfect and a determined cat will get past any of them, but they do reduce the problem and we plan on getting one installed at some point. Until then, we continue to play the door opening game ;)

Mind you, do read the instructions!! I have just finished reading a set of books about a guy that has cats who had one installed - he didn't RTFM and lugged his 4 cats off to the vets to have their chips read so he had the numbers :whistle::D
 
Got to say in my job Cat Flaps are very useful for things that don't fit through the letter box, and if you get it right you
can open the auto ones by puling them outwards carefully
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top