If you are thinking about get a cat flap for your home or replace your existing one then here are plenty of grounds to get a microchip cat flap. Read on to see why microchip cat flaps can save you and your cat a lot of bother!
What are microchip cat flaps?
Microchip cat flaps are cat flaps that selectively allow your cats into your house by reading your cat’s microchip.
If you haven’t microchipped your cat or any other pet then I suggest you do so.
Microchip cat flaps are great and if you have a cat or a small dog, I have 10 reasons for you why.
1. Stop strays entering your house
You may not have a cat flap for this reason. Conventional cat flaps let your cat in and out but also allow unwanted visitors like the tabby from two gardens over to harass your cats and eat their food.
What’s amazing about microchip cat flaps is they only allow cats in through this automatic cat flap by reading your cat’s microchip, and those other cats and other animals are locked out.
No more unwanted intruders.
2. Easy to us
You buy your microchip pet door or cat flap, pop the batteries in, register your cat or dog, fit it into any wall, door or window you want to and put your feet up!
No collars, no magnets, not tags, as long as your cat or small dog has a microchip to scan, you’re good to go.
You may be a bit worried about words like ‘microchip’, ‘scanner’ and ‘electronic’, as if these cat flaps are complex and complicated to work.
The opposite is true. These automatic cat flaps have very intuitive controls and easy to follow instructions, but the clue is in the description, they are ‘automatic’. They work without you having to do anything!
3. Lets your cat come and go as they please
Are your cats constantly wanting to go in and out of your house? Are they pestering you when you’re sat down wanting to relax? Then five minutes later, they’re meowing and scratching at the door wanting to get back inside? I know that feeling! A microchip cat flap lets you relax, while your cat can hop in and out as they please.
Let your cat outside and enjoy themselves!
4. Your cat doesn’t need to wear a collar
Collars can be really useful. They can be used to identify your pet if they become lost and then can be used to access some types of cat flaps, by having magnets to unlock them.
Collars can also get your cat caught on a branch or snagged on a bush. They are also unnatural for your cat to wear and they can find them annoying and uncomfortable.
I would much rather let my cat frolic around free outside!
If you’re going to make your cat put on a collar, they may as well be smart!
By having your cat microchipped, they can be identified by a vet or anyone else with a microchip scanner, if they are lost. The collar isn’t needed to selectively pass through your cat flap, because you have, or are getting a microchip cat flap, obviously!
5. Can be fitted into all sorts of different types of doors, windows and walls
Everyone has a different house and different garden or none at all, with walls, doors and windows all made of different materials. Finding a suitable spot for a cat flap does require a little bit of thought.
You likely want your microchip cat flap at the back of your house and allow your cat to get in and out easily.
To make sure you can choose the best place for a microchip cat flap, it would help if you can have that electronic cat flap fitted in a range of different materials.
Microchip cat flaps can be fitted into a range of different materials, like wood, brick, glass and uPVC, which will allow you to put a microchip cat flaps pretty much wherever you want.
If you are going to fit a cat flap in a brick wall, you may want to consult with a builder, and if you are having a microchip pet door in a glass window or patio door, it’s probably best to hire a glazer or professional cat flap fitter.
6. There are microchip cat flaps for cats of all sizes
I’m sure you are wondering if your cat or dog can use a microchip cat flap. You might have had issues with cat flaps before. Maybe your cat is a large breed, like a Maine Coon, or just likes their food.
You are much better off checking the sizes of microchip cat flaps before you have an expensive hole in your door that is too small for your cat.
Luckily, all microchip cat flaps from different brands are all different sizes and Sureflap offer a larger version that is big enough for large cats and can even be used for small dogs as well.
Here’s my review of the Sureflap Microchip Pet Door.
7. You can register loads of cats with a microchip cat flap
Most microchip cat flaps and pet doors will have the capacity to register about 30 pets’ microchips. Now, if you’ve got over 30 pets to microchip you may have a problem and would certainly be in a unique situation!
You’ll be able to register all these cats with one microchip cat flap!
I would say that it is easiest to register your cat with the microchip cat flap before you install it, but it is certainly straight forward after it has been fitted. Here is my post about setting up your microchip cat flap.
30 microchips is plenty for you to register all of your cats, small dogs and even a friendly neighbour’s cat.
8. Sophisticated product, can be installed just like a conventional cat flap
Microchip cat flaps, if you haven’t already realised, are really smart pieces of kit. Their use of technology is very clever and yet on the face of it they are just the same as conventional cat flaps and are installed in pretty much the same way.
You don’t need an expert electrician or an IT expert, just a competent, professional cat flap fitter at the most!
9. Great customer service from microchip cat flap suppliers
Microchip cat flaps are made by large pet supply companies, like Pet Mate, and also more specialist microchip scanning pet supply companies, like Sureflap.
Whilst I can’t speak for everyone, I have heard that these companies offer excellent customer service, especially Sureflap. Although I have not had to use their customer service myself, I have heard that Sureflap are very helpful and responsive.
10. Can selectively let cats out not just in
All microchip cat flaps scan cats trying to go in and provide selective entry. Some microchip cat flaps, such as the Sureflap Dualscan cat flap, scan both in and out. What this means is you can selectively let out which pets you want to.
This is really useful when you need to keep in a kitten, a new cat you want to get used to your house, a cat that you want to take to the vet, or just one that you would like to keep inside for whatever reason.
