SureFlap Microchip Pet Door Tunnel Extender (White)

This had a warning that they are often returned so I was worried. Mine is installed in an outside wall, my cat loves it and uses it all day. It reads her chip, unlocks the door and after the click from unlocking she pushes through it. I’ve had a raccoon try to come in, pushed very hard but it held. I give my cat access out all the time but at night restrict her access in because she likes to bring in her friends. I have been using the door over a month; Ihighly recommend this. Also their customer support is excellent; I used it to get help programming for my cats chip.

Unfortunately it wasn't what I wanted in the end. Easy installation in wall with sleeve (sold separately). It responded to my dog's microchip so no collar or key was needed (2 keys are supplied). Great styling & performance. It has 4 functions: a two-way in & out so door opens freely both ways (no programming needed); There is In Open; There is Out Open; There is two-way Fully Locked. The problem is: once the programmed pet goes out, its locked out. Once the pet comes in, its locked in. The two-way open feature allows all kritters in & out. The programmed pet will have to be manually let in or out by the owner depending on the setting. That kind of defeated the purpose of having a pet-operated security door.

This tunnel extender description page clearly states it is the PET DOOR tunnel extender, not the cat door tunnel extender. But when I received the two of them I ordered, they were the CAT door tunnel extender, not the pet door extender. I paid for the more expensive pet door extender. The item number on the page is for the correct item, so my deduction is that Amazon warehouse has this item in the wrong bin. My husband worked for Amazon and says it's about impossible to pick out the wrong item because each item is scanned as you take it out, and the bins are all bar coded. So I don't think a robot or person reached into the wrong bin, because when the items were scanned they would be flagged as the wrong items. Since they were shipped with no problem, the bins must be stocked incorrectly. The customer service rep told me to reorder the same items and he didn't think the same mistake would occur again, but I'm not risking it. I got a refund from Amazon. BUT, the SureFlap pet door ROCKS. Love it, love it, love it. I have a cat, but I bought the larger pet door, because I thought she might be too skittish to go through the smaller door. Glad I did. I saw a video of a cat unlocking the CAT flap, because there's only one lock button on the cat door, so the cat could push the button with one paw and pull the flap open with the other paw. The pet door has two lock buttons, so an animal would have to press down both buttons and pull the flap at the same time. Unless you have two cats who can reason and coordinate, your cat won't get out when this door is locked. The extenders are necessary for most walls. If you put this flap in a door, you likely won't need the extenders. Best thing ever. Only drawback is we have occasionally had birds or mice in the house when the kitty brings us her treats before they are dead. You could solve this by putting the door into an enclosed porch and not the main house. But, I just live with it. A cat is worth chasing a few critters. :-)

This tunnel extender may work very well, but I am giving it one star, as it is so easy to order the wrong size from the Amazon.com website. The website offers two SureFlap microchip cat doors - one white and one brown. It also offers tunnel extenders in white and brown. I ordered a brown cat door and a brown tunnel extender, not realising that the brown tunnel extender is NOT the right size for the cat door. It is intended for the SureFlap microchip PET door, which is larger than the cat door. This is not made at all clear on the Amazon website. As far as I can see, Amazon offers a brown tunnel extender only for the 'pet' door and a white tunnel extender only for the 'cat' door. Be very careful when ordering!

Absolutely REQUIRED for successful install, unless you are installing in a wood or metal or glass door. These last two types have special issues not due to thickness but you will have to buy at least one for the SureFlap Pet Door to be installed into usual wall thickness. And do NOT mess up ordering extender for CAT door, if you are ordering the PET door, and vice versa! My walls are thicker yet - drywall, 2x6, 2 inch styro, vinyl siding - so, I bought three. Each fits onto interior active electronics-containing Pet Door module and onto each other well; the top two curved corners are different than the bottom two corners, so you will know which way to attach. However, they do NOT have any method of remaining faced together, so you will have to find some means of keeping them tight together, or they will gap and fall apart in use. They use duct tape in the instructions. I find that SO cheesy it highlights the poor execution of this, since they could have molded retention interlocks into the tunnel design to hold them together. The edge of the last attached extender extends THROUGH the inner face of the passive Pet Door exterior module, so these tunnel pieces are not mechanically wedged between them and you will have to apply some fastener and some sealant to make this weather-tight and mechanically sound due to the above mentioned assembly. I like and dislike this part of the design. It allows the non-handy person to just let this edge of the tunnel extend as far as the measures of the active module plus extenders and passive module to relate to the thickness of the wall and have a finished edge. But, that could be 0 inches protrusion or up to 1-1/2 inches, and it doesn't help 'hold them together'. Me? I'm going to see what the protrusion is and may trim it back to a 1/4 inch protrusion after I have attached exterior module and added white pan headed screws into the middle of each of the four sides, through the inner face of the tunnel wall and into the interior face of the exterior piece, to prevent the above mentioned slippage. I'll use the interface of these two parts to run a bead of white silicone caulk to weatherize and hide any irregular gaps between. Then to measure and cut back with Dremel, etc, and smooth out the trimmed edge, etc. Maybe, if I'm lucky and it looks like these fit together well enough, I'll skip the screws and let just the caulk do that work, for a cleaner, easier finish. Some people, who have a more covered space to install, may not have to worry about weatherizing this part of the install, but they will have to address the issue of gapping between the parts with duct tape or screws or caulk or a combination of two of them. Think about which way you want to finish up with this project and work accordingly! I'd give this higher marks except for the excessive cost/piece and lack of mechanical self-locking connection.

Feels flimsy. Needs to be held together with duck tape but proper use of gorilla glue works great too. Make sure to order enough for thickness of wall. I had to use three to account for 1/2 inch drywall, 5 1/2 inch studs and 1 1/4 inch stucco. Once in, they look better than a wood frame.

These fit the SureFlap Pet door perfectly for installing in a wall. It took two to go through our wall. I wish there was a way to connect them without using duct tape. However, the cats love their escape hatch from the house to their outdoor condo on our covered upstairs patio. The dark picture was taken inside. The second picture shows the extenders outside looking through the connector my husband built from the house wall into the cage. Besides the cats loving being outside, keeping the litter box outside is a huge plus. We water them outside, but feeding them outside did not work because we had raccoons visit our patio. They could not get inside the pen, but they tried reaching as far as possible to get to the food.

We purchased the 11.1 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches size. I believe that it is only good for small to medium size dogs. If your dog is bigger than 35-40 pounds you may need to see if they make a larger size or purchase a different product. This pet door has worked great! We have an 11 y/o Chihuahua and he loves the independence of being able to go play outside while we are at work. It certainly has allowed us to go to see a movie and/or socialize without worrying about whether the dog needs to be let outside. Programming it to only open for his chip has also given us peace of mind that no other "critters" will get into the house! I have actually purchased two of them. We liked it so much that when we bought our new home we bought another SureFlap, and left the original in the door of the old house, for the new owners dog. He has told us that it works great for his dog too.