Cat Mate Elite Microchip Cat Flap with Digital Timer & LCD Display (355) - For Small to Average sized Cats, Easy Installation in UPVC Doors, Glass, and Wood, White

This is simply fantastic. I moved into my grandma's old house and needed a way for my little cat to get in and out. She has never used a flap before, previous landlady refused to allow a flap to be installed. Installation was pretty simple, 10 mins with a drill and a jigsaw. Programming was fairly simple too, activated the chip scanner, grabbed the cat and posted her from the outside back into the house and it was all done. Set the timer, which works perfectly. It did take her a few days to get used to it because every time she touched it the noise of the solenoid motor made her jump and run away! With some persistence I showed her that it was safe and she now uses it without any issues at all. I was worried about how quickly the reader would work from the outside and make her think it had locked her out, however I was pleased to see that when she was running back in to escape another cat it opened instantly and shut her new friend outside for them to howl at each other through the cat flap. I also find the indicator very handy, when I get home from work I can very quickly see if she's in or out.In summary, excellent. I'm sure that there will be people who don't have a similar experience. My cat is a bit of a wuss so she doesn't really try very hard to defeat the locking mechanism when it won't let her out, she just accepts that it's locked and walks away. If you've got a cat who can open doors etc then they might be able to unlock the flap. It bolts with the solenoid on 2 plastic pins in the center bottom of the flap. Really the 2 plastic pins should be further apart, as it allows the bottom corners to be pulled.

The media could not be loaded. I read many review for many different cat flaps before finally deciding on this one .Its reasonably easy to install , mines in a UPVC door , I needed a drill and jigsaw. It takes 4 AA batteries , not included .The setting up of the functions was a bit fiddly but with patients and reading the instructions carefully , even I managed it . You have to press quite hard and in the middle of the small buttons.Its best to programme the cats microchip in before installing . Plenty of Dreamies enticed mine through the opened flap to do this . Then once installed sort out the rest of the programming .I had a little trouble programming in the actual now time . I felt the instructions weren't clear for that step but managed . Then i programme what time the flap unlocked and could be accessed both ways in the morning and what time it locked to 'come in only" at the night time by following the instructions . You must remember to save each step . Maybe an app on the phone would make programming a bit less fiddly , just a suggestion .I like the fact there is a little icon for each cat on the display strip that shows whether they are in or out . There is also apparently a function that shows how long they have been in or out but I haven't felt the need to set that up.There was mention of the flap being noisy when unlocking with the microchip recognition but my 2 kitties soon realised that noise ment it would open and let them through.. There was some catflap reviews of the flaps closing hard ,trapping tails . This flap closes gently on the tail if they don't move quickly through then locks once the tail is clear .I no longer feel guilty at having to leave my furry friends shut in the house while I'm on a long work day . Though a bit pricy I would highly recommend 5⭐️

This cat flap is secure and the draught excluder really reduces the ingress of cold air around the edges even if it doesn't eliminate it completely. it is really useful as you can set timings for when your cats are allowed out and when they have to stay in. It also recognises each one by their collar or microchip. Batteries last a long time and it's pretty easy to set up. A must have for people who want to keep their cats in at night or want the ability to control when they can come in and out. Only slight drawback is the noise it makes when it opens and closes is a bit like a cat hiss so it can take a while for cats to get used to it.

My advise is read the bad reviews, I’m fairly tech savvy and handy with tools too so I figured the bad reviews where people not being able to program the cat flap properly or miss installing.Ok the idea behind this is good but in practice it fundamentally doesn’t work, I wanted this model as it shows if your cat is in our out and my cat is only 8 months old so I’m nervous about him being out, 99% of the time the reader doesn’t acknowledge the chip in my cat and when it does the noise is enough to scare any cat away let alone a kitten, the actual way it locks is good as no cat can open it with a claw but if it doesn’t work for your own cat in it’s not worth it.As for the indicator to say if he’s in or out that didn’t work either, the very few times it did let him in it shows him as out so fundamentally useless.A minor thing, the screws supplied are not fit for purpose either, a standard door panel installation about 1.5- 2 cm thick the middle screw size can’t get through the outer surround and the door panel with enough to grip the mechanism on the other side, if you use the next size up there are so long they go through the door and stop on the outer most part of the mechanism meaning I couldn’t tighten the screws as it would either burst through the frame of the cat flap or bend it so the plastic deformed.Avoid this product.I bought a sureflap microchip cat flap and so far so good, my cat has used it and it’s working well, my only issue was it’s a slightly smaller devise so the hole I cut into my door needed packing out to fit this so buy the sureflap first. Observation I would say a cat possibly could get a claw underneath from the outside but we’ll have to wait and see.

Excellent cat flap. Good quality and good price. Thank you 😊