SureFlap DualScan Microchip Cat Flap

We have one big old senior cat (19lbs) who comes and goes as he pleases - he never leaves our yard. We also have a younger, far more adventurous cat that is not allowed out under any circumstances - he will jump the fence in a heartbeat and disappear for two days. So this was a perfect solution for us - with one big question mark. Could our senior cat even fit through the hole? It's a very small opening, and there's only one size to this. I tested him before I bought this door - I cut a flap in a cardboard box and put some treats in it, and he squeezed through just fine. (Ironically, the treats are how he got to be so fat ...) This door was bought to replace a manually operated door, which we used before we got our younger cat. It fit in the same opening, which had been cut into the aluminum panel at the bottom of a storm door. Despite the fact that the instructions cautioned against interference if mounted in metal, it was worth a shot because the hole had already been cut. Mounted like this, the performance was inconsistent - sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I called the company to see if there might be some other cause i could look into - they listened carefully and were very certain that this was the problem. They recommended the circular mounting bracket that will offset the sensors from the metal by an inch or two, which they say is enough. Instead, I found a nice piece of plexiglass in the garage, left over from another project, that I repurposed as a window to replace the aluminum. The installation is very straightforward - but it does require a little bit of skill. Basically, it's "trace the hole, cut the hole, push one end through and stick the other side on with two screws and you're done!", but the trick is in cutting the hole. Initially (with the original door) I just traced the hole and cut it out with a pair of tin snips. The plexiglass was a little trickier. Going through a wall or an exterior door would require some thought for sure. I measured the size and cut the plexiglass on a tablesaw, but I put masking tape on both sides to prevent chipping. Same with the cutout - I traced out the rough size of the opening using the door, then used masking tape on both sides. I made a more accurate line with a marker, drilled a couple of pilot holes and cut the opening out with a jigsaw and a fine-tooth blade. Electronically, it works great. After a little encouragement, our old-timer just sticks his nose up against the little window and we can hear the "click" that unlocks it. I think he has learned to listen for the click himself. We'll see if the other cat figures this out and tries to follow close behind - I wouldn't put it past him. There's a locking mechanism that offers all possibilities. It can be locked both ways, or open one way and locked the other (right now we have some rodents in the yard; we have it set to let him out but not in; we want to check first to see if he's bringing in a mouse or rat). It can also be set to let him in but not back out again - which is great for keeping him in at night. It can also be unlocked both ways for the cat with the right chip, or unlocked and completely overridden to let anyone in or out. Once again, the big downside is the size; it's really tight for our cat. The company assures me that they are "in production" for a larger door, which I will probably buy once it's available.

Orderd this device on 10/19/2019. I have had no issues with this device and my cat never complained about it. It did take some time to train our cat to go through the door since she is not regular cat food motivated. She is a rescue and is very particular about her food, basically she loves garbage food over high priced food (will not mention companies). I have read some of the other negative reviewers and looked at their videos. I do not agree with most of them. Had this device for a while and is it loud opening and closing, I guess it is if you have supersonic hearing. The door will make a clicking sound that is no louder then our kids typing on their phones. Door size, cats are cortortionist and they dont care about the door size they just want to go outside. Now if ur cat controls ur household and u feed it as much as they wantyou too, then that is not the size of the door that is the problem. Could the door be larger just for the comfort of the cat getting in and out, yes. A smug bigger would be great but I am sure it would cost more. Funny thing is they now do have a bigger dog one, so if you want too go bigger because of cat complains get the bigger small dog door. I think some people said they rather go with other doors and i have ordered other doors and don't like that they are not raccoon proof at all, this door is and they have tried. Last thing if you install it wrong the door will not work properly, meaning if ur door is thicker then the device you will need to get the extender. It says that in the instructions, so read them before you comment. This is why I dont write reviews right away, sometimes it takes me years. In all this is a great door that I have had it for a good while and one of the springs failed for the opening mechanism on this filthy looking door. I regret not taking a photo on how filthy it looked but it took me 3 days to clean it and get new springs into it and now it is back to working perfectly fine. Cat was not happy during this time. I did take a photo of two of the 3 rusted springs as the 3rd completely disintegrated. I personally did not think that this device would last as long when i originally got it, for it to last 5 plus years is a wow for an electronic device. I was thinking 2 years tops but the engineers on this know what they were doing. The only thing I did wish this device did is have a permanent slide type plastic when it comes to winter. I feel the seal feather strips are not the best where i tape the whole door in the winter. They do what they are supposed to do just like they do one our regular windows but on this I personally dont think it's that great. I will be using this door for another 5 years plus in the same spot of the house. I did get this companies new app activated door, which I will install soon and noticed a great differences, like a silicone seal on the battery door. No more water / humidity getting into the battery compartment. This just means thay this company does improve their products over time to make it last even longer. So to that I will say thank you guys. AND NO I AM NOT SPONSORED BY THIS COMPANY IN ANY SHAPEWAY OR FORM. To the engineers I think what placing some caulk on the outside compartment would fix some of the other negative reviews.

I bought two of these for three cats. We have a two cats that we want to keep indoors and one who is an outside cat who needs to come home for food. All have microchips from 3 different companies. All can activate the cat doors. We have the cat doors in a thin metal lanai door and a thick metal-lined wood door. Both cat doors work with both doors. One cat has always been a wizard with picking at "locked" cat doors and has not been able to prison break these doors yet. They are multidirectional. You set each cat as "indoor cat" who can only come in, or "outdoor cat" who can come and go. One cat is scared of the click the door makes when it unlocks and he still doesn't use the door much. The 3 legged one figured it out in 2 minutes. We then have a large shy mostly outdoor cat. He seems to have to stick his head in really far for the microchip to activate it. In the end we bought a collar and bought the sureflap microchip tag (2 for $10). This is a great product so long as you are patient with training your cats. We put treats on there until they got the hang of it. We bought (and returned) a different brand as it was enter-only activated and did not restrict them leaving. With 2 doors we can control who goes on the lanai as well as who comes and goes outside. They are normal cat door sized so may not fit a very wide cat. I would recommend programming the door before you put it in your door so that you can just move it over your cat beforehand. I can't see a backup battery but you are able to change the main batteries without having to reprogram it afterwards. There are great manual locks on there too if you need to temporarily change access during bad weather etc .....two weeks later and all three cats are happily using the cat doors (even the one who isnt very smart) and there is peace again in the land :-)

i LOVE this door! I don't get why anyone would want to return it. It's great to keep your cat safe from wild life (racoons) or strange cats from entering your house or barn. It works off a microchip in your cat and will only open for him/her and then locks behind them. You can program up to something ridiculous like 25 cats. You can manually lock the door (i.e. you are feeding them their evening meal, and want to keep them inside, turn the knob, lock the door). Or you have a wayward cat that hasn't made it home yet, but you don't' want anyone else to leave, turn the knob to "enter only." You have a cat you don't want to go outside ever. You never program their microchip so they can't use the door. This door never failed. It operates on AA batteries and has a low battery power light to warn you. Instructions are simple. If someone returns this door it's because they are lazy and don't want to train their cat on this door. Yes, it takes some of that, but I am here to tell you, invest the time to teach this to your cat, and you will sleep better every night. My cat was skittish of other people. He was a barn cat, but I took the time to let him know me, and he allowed me to train him. He flies through this door faster than a cat doing zoomies in your house now. Best investment i made into my safety, and my cat's safety. Easy to install, sturdy, durable, and great battery life. Yes, there is a click as the door reads your cat's microchip, but that's also a training aid. They learn they have to hear a click and then the door works. And if they are like my cat, who never went through a cat flap till this door, it took him some time to get used to the flap sliding across his back. But cats are smart. They get this. Too bad some people don't.

We bought this door so our 3 outdoor cats would have access to our garage where we keep their food, water, and warm beds for winter. We had a one-way door before and the raccoons figured out how to get inside so decided we needed to upgrade to the dual door. We continued having raccoon issues and were convinced that they were finding other way to break into the garage because this door was impossible to open. After many, many months of dueling with the raccoons and continuously finding them inside, we installed a camera in our garage which caught the sneaky things opening the door from the outside to get into the garage and then opening from the inside to get back out. As far as functionality for the cats to get access, the door has been great. Our cats are microchipped, which works seamlessly with the door (much better than our one-way door). The ability to lock certain cats in or out based on the microchip has been handy. And the flap locking feature is also good when we have a vet visit planned and need to collect all the cats to be able to take them - I just flip the door so they come in and can't go out in the evening and they're collected inside by morning. Unfortunately, none of that great functionality is important if it won't keep out pests.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke. As a science type, I'm always happy to share that quote from science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey , Rendezvous with Rama, etc) because it well describes the wonderment of the times we live in. In this case, who would ever believe that you could have a cat door that recognizes an individual cat and would let them in or out according to that cat's permissions? I bought this cat flap because a (very large) raccoon had discovered that the old flap was a great way to get into the kitchen at night so she could eat all the dog food. Since the cat has been chipped (and the raccoon, hopefully, not) this product was a great solution. It's also some extra peace of mind the next time we get a kitten that hasn't yet earned his outdoor privileges - the kitten stays locked in and the adult cat can come and go as he pleases (without a human doorman to answer his needs). Programming is very easy, just set the flap to "learn" mode and walk the cat through. A flashing light tells you it's successfully learned that cat's RFID chip number and you're good to go. The cat's learned to be patient when coming through the door - he noses at the flap for a moment until he hears the "click" and then pushes through. It might be a problem if he's in a big hurry (like being chased by the neighbor's cat which is twice his size) as the recognition takes about a second but he's adjusted to the new door easily. The only problem, and it's hardly a quibble, is that our dogs used to love to stick their heads through the cat door to see what was going on outside. It was adorable to watch as they'd take turns poking their head out to supervise as you watered the garden. While the dogs are also chipped and the door could be trained to recognize their RFID tags, unfortunately the chip in their neck is so far back from their nose that it doesn't get inside the door reader's range for recognition. While a cat's neck chip is probably 3-4 inches away from his nose, the dogs' chips are probably a foot away from their sniffer. Not the end of the world and the dogs have already stopped trying to poke their noses through... This door has completely solved the raccoon problem and will be very helpful the next time we have a curious kitten (or puppy) trying to follow the cat outside...

We've had the Dual-Scan SureFlap cat door about 10-months. It's been replaced once! It's installed in a wooden door. We have a test chip tag so we don't have to keep checking the door operation with the poor kitty. It just stops working sometimes, and doesn't click open. The cat is trapped. Called the company. Change the batteries. Reset the door. We can hold a chip tag in the tunnels, inside or out, and the door does not unlock sometimes. At best, if the cat is deep in the tunnel with her head held level, the door will open. You need to hold the chip at the top inside of the tunnel to get it to open. When the door works, the range is quite poor. I am sorry. When it works it's a great device. It kept raccoons and other varmints out, and our cat wasn't afraid to go inside. However, its unreliability now has our cat hesitant to use the door, even when we use the sequence to keep both sides UNlocked (this "solution given to us by the company). We have freezing weather and we go away sometimes. This door has proven dangerous to our pet. I am planning to install a camera. lacking any other pet door solutions, to try to know our cat is safe. If she is not inside or out everyday, we can at least call for neighbor help.

Update: it's been two weeks and the cat has now mastered the door! The cat has to learn to push the door with his head not his paws. Every morning i lock my cat in the utility room till he figures it out. First day was 5 hours, second day was 3 hours. He's not a stupid cat, it just isn't natural for them that a door will open with a head push but not a paw push. However to be fair It appears most Microchip cat doors have this flaw, so all of them are hard to make work. See below for a mounting tip to make it easier to learn . Moreover when it does stick its head in first the machine makes a large snap sound and the cat pulls his head out and it locks shut instantly. Wouldn't you? The other really really stupid design flaw on this system is there's no way to use this as simply a cat flap without the electronic gating. There's four modes of operation and all of them allowing the cat to go through require the electronic scan to work. This would be so much easier for the cat to learn if there was just a mode where the cat flap could just be a normal mechanical cat flap. Finally if the batteries or electronic fail on this the fail mode is locked rather than unlocked. So if you were away on vacation and it failed then no raccoons can get get in but your cat dies because it's stuck outside or inside. So massively bad design concepts. I decided on this dual scan model after reading reviews of other scanners. Some scanners only scan for entry, which is all I wanted because I only need a raccoon and mouse excluder. But it turns out raccoons can manage to pull the door out on those with no gating on exit. Hence I needed dual scan. I read about the petsafe one with dual scan and It has the same dumb design flaws this one plus a second problem in that clever cats can spoof it so that they can get both in and out even if only one if those privledges is granted. For me that would not have been a problem as I'm not trying to keep my cat inside, just raccoons outside. In hindsight I'd have bought that pet safe brand one as it was cheaper. It appears that how fast your cat can figure out that a head push is required may depend on the height you mount thus in the door. I had no choice that mine had to be about 6" high off the floor due to the door design. Evidently if they have to couch down to get it the idea of pushing head first rather than paws first will se more natural to the cat. So for training I've put in a booster block in front of the door so the door is at ground level for now . But obviously I can't leave that obstruction in my doorway forever. These design flaws annoy me because a better electrical engineer could have made it so the rfid detector had greater range and did not require a head push to work. Such incompetence! And the lack of a fail-unlocked mode or a general unlocked mode is just begging for a dead cat lawsuit. But the bottom line is that my cat is slowly learning to use it. Ive noticed that he learned to go out faster than go in. I suspect this is because when locked in the utility room he's bored enough to experiment with it till a head push works. I'm not sure if he's learning the idea though as this may be just random chance that he uses his head occasionally. For going in the sets no confined space so I think he just doesn't sit there and try it over and over as he can he can something else like howl at the window to get my attention. Only when it rains does he make a concerted effort to get in. So the good news is it does work and it appears cats can make use of it but not easily at least at first. As far as I can tell from reading all the rfid gates have the same stupid design flaws. I bought two of these and one of them seemed to have a weaker or non existent detection and so I returned it. So there may be variability in how close the cats head has to be. Other people have reported these things making noise when the cat just walks by it so those must have a longer range. Evidently the quality control on these is poor. It seems to be mechanically well made though. The opening is small but I'd say anything but the largest cat could squeeze through snugly. I prefer tat as it will exclude raccoons and dogs more if they manage to break the latch

Ne fonctionne pas...ne reconnait pas la puce d aucun des deux chats

Bought this and must have got the wrong model. Despite this being the same price it doesn’t connect to the sureflap connect. Had to contact customer service and give them the serial number. Good quality, although it’s not air tight and you get a draft. Also the door is not so heavy, if a cat comes in and it’s windy the door can stay open. Came home one day and a vacuum had been created due to it being installed in a wall with the extenders and I had so many leafs in the house and all the heating had gone, overall it’s ok.

Wir haben lange überlegt, welches Modell einer SureFlap wir uns anschaffen... Dass es eine Klappe von SureFlap sein sollte, war uns klar, nachdem wir so viel positives vom telefonischen Kundenservice von SureFlap in den Kundenrezessionen gelesen haben. Und wir wurden nicht enttäuscht! Ich kann mich nicht erinnern, jemals mit so vielen verschiedenen netten und kompetenten Mitarbeitern gesprochen zu haben - und das ganze ohne stundenlang in einer Warteschleife zu hängen. Nach mehreren Telefonaten mit dem Kundenservice von SureFlap VOR DEM KAUF haben wir uns für die SureFlap DualScan entschieden. Da wir im Rhein-Main-Gebiet im Umkreis von 120km Luftlinie des Funkmasts von Mainflingen wohnen und es ja laut einigen Berichten zu Störungen bei der Benutzung der Klappe kommen kann, haben wir uns zuerst nicht gleich für die DualScan entscheiden wollen, es aber dann doch riskiert. Und siehe da: Keine Probleme! Wir haben die Klappe natürlich erst einmal im uneingebauten Zustand getestet. Das Einlesen des Chips ging ganz leicht. Allerdings hatte unsere Katze am Anfang den Dreh noch nicht raus, dass sie die Klappe mit der Nase öffnen muss, sobald sie entriegelt ist. Daher entfernten wir nochmals die Batterien und versuchten es mit dauerhaft entriegelter Klappe. Wir haben die Klappe zwischen Boxen und Kartons in eine Tür "eingebaut" und von der anderen Seite mit Leckerlis gelockt. Ganz am Anfang mit geöffneter Klappe, dann haben wir die Klappe immer weiter geschlossen, so dass die Katze schon mal durchschlüpfen musste. Irgendwann hat sie es auch kapiert, dass sie die Klappe mit der Nase aufstoßen muss. Das war schon mal super! Wenn die Katze jetzt raus und rein wollte, haben wir die Klappe zwischen den Türflügel der Terassentür eingeklemmt; untendrunter einen kleinen Karton, dass die Klappe die richtige Höhe hatte und obendrüber noch einen Karton, damit sie nicht über die Klappe springen konnte. Das ganze immer noch ohne Verriegelung! Erst als das gut geklappt hat, haben wir die Batterien wieder eingelegt und die Klappe so getestet, wie sie eigentlich funktionieren soll - mit Verriegelung! Hierbei hatten wir auch das Problem, dass der Chip nicht früh genug erkannt wurde. Deshalb wurde erstmal die Frequenz erweitert und dann noch mit einem Aufkleber im Innenbereich nachgeholfen. Jetzt funktionierte alles perfekt! Jetzt war dann erst mal die Eingewöhnung an das Klackgeräusch des Verschlusses nötig, was aber kein großes Problem war. Am Anfang haben wir einfach etwas nachgeholfen und die Klappe etwas geöffnet, bis sie sich daran gewöhnt hatte. Eingebaut wurde die DualScan bei uns in die Hausmauer. Unser Schreiner hat uns einen Holztunnel gebaut, in den die Klappe von innen eingeschoben wurde. Ich hatte etwas Bedenken, ob die Katze durch den Tunnel gehen würde, aber auch das war kein Problem. Die Klappe wird liebend gern genutzt, es geht alles ohne Probleme. Und wenn die Katze abends nicht mehr raus soll, wird einfach der Schalter gedreht und schon ist die Klappe zu! Die Katze miaut dann zwar etwas rum, aber dann merkt sie auch, dass die Klappe sich nicht mehr öffnet. Für uns gibt es eine klare Kaufempfehlung!!!

Funciona bien, lleva dos semanas instalada pero las gatas no la usan porq les da miedo el ruido que mete cuando se quita el pestillo automáticamente, esperemos que con el tiempo la usen mas

Easy to set up and install, especially because we were replacing our old cat door so did not need to cut a new hole. We have 2 cats that are indoor and one that is indoor/outdoor so this door is perfect. It functions well, sometimes it takes a few seconds for it to unlock but its usually quick to unlock and relock again. Its definitely a learning curve versus a regular cat door for my cat but he's slowly learning how it works. Gives me great piece of mind to know that I no longer have to worry about my indoor cats getting out, or my indoor/outdoor cat being locked out when he would like to be inside. He now has freedom to come and go as he pleases without the risk of my other cats getting out!