microchip pet door

Why Microchip Pet Doors And Cat Flaps?

That might be the question you are asking yourself, let alone which microchip pet door to get! All cat flaps and pet doors allow pets to move in and out of your home without needing you to open those doors, and that gives your pet freedom and you some convenience.

However, there are a number of differences between the automatic cat flaps and the other types which are listed below, so you can see why a microchip pet door would be right for you and your pets.

Microchip Pet Door 

Microchip cat flaps and pet doors use the microchips that many pets have between their shoulder blades. The pet doors have a microchip scanner that reads your pet’s microchip and gives access to pets with microchips registered with the microchip cat door. These electronic cat flaps often have four way locking and do not require your pet to wear a collar, whilst still allowing for selective access.

For many pet owners, this is why they prefer microchip pet doors to any other types of pet doors. Microchip cat flaps are more expensive than normal and magnetic cat flaps, but the value provided by the improved well being and freedom for your pet far exceeds the other types.

Conventional Pet Door

These kitty and doggy doors come in a range of sizes for cats, large dogs and all sizes in between. They are operated by the door being pushed open by your pet as it passes through. Some of these are lockable cat flap cat flap doors and they offer ‘four way locking’ – open both ways, closed both ways, entry in only and entry out only. They are relatively cheap and do not require any power.

These analog kitty flaps do not allow selective access. This leaves open the possibility of other pets, stray pets and wild animals, such as foxes, from using the pet door to invade your home and harass your pets.

Magnetic Cat Flap

Magnetic pet doors are similar to conventional pet doors, except the cat flap door requires a magnet to open it. Your pet must wear a collar, with a magnet, around its neck to unlock the pet door. They are more expensive than normal pet doors and the collar can be uncomfortable for your pet.

They may try and succeed to remove the collar and then they can’t use the magnetic cat door. It has also been known in rare cases for cats to get their collars caught when they are roaming around.

Radio Frequency Identification Cat Flap (RFID Cat Flap)

RFID cat doors work in a similar way to magnetic cat flaps. Your cat or dog needs to wear a collar which has an RFID tag on it, and this leads to the same short comings as using the magnetic cat doors.

Microchip pet door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take a look at the best microchip cat flaps, broken down by brand names, such as Sureflap. Here is my Sureflap Microchip Cat Flap review, Sureflap Dualscan Cat Flap review and Sureflap Microchip Pet Door review.

Summary
Why Microchip Pet Doors And Cat Flaps?
Article Name
Why Microchip Pet Doors And Cat Flaps?
Description
Why should you choose a microchip pet door?
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31 thoughts on “Why Microchip Pet Doors And Cat Flaps?”

  1. I never considered the drawbacks of using a conventional flap. After reading this, I’m considering doing away with it. The microchip flap is pricy, but if it helps my cat go in and leaves everything else out, that looks like the way to go. Thanks for the info!

    1. Hi Makki,

      Good to hear from you! Glad you got something out of my post!

      Yeah, I definitely think microchip cat flaps are definitely worth their price tag. Great piece of mind for you and your pets 🙂

      Thanks

      Sean

  2. Since I live in a rural(ish) area with many critters, including raccoons, skunks, rats, possums, and squirrels, I would NEVER install any kind of flap in my door that any animal could use to get into my home. (Though I confess I’m not sure a squirrel would want to come in anyway.)

    SO, some type of door that can discriminate what animal was seeking entry (mine!) is a must for me. I was not aware of the magnetic doors, but certainly feel that the Microchip flap you describe would be the most useful and comfortable for my cat.

    Thanks for the education! And I’m sure there are lots of dogs and cats who thank you, too, as well as their owners who don’t have to worry about finding a skunk skulking around their kitchen!

    Roger

    1. Hi Roger,

      Good to hear from you!

      Yeah it certainly is a big issue for many pet owners wanting to balance allowing their pet to come and go as they please and yet stop stray animals, other pets and wild animals entering into their home. Microchip cat flaps are a great solution to this and your pet doesn’t need to wear a collar that could get snagged on something.

      Thanks

      Sean

  3. Didn’t know there were so many pet flaps. I’m a little confused do all pets have a microship between their shoulders? Are all pets born with a microchip? How does it get between their shoulders?

  4. This is so awesome, I had never heard of anything like this! I am getting new French doors installed and would love to get this installed on my pet door. I really love the four way locking feature. I am bookmarking your site to come back to for sure. Thanks again!

    1. Hi Katie, great to hear you are getting some use out of this post. Let me know how your own cat flap adventures go! Thanks Sean

  5. I have 2 cats that go in and out of the house every 5 minutes. Until I read your article I had no idea these things existed. I am truly blown away. Thanks for providing such great information. I will be talking to my wife to see if this is the way we want to go. Really well done and thanks.
    Cheers, Peter

  6. That is some interesting info. Actually had no idea that you could have a microchip in your cat and connect it to the cat flap. Sounds a bit too invasive too me. Can see the point in giving selective entry, but think I will still stick to a flap without microchip for now, but interesting to know the option is there, and what else I can chose from. Thanks.

    1. Hi Mike, thanks for getting in touch and happy to spread the word! I understand your concern, but the microchip is tiny, it’s the size of a grain of rice, and can be used to identify your pet if they become lost. Thanks Sean

  7. Wow, I had no idea that high-tech pet doors like these exist:D How expensive are the magnetic or RFID flaps compared to microchip ones? Thanks.
    Marek

    1. Hi Marek, thanks for getting in touch! The microchip cat flaps are probably about 2-3 times more but mean your pet doesn’t have to wear a collar which is a huge plus! You don’t want your cat getting caught on bush by the collar and anyway some cats don’t like having the collar on. So worth the investment in my eyes! Thanks Sean

  8. Wow, I didn’t even know these different types of doors existed! We’ve never installed a cat flap because we didn’t want other cats coming into the house so we constantly have to let our cat in & out. This will fix that problem, what an awesome idea. Thank you for the great article. I’m now going to read some of your reviews, cheers.

  9. When it comes to the microchip door (something very cool that I didn’t even know existed), could you transfer this door house to house, or would you have to purchase a new door if you were to move into another home.

    1. Hi Razhede, thanks for getting in touch! Oh definitely this is something that’s quite easy to remove and reinstall. Just need to undo a few screws and away you go! Thanks Sean

  10. Thanks for that information, like others above I was unaware of the microchip pet flap, as my little dog is already chipped I need to look into this product a bit further.
    Wishing you every success.

    Ken

    1. Hi Ken, great to hear from you! Microchip cat flaps are definitely something that could be of value to you and your dog, thanks Sean

  11. Fantastic! I didn’t know about this. And I am sure many of my friends do not know too. I will surely share this useful info to all my friends, especially those who are cat lovers and own cats. Thanks for this article!

    1. Hi Timotheus, glad to hear from you! Also happy to hear you’ve found this post interesting and yeah spread the word! Thanks Sean

  12. Sean! Plus, I shared your url with my son-in-law. They have two cats. This might have saved the life of my daughter’s cat, who went out, not used to the road and was killed by a speeding car. She was used to using kitty litter boxes, could have stayed inside. This was her dear companion pet! She was my baby too! Wish we had known about this before! Sounds like the other two cats chips could be stored in the mechanism and exclude a third cat.

    Lynne

    1. Hi Lynne, that is sad to hear. My mum lost a cat a year or two ago that was hit by a car which was very sad. The Sureflap Dualscan cat flap can be used to keep some cats in and let others out. Other microchip cat flaps can be locked at any time, manually and some others have a timer control on when they are unlocked. Sorry again to hear about your daughter’s cat and thanks for spreading the word. Sean

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