158 reviews forSureFlap DualScan Microchip Cat Flap
Upload your product photo07/09/15|Andie
Update, still excellent..
This is so good I now have four. Just to let you know that if you have any issues or queries with the feeder you can contact the very helpful customer service, there's also a forum too with questions and answers. For the owner with the issue of another cat trying to steal food, there is a way of setting up the feeder so it closes when another cat puts its head in, even if the allowed cat is eating at the time. Useful if you want to be absolutely sure a greedy cat isn't eating a prescription diet.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
27/08/15|Tejash Patel
Best Cat Flap Ever
all I can say is I love it and it works on the animals microchip which is really useful as my older cat keeps losing her collar so a collar tag is useless for her. I also use the timer so both her and I know that once shes back after curfew shes locked in until it releases automatically in the morning at the time I set. No more waking up in the morning on Sundays to let her out!!!! yipee.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
17/08/15|Lynda Frost
surefeed microchip pet feeder
I have two cats ,one who is on a diet .The Surefeed Microchip Pet Feeder is brilliant, I did think twice at buying it as i thought it was expensive,but i am so glad i bought it.No more keep putting the food a way,or forgetting to put the food way,or worrying who has ate what,.I must admit i did try to hurry the process of the training mode, and had to go back to the beginning,as my cat took a while to get used to the movement of the lid.so its best not to rush the cat, but the Surefeeder is very easy to use with simple instructions. So now she is a very happy cat,and im a very happy person, so pleased with the feeder.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
10/08/15
great product
Its very pricey which made me hesitate at first but so pleased I did buy one as its been wonderful. It took my cat a couple of weeks to get used to it,but it does explain fully in the handbook how to train a hesitant cat to use it. Now he loves it and it enables me to fully monitor how much and what he eats (he is on a specific prescription diet and can only have small amounts often) . I recently sent for another feeder so impressed, he now has one upstairs and one downstairs. My other cats cant access his expensive prescription diet so this feeder will pay for itself over time.
10/08/15|Mandi
brilliant catflap
I have one cat that must not access normal cat food due to him needing a specialized diet. To stop him getting to the others food we put this catflap as entry into a specific area where the others normal food is placed . It works great, very easy to operate and set up. Took the cats a while to get used to the clicking opening noise of the door as it recognizes their microchip numbers, but that was just a few days, even my 5 mth old kitten got used to it easily
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
01/08/15|Bob
Thomas has total come-and-go freedom
We have had ours for nearly 3 years. The light flashing tells us when the batteries need changing. Other than doing that and a quick wipe over now and again that is all that is needed. It has been faultless.
Thomas loves it but it is funny to see him go out as he nudges the flap with his nose till he hears the click and then exits (of course he could just go out straight away).
We do have one Ginger Tom who very occationally will follow Thomas straight in and can just get through before the Flap locks, But it is rare. Of course it can get out easily.
We thought of using a flap that used a device on a cat collar but Thomas managed to get all his collars of!!.
I would totally recommend this flap, but do be aware it may be too small for very large cats (Bagpuss????)
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
27/07/15|Sarah
Great, but not if you have really smart cats!
I got one bowl so that I could make sure the prescription thyroid diet only got eaten by the one cat that needs it, not the very large one who eats it just because. Works brilliantly, except the greedy one has learned that if he runs at the bowl as the other cat walks away, he can ram his head in and stop the flap from closing. I'm solving the problem by buying a second one so that he can hopefully stick to his own dish - as housecats they're not chipped but 'training' the dish is a piece of cake with the included tag and it took about 5 minutes for my really quite dim cat to lear how to use it. A brilliant idea!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
21/07/15|Andie
Best gadget ever!
After reading the reviews I thought I'd give this a try as I have one cat on a special diet and a greedy youngster that eats anything going. I didn't use the training mode, which keeps the lid up, then the next stage is it moves slightly..as the other cats would have got used to sticking their heads in it too. I manually pressed the button at the back to open the lid when my cat on the diet was near. It took a couple of weeks, then she was using it all the time. I've made the time it takes for the lid to go down longer, which seems the best setting for her. One of my other cats, who is pretty nervous, is now also used to it so may buy another for her so she can graze at will too.
This is quite an investment, but for me definitely worth it. Excellent for cats on special diets or to allow them to graze without greedy cats eating everything.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
01/07/15|helen, ollie and casper
great if you have a greedy cat
this is a great product. I bought two of these as one of my cats eat too much and I was fed up watching them as the other cat is a nibbler. so fat cat was finishing it off. now nibbler can go back and forth till his hearts content. only thing that could be improved on is the split tray. the middle needs to be higher so to seal the wet food from the dry when closed. as after a while the dry food gets damp and spoils. but great for serving one type of food
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
16/06/15|janet h
Great product !
This is one of the best things I have ever bought. One of my cats steals the other's food . She is overweight and trying to keep her on a diet has been a nightmare. Now I don't have to worry as she just cant get into this dish! It took my boy a few days to get used to the lid opening and closing as the movement is quite noisy but now he uses the feeder with no problems . Instructions are clear and it is easy to set up. My only gripe is, that as the feeder is so expensive it should come with batteries supplied. I would recommend this product to anyone in a multi cat household !
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
11/05/15
No more food stealing!
I have an older cat on a Hills prescription thyroid diet who needs to keep her weight up, and a younger cat who cannot stop eating! This feeder has been a godsend. It means I can now leave food down constantly for my older cat (who likes to graze) and the diet food for the greedy younger one. The food stealing was becoming anightmare and I was at my wits end. The surefeed was easy to set up and read both of their chips with no problem. My only grumble is that it didn't include a set of batteries, which given the price I would have expected. That said, it's an ingenious idea - I just hope the mechanism lasts!
06/05/15|Sam
Huge and Great (that's what she said)
This cat flap is amazing, very happy. It is so much easier for our large cats to get through, and no harder for the tiniest one either. In terms of installation size, there isn't a huge difference but the cat door is so much bigger. Also has more options than equivalent "normal" size one. TAKES TYPE C BATTERIES (not included).
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
04/05/15|Rebecca
brilliant idea! Why wasn't this invented earlier?!!
We have three rescue cats. One of them eats all the dried food due to panic over the availability of food. A remnant of life at her old owners when they chucked her out to live in the garden 24/7 with no shelter so her food got spoiled if she didn't eat it all in one go. Our three rescue cats had three bowls of dried food in separate rooms but Lucy still panicked and ate it all meaning the other two, one of whom is skinny, got no dried food unless the bowls were constantly filled up again. When Lucy became super obese (over 7 kilos!!!) we knew we had to do something as she struggled to get in the cat flap and a doggie door was not the answer!! So we bought one of these for the skinny cat, Whitby, and he trained himself to use in only 4 days.
There is a really easy self training program set up within the feeder and it can even recognise microchips that have moved as Whitby's is behind his ear now. It is really easy to scan the cat in. Press the button to get the feeder to look for a microchip, put the feeder near the cat you want to use it, have their favourite treat in the bowl and when they put their head forward to get the treat it reads their chip! The feeder comes with a unique tag for their collar if your cats are not microchipped but that means they have to wear their collars 24/7 to access the feeder without a microchip. We didn't use the tags as our cats go without their collars when they are locked in for the night.
Sadly having just one Surefeed feeder meant that Lucy still stole all the food of our other rescue cat so we then bought two more surefeeds so each cat has their own and we can strictly control their food intake so that Lucy can start to loose weight and Whitby and Leipzig can get the right amount of food. The Surefeed seems expensive but if really cuts down on food bills as each cat gets the right amount and no stealing and it is a lot cheaper and easier than a cat with obesity related problems like diabetes!
We are just training Lucy and Leipzig to use theirs now and they are not phased by it at all despite both being suspicious cats. Batteries are not included, you need 4 x C 1.5 volt batteries for each feeder. The only downside is the price as if you need one of these for a multicat household you need more than one so it is a shame there is no bulk discount for buying more than one at the same time. If this had been invented when we had rescue cats on separate prescription diets this would have made life a lot easier for the humans in our household! The surefeed comes with two bowls. One with a divider in it so you can put wet and dried food in at the same time and one bowl with no divider in it which is super for dried food. It is quiet when it operates and as long as you don't rush your cat through the training they will learnt it easily, but if the next stage is too much you just go back a stage which is really easy and then wait to move to the next stage when they are ready. It runs on batteries only so you can place it anywhere. No need to be near a plug socket. Another bonus is no smell of dried cat food! The lid on it keeps the dried food fresh so out cats are happier to eat the dried food as it stays fresher during the day.
This is a brilliant invention and my only regret is that it wasn't invented sooner.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
03/05/15|Geoff Wheeler
The best cat flap
I've had this cat flap for 15 months now. I didn't rush to review it because previous purchases of another leading brand always ended in disappointment with circuit boards failing due to damp, collar batteries costing a fortune, etc. but this flap is different. It was easy to instal, easy to program and after 15 months is still functioning perfectly. It's the best looking flap and easy to maintain. I've got into a routine of wiping it over with a damp microfibres cloth once a month and I check the batteries each month but the original Duracell batteries are still going strong despite two cats going in and out. My cats don't have to wear any clunky gadgets round their necks and they've never had any trouble getting in or out. They were always getting locked out when previous cat flaps and/or collar gadgets failed. And the local Tom cat hates it. Despite his best efforts he's never got past it. The best cat flap I've owned by a mile!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
03/05/15|Helen Gough
Top Applaws
This is a great product, one of our cats is getting old (19) and needed different food to our other cats. He took no time at all to get used to the feeder, he didn't need all the training that the booklet suggested. Maybe if you have a slightly nervous cat, you would need to take it slow, but the product is great!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
03/05/15|Kate
Who ate all the pies?
I have three cats, one of whom is a very greedy young lady and another is a very fussy old lady.
The youngster would Hoover all the food from the senior citizen's dish, causing a problem on two fronts. The old lady has a different diet to the raw fed kitten, resulting in upset stomachs and excessive weight gain.
This product has cured all that, although reluctant to use it at first, my older cat is now hassle free at meals times.
Product is well constructed, my only gripe is there are no batteries included- at this price there really should be!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
03/04/15|Sue Mason-Burns
A godsend!
Our young cats would forever bully our lovely 17 year old delicate lady off her food so she would miss out, but now she takes great delight in thumbing her nose at them as she walks away and her plate closes, denying them entry. And believe me, they have tried every which way to get in. It's an expensive plate, which put me off at first, but the amount of money I have saved in having to constantly re-feed the older cat has probably already paid for it. Worth it's weight in gold!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
01/04/15|Beverley Ann Smith
Brilliant Idea but .........
This is brilliant but unfortunately my cat will only enter it using her paw and so it doesn't activate it so I have to use it manually !
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
15/03/15|Colin
Great, but watch out for escape artists
We've owned the standard SureFlap microchip cat flap for a couple of years and recently upgraded to the dual scan after getting a 6 month old Bengal kitten as we wanted to keep him indoors whilst allowing free exit and entry for our existing cat. Build quality of the updated flap is of the same high quality, if not slightly better with uprated draught exclusion.
The principle of the dual scan is excellent, however the Bengal learned within 2 weeks that if he follows right behind the other cat whilst he is going outside, the kitten can get out too before it latches. So, a good product but if it's critical that a cat stays indoors, don't rely entirely on the cat flap to keep him in.
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk
07/03/15|mrs caroline barnett
couldn't be without it!
an absolutely brilliant item to have in a multicat household where one of them needs to eat different food to the others. Very easy to use and if you do exactly as instructions your cat will be eating from it in no time at all. so gald it was invented!!
Originally published in zooplus.co.uk