Pet doors
Before comparing features, answer two questions: how many digits is your cat’s chip, and is the flap going into a door, a pane of glass or a wall?
A 15-digit chip opens every flap in this guide. An older number narrows it sharply, and a chip that reads intermittently — usually one that has migrated — is solved by a collar tag rather than a different door.
A flap is designed for a door panel. Everything thicker needs extenders that cost a real fraction of the flap.
A curfew is genuinely useful and doubles the price. Decide on the chip and the wall first; then decide whether you want the flap to lock itself at night.
The core use. Chip recognition is what stops the neighbor's cat eating the food and spraying indoors.
A curfew or one-way setting, which suits areas with roads or wildlife concerns.
A flap in an internal door that only one animal can pass. Useful for feeding and for litter access.
A plain flap does this and costs far less. Not every household needs chip recognition.
| Your door | What it needs | The difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden door | A jigsaw and care | Straightforward |
| uPVC door | A panel or careful cutting | Moderate |
| Glass door or window | Drilled hole and adaptor | Professional job |
| Wall | Tunnel extension | The most work |
A cat flap lives in weather and takes constant small impacts. The seal, the magnets and the battery contacts are what degrade, and a drafty or sticky flap is usually the seal rather than the mechanism.
The concerns are the cat being locked out and the door itself as a security point.
Microchip · 4 × AA · up to 12 months of battery · 4 locking modes
The plain SureFlap: it reads your cat’s chip, keeps the neighbor’s cat out, runs a year on four AA cells, and has no app at all. It is the one most households actually need.
Best for: One or two cats, a wooden door, and no interest in an app — which describes most homes.
≈ $135
15-digit chips · up to 40 pets · 4 manual modes · weather seals
The cheapest microchip flap here apart from the Cat Mate, reading 15-digit chips for up to 40 animals, with four manual locking modes and double magnetic closing points.
Best for: A first microchip flap on a budget, where the cat’s chip is a modern 15-digit one.
≈ $110
Microchip or RFID tag · app · timed curfew · 178 × 170 mm (7.01 × 6.69 in) opening
The large Connect flap: app control, a programmable curfew, and an opening of 178 × 170 mm (7.01 × 6.69 in) for big cats and small dogs.
Best for: A household that wants the cat in before dark without standing at the door — and a cat too big for a standard flap.
≈ $260
Any vet can read it in seconds and it is on the registration paperwork. Fifteen digits is FDX-B and works with every flap here; 9 or 10 digits is an older standard that only some models read.
Tunnel extenders, at 50 mm (1.97 in) each, proprietary, not included. A 300 mm (11.8 in) masonry wall needs about five — that arithmetic belongs in the purchase decision, not after the hole is cut.
Most flaps read the common standards, but not every chip is readable by every flap. Confirm against your cat's actual chip number and type before buying.
Only with a hole drilled by a glazier and a mounting adaptor. It is a professional job and it changes the cost of the project considerably.
Prop it open at first so the motor does not click, then let it operate once the cat is confident. Height and position matter too.
The flap locks, which means a cat outside. Models that warn in advance are worth choosing, and spare batteries are worth keeping.
Models with a curfew or one-way locking do exactly that. It is a separate feature from chip recognition, so check for it specifically.
It depends on how many chips the model stores, which varies. Each cat also needs its own training period on the new flap.
For the animal that: One or two cats, a wooden door, and no interest in an app — which describes most homes.
Its main plus: A year on four AA cells — no charger, no cable, no account
Its main minus: No app, no history, no notification when the cat comes and goes
For the animal that: A first microchip flap on a budget, where the cat’s chip is a modern 15-digit one.
Its main plus: Cheaper than the plain SureFlap and does the same core job
Its main minus: Reads 15-digit chips: an older 9 or 10-digit chip will not work
For the animal that: A household that wants the cat in before dark without standing at the door — and a cat too big for a standard flap.
Its main plus: The curfew is the feature: the flap locks itself at night whether or not you remember
Its main minus: Needs the Sure Petcare hub to connect — check what is in the box before ordering
Refills, liners and spares from the same aisle, at the price we read. Confirm they suit the product you choose before ordering: it turns on the model and the part number, which the listing gives.
Direct comparisons already published between two products from this guide or this aisle.
The products above are drawn from the catalog of this site. Specifications are those the manufacturer and the Amazon listing publish; prices are what Keepa recorded on the date shown, and both move. The order uses declared specifications, stated strengths set against stated limits, and price. Nothing here has been given to an animal by us, and the page makes no such claim.
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Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Litter boxes and grooming vacuums swing by a hundred dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
