We are a nation of pet lovers! Over 45% of us in the UK have a pet with 18% having a cat, according research by statista. Combine this with our growing love of tech you can easily understand why the smart pet market is booming.
When it comes to cat ownership one big concern is knowing where you cat is. As funny as it may sound cats are very independent animals and come and go as they please. Keeping them inside or monitoring them is notoriously difficult, causing stress and undue concern for owners.
Sure Petcares Smart Cat Flap hopes to change that!
What does it do?
SureFlap Microchip Connect cat flap has all the standard features of a cat flap:
- Keeps your pets in
- Keeps your pets out
- Lock both ways
As it is a microchip cat flap it also restricts access to your registered pets, keeping out unwanted visitors or the neighbourhood bully.
The smart part comes into play with their app, here where you can see a report of exactly when your cat has came in and out. As well as set a curfew mode to limit times your cat can come in and out.
You can also manually update the cats location, if for example he went out via the open back door and not the flap.
The cat flap is the same size as most standard cat flaps:
- Hole size – 165 mm (W) x 171 mm (H)
- Flap opening – 142 mm (W) x 120 mm (H)
This makes it easy to upgrade your existing cat flap without creating additional holes or mess!
No subscription is required, the only on going cost is batteries and these should last 6 months.
How easy is it to setup?
Setup was very straightforward. The first challenge was getting the cat through the cat flap before installing. However this is standard with any chip reading cat flap.
A few dreamies, every cats favourite treat, later and our cat Ronnie was registered.Once the cat is registered you can setup the cutest hub you have seen, yes it does have ears!
One potential issue for some users will be the hub needs to ideally be within line of sight of the flap. This was no issue for us as we have multiple Google WiFi nodes through out the house. If your cat flap and router are not nearby one cheap and easy solution is to plugin the hub into a power-line adaptor.
Once the hub and flap are setup the next step is to install the app and setup a household. This is a great idea as allows you to easily add people to your household, as well as multiple pets.
The hub and flap all easily connected to the app without any issues. The hub does have lights but these can be adjusted inside the app – great touch if you have to have the hub in your bedroom.
Once setup the app alerts you to pets found on the flap. If it is an indoor cat you have the option of immediately selecting as an indoor only cat to prevent them making an escape.
You can then setup your pets profile including name photo as well as breed and weight. Now you have the option of setting a curfew or controlling the flap.
What’s does the SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap Connect cost?
The flap has an RRP of £109.99, the hub is sold separately for £49.99. They also offer a bundle pack for £149.99 – saving £10. The hub work with SureFlaps other connected products.
SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap Connect
What’s the connectivity?
At present the flap does not connect to the rest of your smart home. However we did ask ourselves is this really needed…probably not!
What’s it like living with it?
Our cat loves coming and going as he pleases, often at night. This allows us to easily see when he has came and gone, keeping a record. This is also great to spot sudden changes in behaviour. For example if he suddenly decided not to go out for 24 hours.
The notifications are very cute and highlight how much care has been taken in this products development.
Being able to add users to the household with custom levels of access again shows the attention to detail.If for example you had a pet sitter then can view what your cat has been doing but can’t change any settings.
What are our final thoughts?
The SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap Connect from Sure Petcare provides amazing peace of mind. No more worrying if your cat has come or gone unnoticed.
A lot of care has been taken in the design of the cat flap, hub and app. It’s clear to us this was made by animal lovers and experts who know tech, not tech lovers trying to make a pet product.
We are awarding this our top Smart Pet Product!