Sureflap RFID cat flap–Revisited

February 26th, 2011 3 Comments »

You may remember this featuring on my blog way back in March 2009 (click here for the old post). It is a cat flap (obviously) which cleverly keeps itself locked unless it detects your cat trying to go through, and it only unlocks when it senses your cat’s microchip. Well, we’ve had it installed for nearly two years now so I felt it was time to give you an update on how it has performed.

We are only on the second set of batteries since installation which is excellent. I expect I’ll need to change them soon given the precedence set by the first set, but 12 months out of a few AAs can’t be sniffed at.

The cat flap still works perfectly, and I’ve not found any other cats slipping through uninvited – Tinkerbell can come and go as she pleases. I do have to clean it every month just to make sure the sensor doesn’t get too covered in mud – it’s only stopped working once ever because of that, and it was due to almost a year of build-up.

Anyway, to summarise, go get this cat flap and have your vet microchip your cat. It’s brilliant and I can’t recommend it highly enough – it’s certainly much better than any of the other ‘collar tag’ based ones you can buy in the shops, and it doesn’t have the massive sticking out balcony sensor that the main rival Pet Porte has. Incidentally, I’d suggest you be wary of the Internet forums discussing which cat flap (Sureflap vs. Pet Porte) is the best – a lot of the different users writing about how bad the Sureflap is and how amazing the Pet Porte is seem to have very similar writing styles and like to recommend the Pet Porte using marketing-style snips from the product web site – it’s possibly a devious marketing plan or could be pure coincidence, either way I’d recommend the Sure Flap: It’s cheaper, the batteries last ages, it’s reliable, it looks like a normal cat flap and has a nice low profile. It doesn’t have quite the feature range of the Pet Porte, for example it doesn’t have a light sensor to detect night-time, and if you really need to power it off the mains you’d be better off with the Pet Porte – but that will set you back a bit more cash. In the interest of equality, I’ve included a link to the Pet Porte on the right here so you can choose to ignore my opinions and make up your own mind!


Stressed Cat part 2

February 17th, 2010 1 Comment »

I decided to take Tinkerbell to the vet this afternoon after discovering a bald patch on her stomach, and the exposed skin looking quite red and sore. Thinking  it was a tick or fleas, I presumed it was going to be a fairly straight-forward  trip. Sadly not… turns out it is probably all behavioural and she’s been prescribed some kitty prozac to chill her out. Really…. and just to rule out any possibility of medical issues I have to somehow collect a urine sample. Actually that might not be too difficult given a pipet and 10 minutes following her around in the garage. Anyway, since the visit to the vet she is now refusing to go in her nice heated bed and has firmly planted herself on the concrete floor under my fake’n'decker work bench. B loomin’ stupid cats.

Just Curious?

February 12th, 2010 1 Comment »

 At 00:08 this morning, the following images of suspect T were captured:

In the first image, we see suspect T approaching the camera. Nothing illegal happening here.

In the second image, suspect T gets even closer to the camera, probably just looking to see what all the humming noise has been down this end of the garage for the last couple of days.

Finally, suspect T walks past the camera, and the subsequent images are all dark as he / she attempts to mask his / her activities by rubbing around the lamp underneath the camera.

I follow up the incident by checking out the crime scene, but this time around it seems like suspect T was just casing the joint. Forensics have turned a blank and we have no evidence on which we can build a case. For now.

No wee yet… have a look

February 10th, 2010 1 Comment »

I’ve decided to make CatPeeCam1 live to the world for the duration of this little brother experiment.

Click here to view the live feed

You’ll need to make sure you’ve not got pop-ups blocked and it’s been tested working in Internet Explorer and Firefox. If Internet Explorer asks you to install an add-on, that’s fine if you trust me! Oh yes, and there’s some controls in the window to allow you to move the camera around if you wish. In the unlucky event that your play session conflicts with someone else, you’ve both end up fighting for control. If you do spot Tinkerbell then grab a screenshot and send it to me…

Cat Pee Sting Op

February 9th, 2010 No Comments »

I spent quite a few hours cleaning out the garage floor over the weekend and the smell of cat wee has nearly gone… but it’s still there slightly so I’m not sure if Tinkerbell is still using the garage floor and it’s drying out before I find the evidence or not, so here’s the plan:

I’ve cleared the whole suspect area of all clutter and have installed a lamp and camera to keep an eye on things. The camera is motion sensitive so will capture any activity… I’m hoping for no movement at all, but if it does capture anything I’ll know where to look. If this fails then my next idea is to feed her Sunny Delight so the smelly spots show up bright orange. This little picture is the view from the camera taken just now as I write this post. I’ll be sure to report back with my findings tomorrow…..

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