I’m ever grateful to the neighbour who first told me about microchip cat doors! Whether your pet is an indoor-outdoor cat /dog / bunny or an indoor cat or small dog that you want to have access to a “catio” the cat and pet doors offered by Sure Petcare are a revolution.

I started out with a simple 2-way cat door, which meant my cat (which believe me was going outside no matter what – even when he was a kitten Milo would dash for the door as soon as it was open, with some panicked moments where he nearly got squished as people tried to slam it shut) could safely come in and out without worrying about other cats coming in. It allowed me to manually change the settings to keep him in overnight as well as giving him the independence he demanded.

Next there came the cat feeders – with 3 cats giving them a feeder each meant that the previously feral kitten Ashton didn’t get the chance to inhale / vacuum everyone else’s wet / raw food after inhaling his own, and those with a more casual / fussy approach could eat their food in their own time. As a bonus, Ashton has also slowed down his eating over time.

I now also have one of the “connect” cat doors – which allows app control and monitoring of when your pets go in and out. It does require also buying a hub – which is linked to the modem and app – and has cute light up pet ears.

My biggest cat is around 6.5kg, and while it is a reasonably snug fit in and out he hasn’t ever seemed to have any problems with that – but for Maine Coons and small dogs the company also do a pet door, which also comes in 3 different set ups, with the standard one, one that allows different settings for different pets, and the “connect” app controlled one.

The doors are not only able to be set for your own pet(s) microchips, they are also far more draught-proof than many of the options available.

Make sure of course that as well as the day to day convenience these products can give you that you also register your pet(s) microchip(s) on your local pet register, so that if they do ever get lost you have more chance of being reunited.

Happy patting everyone.