What if you happen to live in an area with lots of stray cats, rodents, or other animals that you would not want inside your home, but you want to install a cat flap for your kitty? The problem of stray animals is too significant to ignore, and getting an ordinary hinged cat flap will probably do you more harm than good. In this case, you can consider getting an electronic cat flap. More advanced than a simple cat flap, an electronic cat flap will only let your kitty in to the house, and no intruders.

Electronic cat flaps provide selective access. What this means is that they will only let your cat(s) into the house, or out of the house, but will keep all other strays safely outside the house. Although electronic cat flap options like infrared and RFID can be more expensive, their benefits far outweigh their cost. Also, very importantly, electronic cat flaps are highly energy efficient.

An electronic cat flap uses wireless signals to detect when the cat gets near enough. The cat’s collar also transmits a signal to the flap, which then opens to let the cat in or out. As the cat passes, the flap locks itself again and only opens when the cat returns. This feature makes it all the more secure.

The two most common technologies used in electronic cat flaps, infrared and RFID, have their different advantages. Staywell is a major brand that manufactures infrared cat flaps, and Plexidor has a range of RFID based cat flaps. Infrared cat flaps are more common, and a common advice that the manufacturers give is to install them in a way that ensure minimum sun exposure, as sun exposure can degrade the quality significantly.

Electronic cat flaps use batteries to operate which usually last around 10-12 months, or you can use mains power. The advanced, reliable, and secure electronic cat flap is a very good bet, even for its slightly higher price tag, which is completely justified by its great features and the ease it gives you and your cat.