(Excuse the dirt - the cats rarely, if ever, wipe their feet...)

The old catflap - a Staywell Infrared 500 Series. This catflap has been in for a number of years and whilst on the whole has worked well (i.e. stopped neighbouring cats from coming in) it has not been without its faults. The main problem is reliability - the IR function relies on good line of sight between the collar fob and sensor (the latter being located at the top of the unit, the former obviously normally at the bottom!), the batteries need to be in good condition (water ingress can play havoc with the fobs) and of course the cats need to hold on to their collars... ours often didn't!

So, the decision was made to move upmarket and fit a Pet Porte Microchip Catflap. By coincidence I'm sure, the new version (aka the 'Smart Flap') just happens to fit the same cutout as the Staywell range hence fitment was just a case of providing a mains power source and, in my case, accomodating the sensor coil without requiring the use of the external porch (the next slide details some of the benefits of doing it this way).