Customer Reviews

Cat Mate Electromagnetic Cat Door

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I just returned the one I purchased 3 weeks ago. The door works fine except if you have racoons, skunk or other intelligent creatures that want your pets food. The problem is your pet only needs a key to come IN but not go out--OUT is completely open. Racoons are smart enough to pull open the door from the outside since it is only locked swinging in. Alternatively, you could bend down and lock the door every night once your cat is inside but that defeats one of the main reasons for buying these doors. Therefore pay attention to what the mfg. says. This one said:
"4 settings: 2-way, entry only, exit only and locked "
Their concept of 2-way is key required to come in but no key required going out. I want one that requires a key in both directions so the other animals can't get in at all.

I originally bought the Pet Safe Magnetic door (not this one) because I liked the idea of not needing batteries as this one did. I needed an electronic door for a feeding box to separate my two cats during feeding time since one had to be put on a prescription diet. I was going to put the non prescription cat's food in the box (since it would be bad for the sick cat to eat the regular food, but not the end of the world if the other cat had a bit or two of the prescription food).

The sick cat is definitly the dominate, more food-motivated cat, so I figured he'd be first at the trough when the auto-feeder went off with his food anyways. So, everything should have worked out.

I bought a large storage tote with handles that locked over the lid, cut the door-sized hole in the side of it, installed the door, and set it up with the non-perscription food in it.

Literally, in under 10 seconds, the dominate, food motivated cat had popped the Pet Safe door open and had gained access to the off-limits food. I returned that door.

I think it really is a design flaw on the Pet Safe door that the latch that holds the door closed until the magnetic tag trips it is located at the bottom corner of the door. When a cat (or raccoon) pushes hard enough on the other corner, the clear plastic door is flexible enough that the whole door just pops over the latch that is supposed to be holding it closed.

I ended up deciding to get two other different doors so each cat could have their own private eating space. I got a Cat Mate magnetic door (the one described on this page), and a Cat Mate Super Selective microchip activated door. The magnetic Cat Mate door is similar in price to the Pet Safe, but the Super Selective costs about twice as much. But, if you have two cats in my situation, you can't have two magnetic doors because any magnet will open either door, so they wouldn't be kept away from the other's food.

I love the Cat Mate doors. Even on the magnetic one, the latch is centered at the bottom of the door, so it would be much harder to get open just by pushing on it. But, a smart racoon with claws might figure out that he could pull the door back toward him and get in that way. My cat that is not allowed in this door is not super agressive, so I haven't seen her try to get in, but I can tell this is a sturdier magnetic door than the Pet Safe and would probably keep most all cats out.

The Cat Mate Super Selective has little pegs that pop up into the base of the door and hold the door in place from both directions, so it is advertised as "racoon proof." I have found it to be very effective against my food bully tomcat. He's almost tipped the box over (and spilled the water bowl inside), but he hasn't opened the door. Plus, if you have several cats you need to separate, the Cat Mate Selective or Super Selective is your only option since it senses each cat's unique microchip tag and allows or disallows access based on each individual cat's chip. If you only need to separate two cats, or two groups of cats, you can get away with using one magnetic door and one microchip door.

In summary, I would not use the Pet Safe magnetic door if I were using it as a door to the outside. It would be too easy for other animals to get in. If you need to separate indoor cats for feeding purposes, and none of the cats are too strong or motivated to get at the other's food, the Pet Safe door might work, but I believe the Cat Mate options are better designed, sturdier, and just better doors. I've been using these for just over one month now, and am very happy with them both.

I've had this door for a little over 5 years now. It replaced a flap only door that was used with a sliding glass door insert (purchased at Home Depot, only had to slightly enlarge the hole to get it to fit) that was letting all the neighbors cats in too.

Overall it works as expected by keeping the neighbors cats out (one of them was quite hilarious, it laid on its side and was pounding on the door with its paws)... that is when its working correctly. First problem that arose after a while was the door wouldn't close all the way when my cat would come in, it would hit the latch and stop (its supposed to hit the latch and push it down) which would let the neighbors cats in again. I fixed that by using a small file to put a 45 deg angle on the door edge so it could pass over the latch easier, and also added some weights to the door.

It did keep the raccoons out, but only as long as they tried pushing the door to get in. They soon figured out they could put their claws underneath the door and pull it open (door only latches one way, the other way it freely opens). So if raccoons are a problem you'll need a different door that can latch both ways to keep them out. You could install 2 of these if you had the space, one for in, one for out, and set the 4 way switch so it can't open in the unlatched direction, but that'll be a trick to teach your cat which one to use when! I ended up having to move the door to another sliding glass door in the house.

The magnet does need to always point down to open the door, but I keep my cats collar fairly loose (can easily get 2 fingers in, and its an all elastic collar) so even if the collar spins around the weight of the magnet will rotate it so its facing down again when he is walking.

Battery life was a concern at first but hasn't been an issue at all, seems to last a very long time. I've never had one die but I still replace it every so often when I think about it.

I'm having to get spare parts now, the edge of the door broke where the latch is located so it effectively became a cat flap again. I was wondering why my cats food was disappearing so fast!

Overall I would recommend it if all you have it a flap only door now, but unless they have changed their design since I bought mine you will need to tweak it to get it to work right. And definitely don't expect it to keep raccoons out, at least not for long.

Update: Reliability of the electronic portion of this door is poor. The coil on it fails for some reason. The first coil lasted for years, but two of the replacement coils I installed since didn't even last a year. The company doesn't warranty replacement parts either. So now it leaves me wondering when it will leave my cat stranded outside again. I lowered my rating from 3 to 2 because of this.

We used to have a problem with neighbors' cats following our cat, Amber, into the house. One cat in particular was inside fighting with Amber and making its mess for several days while we were out of town. This problem was totally eliminated after we installed the Animate Electromagnetic Cat Door. Installation to replace the conventional kitty door was pretty easy, and Amber had no trouble wearing the magnet on her collar and learning to use her new door. Highly recommended!

Don't buy this door. It has serious design flaws. We bought ours less than 2 months ago and went to all the trouble to install it and now we have to rip it out and buy a new one -- a different brand this time. One of the many problems with this brand is that the flap sticks partly open - doesn't always close all the way. So when my cat comes back into the house, the flap stays partly open which allows all the neighbor cats to freely enter our house. I tried applying WD-40 to the hinges, I tried trimming the weather-proofing strip, I've tried everything. It's just poorly designed. Both the hinge and the flap are plastic and the flap is lightweight, so the friction is just keeping the flap open. I never ever review products, but this thing has gotten me so mad that I decided to submit this review in the hopes that someone else can avoid my frustration.

I've probably bought 10 of these doors over the years, to install in different houses that I've lived in. (I used to move a lot.) Now I'm going to buy two more because I want the cats to be able to go from the house to the garage (1 door) and from the garage to outside (2nd door) in our new house. I suppose the inner door wouldn't have to be a lockable one, but it would give double protection against other critters making it in behind my cats and also hopefully discourage my cats from carrying "items" (like rodents) into the house. My theory is that the rodent would hang down low enough that the magnet MIGHT not work to open the door. (Well, one can only hope.) Any company that can invent a way to prevent cats from carrying things into the house would make a killing (no pun intended).

To the person who said the door was stuck in the half-open position, that happened to me once. The problem was that the hole in the door was just a tad smaller than it should have been, and so it put pressure on the frame of the cat door, preventing the hinge from moving freely. If you take it out and shave off a few millimeters from the width of the hole in your door, then reinstall it, that should fix the problem.

I purchased this item because I needed a way to allow my cats access to the house (for food, water, and safety), but to keep other animals (racoons) out.

The door is relatively easy to install, provided you have the necessary tools (a jigsaw, a drill, and a screwdriver). However, the magnets that are supposed to open the latch to let the cats in are not very strong, so the cat can't always get in, even *if* you've managed to convince it that it's a good idea to try. The magnets basically have to be in a *very* precise location (margin of error is about 1 cm) in order to actually open the door.

So, if you need to have a restricted entry system, I would seriously recommend going for a higher-quality product; this one is pretty medicore.

p.s. the cat in the product photo is obviously not a full-size cat; the door flap is *barely* big enough to allow my cats in (and they're medium-sized; not overweight or a large breed).

Like many American products these days, it's designed poorly to keep the cost down -Plasticky!. It keeps other cats out of the screen porch, but the Raccoon still gets in. If you can get your nail, claw or whatever under the door, it can still be opened.
Another stupid thing in RE: this item- Amazon's stock # is wrong with other vendors (if it ships from Petsmart, or StateLine Tack) and you will get the SMALL cat door as opposed to the "Pet Door" and if you have a fat cat, you'll be sending it back.

I was reluctant to saw a hole in my door to install a product that seemed too good to be true. I'm glad I did because this door actually works. Now the cat has complete freedom to come and go. There's a dial to allow the cat to travel inside only, outside only, to not open at all, or both inside and outside for complete freedom. During the first few days while the cat learns how to use the door I suggest leaving it set to open either way at all times to prevent confusing your pet. The opening is pretty small so if you have a particularly large cat it might have a hard time getting through. I've only had this product for a week so I don't how well it will hold up over time. With only a few moving parts and a sturdy plastic body it seems like it will hold up for a few years. I would buy this again even it only lasted a couple of years because it solves what had been a big issue of trying to manage the indoor/outdoor routine of the cat.

This door did not crack or fall apart like the staywell cat door, but it did not keep my cats in when in the lock mode. It does a great job of keeping strays out and they were unable to crack it open.