Cat Mate 221 Large Cat Flap

The magnetic seal is very poor. If it's left unlocked, the flap is blown inwards and upwards, how far open depends on strength of air movement, and remains in that position as long as the wind does, each and every time it blows.

Have had 2 of these now. One installed by myself and the second installed by a fitter when we bought a new door. Neither of them was weatherproof. As soon as it rains it runs down the plastic door and INSIDE the rather than outside. When there's particularly heavy rain we have a large puddle inside on our laminate flooring. Have tried reaching out to Cat Mate themselves on numerous occasions but they simply never reply to any type of email or letter.

I have four cats and a young small dog who bursts in and out - I'm surprised the door has not broken from it's hinges yet - thankfully it hasn't. I have the problems others have mentioned (1) when it is very cold the condensation on the plastic door settles on the brushes at the bottom making the flap unusable. I have had to resort to using a hairdryer to defrost and kitchen paper to dry off before now. Cont.................

Problem (2) one of the red buttons soon worked loose and slides across to the locked position too easily now - this causing a problem. (3) the tabs become full of mud and need frequent cleaning with an old toothbrush. Will be looking at other brands when replacement is needed.

Easy to fit and reasonable quality but, bizarrely, the locking tabs can only be operated from outside.

I was pleased with the size of this cat flap as my Eric is a fat boy, but I'm a bit disappointed with the construction. You can see a gap between the door and door frame of the cat flap so in the winter I think it will be draughty. Also a couple of times he's got locked out, I think he's catching the clips on the way out and then can't get back in. He gets very upset because of this. Having had it fitted it would be a pain to take out and return.

THIS IS A GREAT PRODUCT WHICH I USE FOR MY TWO SMALL DOGS, AS IT WAS ALREADY FITTED INTO THE UPVC BACK DOOR. THE ORIGINAL ONE LASTED ABOUT THREE YEARS BUT BECAUSE MY DOGS CHASE EACH OTHER IN AND OUT TO THE GARDEN, I RECENTLY HAD TO REPLACE IT AS THE DOOR FLAP FINALLY GAVE OUT. BUT I AM HAPPY TO ORDER ANOTHER ONE TO KEEP AS A SPARE, JUST IN CASE!

Our 11kg Maine Coon fits perfectly through this flap. The flap was also accepted straight away by both cats.

Quick and easy to install, the materials are high quality and fit perfectly. The cats love to burst through the flap at high speed. It's still going strong after a year and a half, but I'd definitely buy it again if I needed to.

Our cat is a bit of a porker, but with this flap it looks like he's been on a diet, as he can get through it without any problems. I'll definitely be fitting more of these in my other doors.

I've had this flap since 2004, and all the cats we've had since have loved it. However, I now need a new flap, as my cats have ripped the brushes off the edges, and this part can't be bought again separately.

We like the large size of this flap, and our cats all like it much better than the standard (i.e. small) sized flap that we previously had. Unfortunately though, we have had the same issue as the previous reviewer with the tabs that lock the flap. One of the red tabs (which stops the cats going out) became began to shift out of position easily and jam the flap, and the cats would end up getting locked in or out. This was made worse by the tendency of one of our cats to charge through the flap at top speed - every time he'd do this, this tab (and sometimes the others too) would shift and the flap end up getting stuck. So we've now removed the malfunctioning red tab completely, which isn't ideal either, since one side of the flap isn't completely secure when closed, and our largest cat can force his way through when he puts his mind to it! Another issue that came up even before the tab became damaged was that all of the tabs get clogged with mud very easily, making them difficult to move. This is a problem when the weather is wet, as the cats bring in lots of mud on their feet, which seems to quickly find its way to the edges of the flap. They're also difficult to clean. So I want to like this flap more, as it's a nice size and shape, and is generally good, but it's let down by the poorly designed locking mechanism.

the draught-proofing hairs around the cat flap freeze in very cold weather so cat can neither get out or in!

We just got our first cat and now our first cat flap. It's great for the price, easy to put together and works really well.

A good strong main contruction which was an important consideration for our bengals. Product is only let down by the locking tabs at the bottom which can be pulled off. Once these tabs have been removed once they become weak and repeatedly come off which allows the cats to hide them !