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I was under the impression that pet microchips have an incredibly short read range, like you have to actually rub against the reader, and on target. The cat wou

by petee 3y ago

I was under the impression that pet microchips have an incredibly short read range, like you have to actually rub against the reader, and on target. The cat would have to be already passing through the door to be scanned. Are they just jacking up the transmission power, which makes me wonder why all the existing chip readers wouldn't do that as well if possible? I briefly looked at building such a chip reader until I saw the disance specs and realized it wasn't going to be practical to train a cat to rub the mid/back part of its neck on some protruding antenna

bo0tzz 3y ago
The read range on the chips is definitely enough that it can be used for cat flaps. There's a few well established brands in the locking cat flap space, like Petsafe and Sure Petcare.
- ajb 3y ago
  Have a couple of these devices - the way they work is that they make the reader coil enormous compared to a flat RFID reader. The cat basically walks through it. Reading seems to work fine, although I'm not sure if it would if the chip had migrated far down the torso.
logbiscuitswave 3y ago
The microchips are basically little RFID widgets that are about the size of a grain of rice. The chip can migrate from between the shoulder blades to anywhere else, and the range is really poor - basically near-contact range. I once tried a pet feeder that would read a cat’s microchip to determine if it would allow that cat to use it. It worked by having an arch with an RFID sensor that the cat would pass under and it would uncover the food for the matching cat. For one of my cats, it worked great because the chip was still between her shoulder blades in the usual spot. For my other cat it had migrated near her ribs and it didn’t work at all.
f4c39012 3y ago
the neighbourhood cats where i live are highly territorial - do cats really try to enter into other's houses, or are rfid locks to protect against other animals getting in?

by petee 3y ago

bo0tzz 3y ago

The read range on the chips is definitely enough that it can be used for cat flaps. There's a few well established brands in the locking cat flap space, like Petsafe and Sure Petcare.

ajb 3y ago
Have a couple of these devices - the way they work is that they make the reader coil enormous compared to a flat RFID reader. The cat basically walks through it. Reading seems to work fine, although I'm not sure if it would if the chip had migrated far down the torso.

logbiscuitswave 3y ago

The microchips are basically little RFID widgets that are about the size of a grain of rice. The chip can migrate from between the shoulder blades to anywhere else, and the range is really poor - basically near-contact range. I once tried a pet feeder that would read a cat’s microchip to determine if it would allow that cat to use it. It worked by having an arch with an RFID sensor that the cat would pass under and it would uncover the food for the matching cat. For one of my cats, it worked great because the chip was still between her shoulder blades in the usual spot. For my other cat it had migrated near her ribs and it didn’t work at all.

f4c39012 3y ago

the neighbourhood cats where i live are highly territorial - do cats really try to enter into other's houses, or are rfid locks to protect against other animals getting in?