With the world growing ever more technological a big growth area is in technology for pets. We all know about micro chips but I was wondering what other techie things for pets people had experience with.
You can get collar cameras so you can see the world through your pets eyes - very interesting if you have an outside cat and wonder what it gets up to. There are devices that allow you to watch your pet and interact with it while you are away from home - some rescue centers use these on their websites so website visitors can play with the cats. There are timed feeding devices for both cats and fish to release a set amount of food at set times.
Have you used any of these? Would you like to try any of them. What are your thoughts?
I have not tried any kind of the new tech type of things that are made just for pets; but I have seen some that I thought were really interesting. One of the new things that I think is fantastic is the iPad app for kitties. They actually have sevral of those that i have seen. One looks like tiny mice scurrying across the screen, and the cats love to try and catch the mice with their paws. Some of the cats are sure that the mouse must be hiding UNDER the iPad , since it seemed to go under the edge of the screen.
Another really neat app is a cat-painting app. The cat touches the screen, and it leaves a blob of color. Every time a mouse runs across and the cat tries to catch it, there is another splotch of "paint". Eventually your cat has painted everything on thescreen, and you can now print it out and have your very own "cat masterpiece".
I have even seen similar apps that have insects (flies)crawling across the screen, and a whole group of frogs sitting there trying to cath a fly !
I am not sure if they have anything like this that is made for dogs; but I am sure that they have something.
I've tried a couple of the self-cleaning litter boxes. Once they got over their initial fear, my cats were okay with it. If the cat was still in the box when it began raking, it would detect that and back off.
My cats were entertained by it. Since it would begin raking within thirty second or so after one of the cats had exited the box, I think they figure it out. They'd go in the box, whether they needed to or not, then step out of it and wait for it to start raking. Sometimes I'd have four cats watching that thing.
For my part of it, while it sometimes seemed like a handy thing to have, the trays were expensive and litter would build up on the rake sometimes that was hard to clean off. Sometimes I wondered whether it would just be easier to go back to scooping, which is what I ended up doing.
The self-cleaning machines don't last forever either. They cost over a hundred dollars and they last only about a year. They had a one-year warranty so if things worked out well, I could get a replacement but, too often, they barely survived the warranty period.
That is a seriously expensive cat litter box,Kfander ! If it wears out that fast, it doesn't seem like a good deal for the money, either.
However, the story of the cats going in and out of the litter box just to watch it rake back and forth is hilarious! ! I can just totally imagine those four cats all sitting around watching the box "perform" and entertaining them.
That story reminds me of a friend telling me about an acquaintence that had two cats as well as a parrot. The parrot knew that when the owner opened the cans of cat food, the cats would hear the electric can opener whiring, and come running for their dinner.
When the cats went upstairs, the parrot would make the whirring sound like the can opener, and then watch the cats falling over themselves hurrying down the stairs, only to discover that there was no one in the kitchen, and no food.
I am sure that the parrot had a lot of fun entertaining himself with those cats !
12-02-2014, 04:34 AM, (This post was last modified: 12-02-2014, 04:36 AM by kfander.)
(12-02-2014, 03:51 AM)Happyflowerlady Wrote: That is a seriously expensive cat litter box,Kfander ! If it wears out that fast, it doesn't seem like a good deal for the money, either.
However, the story of the cats going in and out of the litter box just to watch it rake back and forth is hilarious! !
That's probably why it wore out so fast. I had five cats using it and even when they weren't using it, they were getting in it to investigate or to make it rake for them.
The same company made a product for multiple cats. I didn't buy it because it wasn't any bigger than the single cat product, except for the container. Because of that, I just figured we'd get the cheaper one and I'd empty it more often. However, it may well be that the multiple-cat box had a stronger motor that would handle more rakes before dying out. The multiple-cat one was more than a hundred and fifty dollars though.
Looking just now, I can see that the regular box is $129 now while their mega box is $165.99. We used the Littermaid ones. We tried one other brand that was cheaper, but it wasn't even strong enough to rake the cat litter once, so we asked for a refund, and got. They didn't want the used litter box back, so we could have simply gotten a refund and kept using it, but it really wasn't usable. Sometimes it would work, but often I'd find it hung up mid-rake.
I might get another Littermaid one sometimes; maybe they have improved the longevity on them. Plus, we only have three cats now.
(12-02-2014, 03:51 AM)Happyflowerlady Wrote: The parrot knew that when the owner opened the cans of cat food, the cats would hear the electric can opener whiring, and come running for their dinner.
When the cats went upstairs, the parrot would make the whirring sound like the can opener, and then watch the cats falling over themselves hurrying down the stairs, only to discover that there was no one in the kitchen, and no food.
I am sure that the parrot had a lot of fun entertaining himself with those cats !
Its not quite the same thing but has anyone experience with the thing that teaches cats to use the human toilet? I think it starts off with a litter tray that fits into the toilet bowl so the cats get used to jumping up and going "on the loo", then you have a litter tray with a hole in the middle so the cats get used to the water in the toilet, then one with a bigger hole so the cat learns to balance over a hole with water - and then you remove that.
I have heard of cats using toilets and do think it is a good idea but I am not convinced the device to train them works and it is quite costly. It would be interesting if anyone has tried it and can give us first hand information.
I've heard of the gadget that helps cats use the toilet instead of the box or outdoors, but I don't know anyone who has tried it. Getting back to the tech gadgets for pets ... I'd love to see a GoPro type of camera for a cat or dog collar. It would be lots of fun to see the world from a dog or cat's perspective.
