Have a cat that won’t stay off your counters? I do. I finally got fed up with it enough to do something about it: scare the crap out of him with a motion-detecting blender (while recording the results for my own amusement, of course).
Confused at what you’re looking at? This is a repeating shot of security camera footage of my cat jumping on the counter – in search of a plant to munch on – and initiating my Blender Defender. Take a look at the following comic to get a better understanding 🙂
Videos
Sorry, but you’re going to have to pretend you can hear an extremely loud blender while you watch these clips
Details
If you were to walk in my house, you may see something you dont normally see in a kitchen. On the wall, to the left of my sink is a webcam (network camera). It is plugged into the network jack and screwed into the wall plate cover, supporting itself. It doesnt get it the way, nor do we ever have to think about it. The camera is being monitored for motion by my computer upstairs in our office.
The camera itself is one of the cheapest network cameras out there, the DCS-900. It can be picked up for about $120 or so. There are a couple network cameras that are a little cheaper, but the D-Link one is pretty rugged and makes it easy to get into the raw feeds, something that cant be said for many other cameras.
As you can see from the videos above, the blender and the strobe light are both controlled by an X10 unit. The unit is sent an on or off command from the computer running upstairs by means of an X10 Firecracker. The Firecracker is just a wireless X10 transmitter that plugs into your serial port. I wont get into explaining it much here, but one thing to note is that is happily co-exists with my CM11A unit.
The computer upstairs is running the ‘motion‘ library for linux. As soon as it detects something moving on camera, it starts recording frames. While it is saving frames, it also initiates another Perl script I wrote that sends an X10 command to turn on the blender and strobe, wait 3 seconds, then turn them off. After the script is done detecting motion, it then splices all the JPG frames together using ffmpeg and saves the resulting movie as a SWF file, which you can see above. Finally, after it saves the movie, I have it set up to email me a link to the movie so I can see the results from where ever I’m at (remotely by using my phone).
Is this cruel?
Of course not! To teach a cat not to do something, it has to get the idea that what it is doing is a bad thing. One way to do so is to sternly tell your cat ‘NO’ when it does something. The cat may learn that it is bad, but more often than not, the cat learns that it’s not supposed to it when your around. This is not what you want. The best way to teach the cat not to get on a counter is to take yourself out of the picture. If the cat jumps up on the counter and is greeted with a scare, it will learn that the counter is not a very nice place to be. The cat is never harmed, but it’s instincts tell is that this may be something to be feared. Just like a vaccuum. The cat doesn’t like it at all, so it stays away.
Some will say that the cat is trying to eat the plant because he needs it for his digestion. In this case, it’s just not true. Our cat doesn’t simply eat our plants. He sees them as a toy. He plays with the stalks, digs them out, etc. We find leaves in the other rooms half the time. And, yes, he does get grass every once in a while.
Project Cost
The table below shows how much money would normally go into a project like this. This isn’t to say that I’ve spent this much, as I already had everything lying around the place, but if somebody else were to start this project, this may be what they should expect to pay.
| Item | Notes | Price |
| Strobe Light | Bought from Spencer’s | 20.00 |
| Blender | Housewarming present, woot. | 50.00 |
| X10 Firecracker | Check Ebay and Amazon if you’re looking for one | 12.00 |
| X10 Appliance Module | You wouldnt want a Lamp Module for this. | 12.00 |
| Network Camera | D-Link DSC-900 | 120.00 |
| $214.00 |
Ignore that fool “devo” who claims they have never had a problem with a cat on the counter. I’m sure that every one of those six cats has been on the counter at one time. That’s what cats do! Mine did and I’ll have to remember this trick next time I have a cat.
I would have believed them if they had said “never had a problem – that I know of.” Sounds like they need to grow up.
Everyone who said this was not funny… must have been a woman with a dead bug up ur butt…. it isnt hurting the cat, and those of u that think it is need to stfu… its funny and its not a "cat right" to be on the counter and destroy ur shit… good idea lol
Do your cats continue to get on the counter after they have experienced the blender/strobe light consequence?
The people who don't mind their cat's poopy feet on their counters and chide you for trying to keep your cat from tracking his feces all over your food preparation area have obviously fallen under control of Toxoplasma gondii: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1635495
Would you do this to a human being? No, of course not. Why? Because cats are lazy sly dickheads who will do their utmost to outwit you and go places where they shouldn't. My girlfriend's cat loves to hang out on our kitchen table, where we eat our meals. I love to scare the fat fucker and chase it around the apartment, but I've given up on trying to train it, since the cat decided its best revenge was to puke and piss all over the apartment. Cat is thinking tactics, not strategy. My response? Sodium pentobarbitol. Just need to get the cat to behave badly enough, often enough to persuade g/f that it's the best way forward. So long, kitty.
ROFLMFAO! Riccochet kitty… LOL… Try adding a battery powered squirt gun with a relay operated trigger pointed at the likely cat approach path. Water, noise, and light should truly 'train' the cat off the counter. 🙂
Genius! Luckily my cats have never wanted to get up on the counters (although they sometimes tempt fate by climbing on the side tables now and then). I do NOT like the idea of kitty-feces on my counter, and would likely find something like this to deter them from doing it.
For people who think this is cruel: STFU. Seriously. It's not HURTING the cat. It is startling it. Like you do with a dog when you're trying to train it. It just needs to be a little bit of a STRONGER negative reaction for cats, because they are very strong willed. So 😛 . There is nothing wrong with using noise to deter bad cat behaviour.
From my understanding this is more effective than the squirt bottle so many people swear by (that may only work when the cat sees you reach for the squirt bottle and not when you aren't at home) and what the cat learns is that there are really loud noises up on the counter top so he best just avoid that altogether. That works whether you're there or not.
Have the cats quit jumping onto the counter? If so, what have you done with your $214 worth of gear? If not….????
Cool. Nerdy question though…wouldn't the moving blender and flashing light cause the motion sensor to stay activated, thus keeping the blender and light running continuously? Does the software have a movement threshold or allow detection on a portion of the picture of avoid this?
$214? Let him jump, let him jump, let him jump. (sung to the tune of "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow). Cheez
[b]@Tim[/b]: I have the strobe light and blender turn off after 3 seconds, no matter what. That is why you can always see the blender turn off on all the videos.
[b]@doodlehonker[/b]: I dont like feline fecal matter on my counters 🙂
Wow, I can't believe my name is still on the bottom of this page! That is so AWESOME!!!!!! :0)
You wanna talk about animal cruelty? Iyad Maser in the comments named his cats McCain and Palin. That's just mean.
I laughed pretty good at this one! Brilliant idea but a bit expensive. Devo, you must be one of those new-age hippies or something, because in my and my mother's experience (cats for almost 40 years) they WILL GET THERE if there's even a remote possibility. We've had our Siamese-Oriental get on top of a bookshelf almost 8ft up with only 2 jumps (one to cabinet, one to top of shelf). Cats are Smart, and Strong-Willed. I've seen them do everything from jump up to my shoulders (I'm around 6ft tall) to open doors in one motion and go into our garage with no more effort than an average person. if they think there won't be a problem, they'll do it.
Excellent ingenuity! These videos are simply hilarious. My favorite is the last one, recorded on 10/17, where the cat jumps straight up at the startling development, falls into the sink, runs towards the wall, jumps around the faucet and back out towards the kitchen. Very agile, indeed. I wonder, there is something in your blender, seemingly clear liquid. Water, I presume? Good idea. As you're not home, you don't know how often this might happen and putting something in there could keep the blender from overheating I guess.
For those of us who like this idea but want to keep it cheep and simple. I have used an outside motion detector flood light to trigger the light, blender or Vacuum Cleaner :-). Not quite the fun, but it works.
Cost $15.00 at Home Depot
Or you can just get a spray bottle and spray them with good old H2O when they try to jump up there. It's a lot cheaper. I only had to do it a few times and my cats stay off the counters. However, it doesn't work when you're not there, so if you're gone a lot i can see the necessity in this.
Considering my cat is a strange one and actually LIKES water and will perpetually perpetrate crimes just to get squirted by the water bottle, I LOVE this idea. And it cracked me up! Like Tom, the last is my fav.
Great idea, but why not skip everything but the blender, the motion detector and the unit that would connect it, the blender and the electrical outlet? I don't particularly need to see my cats doing acrobatics, and the sudden loud noise alone would cause them to scatter.
I laughed!
Or you can just, u know, not put a plant on your kitchen surface.
Just an idea.
I LOL'd! That's brilliant! Thanks for the directions. I need to try something similar for my husky.
Or you can just get rid of the furry lizards, and buy a useful pet that's capable of emotion and intelligent thought. (read: dog)
OMG that's funny.
Most excellent use of technology to solve the problem. Watching the videos and reading your site has so many ideas running through my head that now I have to find the time to implement them all. Thanks for the inspiration and the smile!
I did something similar before the open source motion software was available. I basically modified a regular motion sensor so that it could interface with the parallel port on the PC. A little custom program monitors the parallel port and performs custom actions as a result. Cool project though. Wish I would have thought of it.
I "stumbled" across this today. Absolutely funny. I have two cats who jump up on the counter. The kitten(6 months) likes to get up there and sit right by the sink when someone is doing dishes and she plays with the water stream. She doesn't seem to mind getting wet. My favorite video was the last one : )
could of saved some money and just lay contact paper sticky side up
Our cat is stone deaf
I think it is so brilliant I could cry. I've tried everything! Plus I think it will lend some entertainment to my day.
Hilarious!
i just laughed until i drooled.
have you considered putting the puss (IN) the blender ,,done and dusted dude..
Man this is freakin awesome!
That made me laugh harder than I have laughed in years! I love it!
send to americas funny vidos
Too funny!I almost peed my pant….almost. I love the idea of the sticky contact paper too…just seeing a cat try to get that off its feet would be too much.
Really hate cats, but love the idea
my grandmother had valuable intelligent guidelines for homes and health, "never let a cat in the house, they steal your breath,and never let a cat lick your hands or face" yes grandma was right, their dander and urine cause severe allergic reactions and cause respiratory problems for many people also thier scent and urine carry mold mildew and most people don't know that cats can carry up to nine viruses eight of which are transferrable to humans including Epstein barr,faids[feline Acquired immune deficiency syndrome] numerous fatigue syndromes and viruses shown to cause bells palsy and a links to cancer. Don't take my word for it , look it up, numerous documented medical studies with links to prove these illnesses come from ignorant people who allow cats to live in their homes and kiss and lick them,that old tale that their mouths are cleaner than yours? DO you lick your ass? Thought not. Next time someone quotes that slap them.
Sweet! That's worth the trouble for the hilarious videos alone. I'm curious, though, if you've seen any actual behavior modification? Any decrease in counter incursions?
😕 hopefully, those poor cats didn't sprain anything!! jeez! I hope your super smart self at least tried sticky tape or paper first…seems a whole lot ta trouble and money for your strange entertainment. Different strokes for dif folks.
😆 lol quality
Nice man. Im a dog guy cause they are easier to train. But I think your on to something. The best part is you can move it to any where in the house and you would have you cat trained up in no time. Great work
PS this is not cruel to the cat .. it might be if he was sticking the animal in the blender but thats not the case, If you cant control your pet you dont deserve to have one
Fantastic. I too have a cat who trashes plants with boring regularity. We've gone low-tech and thus only have cactus and herbs in the house. We buy him punnets of cress every now and again. Or lettuce.
My cat is black and white too. Wonder if it's a trait…
very good & fun
MY ID YAHOO : Safilo_nikotin
in Iran
OK; "catch scratch fever" is for real. I don't allow a dog to lick me much less a cat. No doubt some persons have allergies to cats. However if cats are as dangerous as some would have us believe, the human population would have died off long ago. Anyway the videos where hilarious. Cruel? IMO, no. Other than rodent control, entertainment is one other thing cats can be good for.
Thanks orangedragon, that's exactly the information I was looking for when I came here :/ Puma STILL makes me laugh like Smedley the Dog… LMAO
Saw this on Sparkfun, your videos made my day.