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 |
❓ :exclaim: ➡ 💡
😈 🙄 :red: 👿 😥 😮 😕 😎 😐 😀 😉 🙁 😆 😛 :)lol
It's Called "Traumatic Conditioning" Your Cat will be suffering from PTSD for some time. I can tell you aren't MARRIED… Nice attempt. You could get a job at GITMO. Put us all down as 'references.' :+http://plasma2002.com/images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif
😈 👿 😮 😎 😎 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 👿 👿 👿 😈 😈 😈 my other cat named socs goes on the counter and eats eny food thats on ther (even rotten then she pukes like hell around the house ) (best thing is,my sister cleans it up)lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol 👿 👿 👿 😈 😈 😈
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Here's an idea. WHY NOT just move the plant where the cat can't get at it?
Our cat rules the house and we are his SERVANTS. He even made us place the litterbox in the hallway so we have to step over it to go up the stairs.
I love my big MeowMeow, but he thinks he is a Mountain Lion.
He used to be a Devil Cat. he would sneak into our bedroom at night when we were sleeping and dig his claws into our exposed feet!!! That is a terrible way to wake up!!!!
Great Electronics and technology to do that. U must have plenty of surplus money to fabricate such an elaborate mechanism! I would just move the plant.
Someone here actually said you could get a job at gitmo. hahahahhaha you know she/he has about 30 cats
It looks like the cat isn't as scared of it in the second/third videos. The cat nearly flipped fully over in the air in the first video, but the cat just slinked away in the third video…
Pretty cool if you ask me though
Âåñüìà âîçìîæíî. Èíîãäà òàê ñëó÷àåòñÿ.
Seems like the black and white cat is already getting desensitized, you may need to increase the shock and awe voltage soon! Maybe add a vicious sounding barking dog?
Very cool setup and thanks for sharing it.
Cute but I purchased a motion sensor that sits on an air canister (makes a loud noise and sprays a burst of air) for way way less money and its as/more effective.. I strapped it to the top of my bird's cage and my cats each got a blast of air once and never tried again.
OH MY ! so funny !! AHAH ! thank you for the video of your cat !
HOLA PSS
LA VERDD ESTA MUY CHISTOSO TU INVENTO PARA GATOS 😆
We have a Jack Russell Terrier that pushes out window screens and escapes that way. He's contained in the back yard with livestock electrical fencing wire and we need to prevent his escape from the windows. Any ideas?
🙂 🙂 🙂 This is a great idea! Hahaha! The cat is not getting desensitied, hes just a lot farther away fromthe blender, next to the camera in that vid. Wow this is a great idea!!
I've seen other similar projects arround; the funiest one is the one thars sprays water every time the cat is near the banned spot. Its a little cruel but after 2 or 3 times the cat never show up again on the banned spot.
Interesting project, but awful expensive way of training a stupid cat. Love the tech, needs a better implementation. cheers.
I built something along these lines but it cost a bit less. I went to Walmart, picked up a motion detecting flood light ($9.95) and a cheap extension cord ($.99). I then rewired the detector and hooked up a vacumn cleaner to it. I'm currently using this to keep the cats from tearing up a nice area rug in the living room. The vacumn only runs for 8 seconds when they trigger it, but it doesn't get triggered much anymore after only a few weeks of training.
To keep the Jack Russell off the screen. Put the exact electric fence wire across the window (non-charged). If he doesn't respect it. Run a new live wire away from the fence a few feet, then see if he touches the wire across the screen.
Holy Chit! I almost pee'ed myself watching that, but looks like a great way to break them of doing it. Thanks for the idea's…
We have home built doggie door for our dogs…
So one Saturday morning we're in bed and hear our pet goats in the kitchen and living room. At least lima bean size goat poop can be vacuumed up.
This is great. How about hiding the blender behind the plant? That'll make Blackie jump even higher the next time.
This is great. I've read that the "booby-trap" method is the best way to train kittens to respect boundaries, as they don't associate the dissuasion with the trainer. Good work!
This is cruel. Cats do silly things that make me laugh all the time, but to set a terrifying trap for your own pet like this is mildly deranged. People who think this is funny are despicable. You wouldn't do this to your kid or your dog. You need to keep a pot of cat grass for your pet (which is actually oat grass). A pack of seeds lasts a year and costs $3. I have a cat and she hasn't touched any of my other plants since I started planting cat grass for her two years ago. She eats the grass every day and she loves it.
Mark – I ABSOLUTELY would do this to my dog &/or children. This is hysterical, not cruel. How many times have you been suddenly scared by something, then laughed at yourself because of your reaction, or laughed at someone/something else for it? If you say never, then you're lying. This was funny & if its effective, its a great, non-cruel way to get your point across. This was funny.
[b]@Mark[/b] – Please read before you complain. I do let the cats have grass. They dont get on the counter to just eat the plant, but mainly to play with it. To make the animals learn something, invoking its natural response to its environment is best. And removing the owner (me) from its environment leaves it to believe that something really IS bad, instead of it just thinking that something is bad only when i am around.
This is great, but would not work for my cats. They would be frightened the first few times. After that, they would have started making things in the blender.
I think this is a great idea. I have the Psstcat or whatever it's called, a motion-detecting aerosol that scares the crap out of my cats with a spray of cold white fog, but I like this idea much better.
That is just great, I love it! We have a whole slew of scheming cats that could use a good scare once in a while. I have a D-Link DCS3220G wireless G camera with an I/O connector with relay output that could let me replace the X10 with a simple relay switch to actuate a house current scare device. My NOC is the back room of my house and I like to keep the doors to the rest of the house open, but I don't want the cats in there. An ultrasonic siren and strobe triggered by the camera could be an ideal solution that isn't too obnoxious for humans. I also have an air tank that I always keep charged (to blow the dust out of all the equipment periodically and other uses) and somewhere I have some solenoid valves so that might work too. Boy do they hate air blasts!
😈
I love it! I saw this when you set it up, last year and just came back to show a friend. I'd also like to say that I'm a veterinary student, and I would like to reaffirm the following; 1) The stress of the strobe and noise will not harm or kill any cat with normal heart function 2) cats do not only eat plants when they're sick. There are many reasons kitties eat (and play with) our plants, one of which is boredom. 3) This is a very effective training method. 4)There's no harm getting a few laughs out of a well-loved animal. 🙂
I AM SO GLAD YOU EXPLAINED ALL THIS CAUSE IF YOU DIDN'T I AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD WOULD BE ASKING ….YOU NOT ONLY THINK UP NEAT TRICKS TO AMUSE US (AND THE CATS) BUT YOU EXPLAIN HOW IT IS DONE …SMARTY! 🙂
I AM SO GLAD YOU EXPLAINED ALL THIS CAUSE IF YOU DIDN'T I AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD WOULD BE ASKING ….YOU NOT ONLY THINK UP NEAT TRICKS TO AMUSE US (AND THE CATS) BUT YOU EXPLAIN HOW IT IS DONE …SMARTY! 🙂
hh. love it
hahaha ri muito,e funfa mesmo! kkkkk
Hauauhauahuaha…… Nice idea… So great
Well….. it's so cruel… but is funny… auhauauah
Muito bom… parabens pela criatividade…
I liked it a lot. But I would prefer something like an electric shock generated by a TV fly-back 😈
Very funny!!! Good job!!!
Fantastic, is very good! / Fantástico, isto muito bom ! 😆 😆
I from Brazil / Sou do Brasil
Congrats, ur cats are very cute! if i still had a cat, i would use this to defend my couch, 🙂
good job!
Fantastic… and the best: running Linux!
Congratulations guy!!!
Very funny!!! I like it, but I can't wait to see the video posted in a couple of months that shows the cat sleeping right next to the blender and the strobe light as it goes off. Then what are you going to do?
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×èòàòü íîâûå ïîñòû ïðîùå, ÷åì ÷åì ïîäïèñàòüñÿ íà ëåíòó, áðåä, þçàþ opera 10
Mark you and I disagree,because I not only put stuff on the counter to scare the cat or the dog. But put a live rat trap since all our dogs were busy bodies/nosey, and had long noses so I could put it in an area that wold catch rats but not so far under that a long nose dog would get it to. And all 4 got it and you should hav heard them.
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👿 this is evil
Wow, you spent 214 dollars on keeping your cat off the counter. Great use of money!
Just a reiteration – I did not spend that much money (listed above) on setting this system up. Im tired of people saying I'm foolish to do so. Maybe if they would READ, they would see that I specifically said the price reflects how much somebody else would have to spend to replicate this setup. Of course im not going to spend hundreds of dollars to do this. [b]I already had the equipment[/b]
My dog has gotten at least 10 loaves of bread, cake mixes, fruits, vegetables, and the like off of the counter…"Where have you been all of my life!"
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