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back to article Be Your Own Big Brother: Peeking at pussy

Last year, the BBC's Horizon programme treated the cats of a Surrey village to individual cameras, and their own prime-time spot on TV to share the results. And now the Beeb is at it again with Cat Watch 2014, hoping to find out a little more about what our feline companions get up to. Youtube Video Whether you're a dog or a …

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  1. Peter2 Silver badge

    > Now, all I need is someone to add frog detection code, so the flap won't open when Cagney and Lacey are bringing me "treasure"

    I know somebody with an ex stray cat. It has brought home it's food precisely once which was before she fitted the cat flap. She opened the door, looked at what the cat was carrying and then slammed the door before it could get in.

    She has since had a cat flap installed, but despite this her cat has never once brought home anything, dead or alive. Now, that could be coincidence. It could be. I'm not convinced it is.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Nigel Whitfield.
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      A little too late to try that trick for mine; the cat flap was here from previous generations when I acquired Cagney and Lacey.

      They have brought me stolen balls, big wet leaves, and feathers, all of which are pretty much ok. But it's the frogs... even the tiny ones can be carried carefully in the mouth, to ensure maximum squeaky hoppy fun when they're lovingly deposited indoors and poked.

      Some nights, I have to find something to wear in the middle of the night so that I can go outside and put a frog back in the pond three times.

      I have pondered, though, not putting anything on, and arranging tea lights in the form of a pentagram outside, just to see what the neighbours say if they look out of the window at 3am and see me standing in it, holding a frog in my hands.

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      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
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        Coat

        I'm sure you'll quickly find out what the neighbours think when the constabulary steps out of the shadows to ask you what it is exactly that you're doing ;)

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      2. Number6
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        One of our cats somehow learned that if she took a live mouse into the shower, she could play with it happily in there because the mouse couldn't climb out of the shower tray. The first we'd know of a new arrival would be thumping noises from the bathroom as the cat did backflips and other strange contortions. If I heard her, I'd go supervise because just occasionally she'd whack the mouse with her paw and give it enough momentum to escape into the bathroom. I usually managed to grab these, and once confiscated, would be returned outdoors. The ones that weren't so lucky would end up as a pile of entrails, fortunately easy to clean given the location. Mouse skulls audibly crunch when chewed, who knew?

        3 0 Reply
  2. Adrian Jones

    Preventing little presents

    Many years ago, there was a homebrew catflap system someone created, which used a diffused disc of light and a webcam to view the silhouette of the cat's face. Then image recognition software decided whether the flap should be unlocked.

    It was (iirc) initially designed to keep out the neighbours' cats, but had the positive side effect of preventing the creator's own moggies from bringing in takeaway meals.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Preventing little presents

      http://www.quantumpicture.com/Flo_Control/flo_control.htm

      3 0 Reply
  3. frank ly

    Video taken by pet - copyright

    You need to get its pawprint on a single sheet agreement giving you full rights to any image or sound recordings made during its time wearing the camera supplied by you. It's important to state that it can spend time with its own camera, outside the scope of the agreement, to ensure that the agreement couldn't be interpreted as unfair or onerous by a court (if it ever came to that). A few lines about undertaking to obey all applicable privacy laws would also be a good idea.

    7 0 Reply
  4. Alan Ferris

    Essential viewing

    It's the only program that my cat watches

    3 0 Reply
  5. heyrick Silver badge

    I hope the automatic feeder has a slow lid

    We had a little IR beam feeder that detected the presence of the cat. Whoosh, up went the lid. Cat wasn't amused but saw the food. The fail was the cat, parked to eat, was not a moving object so the feeder tried to close the lid. Whoosh, smack. Slammed down with cat head in the way. Cat wasn't hurt, but never went near the feeder again.

    2 0 Reply
  6. razorfishsl

    Don't forget to secure your camera, otherwise you pussy will be on show to the world…..

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    1. Unicornpiss
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      Coat

      When my cat read your comment...

      All the hairs on my pussy stood straight up! (nod to Mollie Sugden)

      0 0 Reply
  7. Dave Bell

    Cats have some strange people.

    Fascinating program, but I rather fancied that the cats would be happier if the humans were a little less urbanised. If you're a farmer, with livestock experience, you tend to notice things a little more. The cat isn't such a mystery. They're not like dogs, but the social cues are there.

    0 0 Reply
    1. launcap Silver badge
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      Thumb Up

      Re: Cats have some strange people.

      >They're not like dogs, but the social cues are there

      Well quite. And (since I was programmed by cats from an early age) reasonably easy to read.

      Confuses the hell out of dogs though - the major indicators are completely opposite (dog put ears back == submissive. Cat does likewise == prepare to get shredded. Same applies to tail wagging and lying on their backs..)

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  8. Valeyard

    I'd like a cam collar

    But my cat brings back rabbits, lots of rabbits, so we fit her collar with a big loud bell

    this means she tries her hardest now to get rid of collars, and she's very good at doing so

    i'd like a live GPS one just to track where all the collars are going rather than the cat, there's probably a tree somewhere with 30 cat collars hanging off it like christmas baubles and some innocent jogger is going to see it and just crap himself.

    2 0 Reply
    1. launcap Silver badge
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      Re: I'd like a cam collar

      >this means she tries her hardest now to get rid of collars, and she's very good at doing so

      Our previous generation of cats were too - we gave up after 3 collars per cat disappeared within an hour of being fitted..

      1 0 Reply
  9. phuzz Silver badge
    Meh

    My folks have one of those RFID cat flaps, and they're a clever solution to the problem of neighbourhood cats getting in to your house. As long as your cats are chipped anyway.

    The only downside was to program it, you have to coax the cat into going through the cat flap. This involved grabbing the cat, and shoving it bodily through the flap. So, we started with the more docile cat, pushed him through, it beeped in the correct way, but my dad insisted on testing it by shoving the, by now quite uncooperative cat, back through. Next we went looking for cat number two, who had heard the commotion and was hiding indoors. I finally managed to get her through the flap, only sustaining a light mauling, but when dad insisted on testing the second cat I pointed to the cat, that was now up a tree, and the bleeding scratches on my arms, and suggested that he could do it himself this time.

    Apart from the bloodshed of setup, it's worked fine ever since.

    7 0 Reply
  10. Tony Mudd

    I'm toying with the idea of using a Raspberry Pi to detect which cat is outside the catflap - shouldn't be too hard, since ours is completely black and the intruder is ginger......

    3 0 Reply

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