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 |
brilliant. and to joshua… i dont know about you but i dont want anything peeing in my sink. or behind my couch. i dont know what that had to do with anything.
Hey Joe, John William was being ironic. Jesus Christ on a popcicle stick, he didn't deride homosexuality. He said "ur gay." It's a joke. Pick you're battles man.
ITS SO STUPID
great done!
i hope this teaches the cat his lesson.
i dont think this is cruelty at all.
and maybe the cat sees this like a challenge,
a suffering.
thanks
LOL
You are a very sick person.
Thanks for a great belly laugh. My cat also rules the house. He won't stay off the counter either. And he expects me to be his own personal potty box slave, groomer, snuggler, and food provider. I love him like he's made from a piece of my own heart. But I reserve the right to maximize his entertainment value as a fair exchange for my services to him. Where can I find an XP version of that motion software?
Why don't you buy some plants for the cat to eat as well?
Doesn't the blender wake you up while you're sleeping?
[b]@Bud[/b]: I plan on it actually 🙂
[b]@Smythe[/b]: Nope, we sleep with a fan always on, and the kitchen is far away enough to not be heard from our bedroom. It works out pretty well.
My cats never jump on things they're not allowed to jump on, persistence is the way to stop them doing things, no hitting, kicking or beating needed just a mild push to get and keep them away from the prohibited area whilst keeping firm eye contact and all is solved!
This is the perfect youtube/afv video creator…
Oh man, this is hilarious! I hope we'll be seeing more videos eventually!
Without a doubt, the funniest video I have seen in a long, long time.
i am going to do this only with the sink dispoasl when he gets on the countertop
A few well-placed mousetraps will do just as well, for about $213 less. Go low-tech.
1) Laughed so hard I spit coffee on my keyboard. 2) Way to go – now your cat will NEVER AGAIN make you a Jose Cuervo marguerita…
he should electrify the counter top with one of the joke shockers, and see how the cat FLIES off the counter then. Now the would be interesting to see.
This is cruel and if I didnt know about cats and dogs, why did I get my degree in vetrenarian? This is cruel because if the cat keeps getting on the counter, its nervous system will soon be at too much work, causing the cat to slow down and eventully die. So I would go with a more less frieghning device, what I use to keep my cat off the counter is countertop wipes. The cats nose is so sensetive, that when it smells the smell (I would reccomend citrus or lemon) she will immeideitaly get off the contertop. It does not cause allergies, and the cat is just taking in a smell that it does not like, like we humans dont like the smell of garbage, it is like the cat not liking the smell of fruit! One more thing it does, it keeps your counters clean!
This is awesome, don't listen to the others. Cats love plants and can't control themselves, and there is no reason they shouldn't coexist.
I have a silly question for the people who think this is cruel. How do you think animals handle things in the wild? Counseling? Positive reinforcement? It seems people forget these are animals. Did you know in the U.S. we spend more money on our pets than any other country spends on their children. Stick your heads back in the sand and everything will just work itself out!
Hannah is an idiotttt doo dahhhh doo dahhh! You got your degree in Vetrenarian eh? Learn to spell, you PETA freak…ever notice that the "animal lovers" are always the dumbest people? "fish feel stress" etc etc…morons…
Based on Hannah's crappy grammar, spelling and sentence structure, I find it hard to believe she actually possesses the kind of education necessary to be a veterinarian. She even misspelled the name of her own profession! And the "nervous system will soon be at too much work" (sic) was just too much. I almost snorted coffee out my nose when I read that. Too funny!
Hannah,
A little logic tip for you. The idea of the device is to prevent the cat from returning. One unpleasant experience to reinforce that idea. Animals get that. That way the cat doesn't keep getting on the counter, and his nervous system won't, as you say, "soon be at too much work." (Love the Engrish) As AC1 correctly noted, animals have instincts. Unfortunately you don't, which explains why so many commenters are pointing out your stupidity. You're a fraud.
Hannah,
What you do may overcome your cat with Citrussy smell and go into coma. CATS are allergic to citrus and it can burn their cute, furry paws.
BlenderDefender is AWESOME! My cats would freak out as well.
@Phil um, I think using the disposal could be a bit dangerous; what if the cat freaks out, falls in the sink, and gets its paw or tail down the drain?
Chopped kitty is not the desired result. 🙂
The blender is awesome, though.
I wonder how long it is before your cat figures out how to get to the plant…
But Hannah has cleaner counters than all of us!
hannah, regardless whether or not you have a "degree in vetrenarian" ( uh right) does not make you an expert on training techniques. this blenderdefender is awesome! LIke Alligators was saying, its a negitive reinforcement tactic. genius.
Awesome idea, excellent execution. What Hevach said is 500000% true. I don't agree at all with what Joshua said, but I'll give him my lulz for "Degrogadory" … whatever that is.
Oh and I'm an animal lover too.
To Bonzo and the others: I notice that videos like this always attract the attention of people who for some reason hate cats. Sorry you're so emotionally impotent that you get gratification from the thought of harming a 10-pound animal. Secondly, whoever is criticizing Hannah's spelling and grammar, I'm guessing you've never met someone whose primary language is NOT English. It might take some effort for you to wrap your mind around that. Try learning Vietnamese, you might appreciate multilingual people a little more instead of nitpicking their syntax.
Also, if animal-rights organizations were composed of idiots, they would never have made any impact on policy, such as ending vivisection and passing other animal cruelty laws, being the philosophical minority that they are. (ask my fiance- he's a Yale graduate AND a member of ASPCA). Frankly, I think that animals are not so much like us as we are like them. But what do I know — you must be a Mensa member to be writing comments like yours.
Finally, being concerned that a garbage disposal would harm a pet is perfectly legitimate. One solution might be to put a really secure drain cover over the opening, so all the animal hears is the noise. It looks to me like the blender thing works fine. You should patent a version of this system if you can. Mishchief deterrent!
Here's an excellent idea. Why not give the cat to someone who actually likes cats, doesn't abuse them, and doesn't laugh when you display your stupid contraption?
I don't think having a device that startles a cat can be considered abuse. It would be abuse if you were to forcibly subject the cat to the noise, but as it is being applied here, it is simply a consequence of something the cat does on its own.
I love cats, and I love what you've done here. "Poor thing" needs to learn to stay off the danged counters!
I think I'm going to go down to Rat Shack and blow $15 on the parts needed to rig a pot to my garbage can.
Mine love the kitchen trash, and I can't always watch them.
Now I'm contemplating strobe light versus acrylic and electrically charged tin foil as a deterrent.
Wow, that's much safer than what I do. I scatter tacks, pins, and old razor blades over any surface I want to keep the cats off… been doing it for 30 years now and raised many many cats with only one foot injury requiring first aid (it healed up fine).
Cats on the counter? IT'S MCCAIN'S FAULT!
[b]@Donn (and others against this):[/b] We love our cats. We've both grown up around cats all our lives; have never been without one (or three). Plasma & I are both animal lovers. However, I am completely against "parents" (or pet-owners, I consider my cats my children until I have real ones =P ) who think that negative reinforcement for a behavior you want to eliminate is wrong. There is a line between punishment and abuse, I'm well aware, but this does not cross the line. Trust us, we tried just pushing him down when we saw him, or yelling, or various other "human contact" punishments/deterrents. None of them did the trick. Each morning I would come downstairs to a plant completely removed from the soil, and dirt spread all over the kitchen counter and floor. So, a loud noise (which is really no worse than when you yell "GET DOWN!") which can be around to get him off the counter regardless of if we were home or not, was definitely the way to go.
Not to mention – this isn't just your run of the mill cat who does a naughty thing every once in awhile. This is a cat that is worse than in his terrible two's. I have to get him out of trouble MULTIPLE times during the day, and every morning I wake up to a new mess. This morning, the bathroom trashcan was tipped over, and its contents were scattered around the bathroom floor. Usually, the things he does are more annoying than anything else – like right now, he is completely wrapped up and indulged in a loud piece of bubble wrap.
This device is not cruel – I assure you. Making him dislike the consequences of being up on the counter (loud noises) is not cruel.
Not to mention – it does work.
i just kill my cats when they do something i don't like.
Wait, how does Fade to Blue know that Hannah speaks Vietnamese? Is she psychic? Seriously though: I have three cats I am utterly crazy about, and I use positive reinforcement and they definitely know what the word "OFF" means. And yet still, they are constantly on the counters and the dining room table and getting into naughty situations. This is a really clever homemade deterrent for bad behavior when the parents aren't around to tell the cat it is being bad. The whole point is the cat will quickly learn NOT to go on the counter, meaning it wouldn't have prolonged exposure to the deterrent. It's so obvious I can't believe this is even in discussion. Noise is not abuse. If you think it is, does that mean you shelter and protect your cat from the blender, vacuum, garbage disposal, and other loud devices you use on a regular to daily basis? Because it has the same base reaction. When my cats SEE the vacuum they know it's going to be loud, and they know to run. Now his cat will know NOT to go on the counter for the same reason: it's called conditioning.
My Ex-GF has 16 Cats in her house hold man we would need a crap ton of equipment to tame those cats.
The combination of the blender with water and the strobe to add to the attention getting is simply awesome. I have a cat that does the same thing, and it's really annoying. I can't stop laughing at the cat scrambling to fly off the counter as fast as possible. Good job!
Nick — No one is buying it. Why would you continue to acquire pets if you had to keep disposing of them? More likely you own a gun, or at least you will when you're old enough. Certainly you own video games and pornography. Nothing wrong with that, but it seems like your life won't amount to much more than that with your attitude.
Catty — for godsakes, you're right. I don't know what language Hannah speaks. It might be Hindi, or Malaysian, or Portuguese. The point is that the most likely explanation for her writing is that she learned English secondarily.
I think this is very funny the first few times, but…. you did know that cats never eat grass unless they are sick? Usually if they have a growing fur-ball they eat grass blades because that's all that will help them vomit. If you don't have a back garden your cat might be desperate for some greenery. If you stress the creature out all the time, you'll probably just make it feel more sick and more desperate – so vicious circle.
A pot of rye grass or any old clump of turf in a tray would probably rescue your plant.
[b]@Cheryl:[/b]He doesn't want to eat the plant, per say. He wants to play in the dirt and make a mess. It's a toy to him – not food. We let him out in the front quite often, and he very rarely eats the grass.
Sarah, I think this is really smart. Nick, your joke is funny. And clearly a joke.
Excuse me for not being able to distinguish "Nick" from someone who would kill a cat without hesitating. I saw a guy snap a cat's neck once for making too much noise. There are plenty of people who are sadistic towards small animals and who would have no qualms about making jokes about it.
Whoah, I would not want to hang out with your friends then, FadeToBlue. That is horrible.
Sorry folks, I really have no idea what I'm talking about.