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 |
For additional enjoyment:
Open up the Party Button Video in another tab for excelent soundtrack/effects for these blender vids!
Brilliant, innovative, and effective… All while offering some (perhaps slightly guilty, even without cause to be) amusement.
I'd call that a win/win, big time. Well done, sir. 🙂
$214 i would of got rid of plant
@Mike, why would he wanna get rid of the cat (damn dog lovers, hate them all)
Actually, I kind of anticipated the bad-word filter because of all the Gerbils and Noodles floating around here. Hence the ***'s.
Haha,Topher, are you new to the internet or something?
Have you ever heard of trolling?
But it`s just so funny to write a few words and get someone like you all riled up, oh noes you wrote a short essay "verbally annihilating" us. lmao
Actually i do think those guys saying get rid of the cat – 0$ are wrong.
You see, if you use the cat as fertilizer for the plant you actually save money in the process, that is the better course of action.
I laughed my A$$ off!! These cats got what they deserve.
That is funny, I dont care who you are. Two thumbs up for that one !!!! Is there anyway you would want to share those perl scripts that fire off those x-10 units ????? In case someone would like to do the same.
Hahah this made me laugh 🙂
Brilliant! 🙂
Hey everybody – look at Haggis! Obvious troll is obvious!
Strobe Light 20.00
Blender 50.00
X10 Firecracker 12.00
X10 Appliance Module 12.00
Network Camera 120.00
scaring the cat shitless and creating a funny as hell clip about it – Priceless
These are brilliant!!! I need to think about how to stop the cat whining for food every 5 minutes in a similar manner…
$214.00
Topher, please die in a fire.
Thanks,
The World
I laughed my ASS off. The cats reactions are brill.
Dear Jeer,
Don't presume to speak for me.
Yours faithfully,
The World
PS, to solve all problems, put the pussy in the blender!
Excellent, Pablov would make you his assistant immediatly!
OMG, that is hilarious! Bad kitty!
A refreshing bowl of prestone works well 😉
if you have animals- you learnd to adapt to the animals living with you- if not- why bother to have the animal in the first place?
I hate cats. Dogs understand that they've done something bad. Cats just don't care.
Awesome. Just awesome.
That's great, but how about something to keep cats from pissing on everything?
[b]@PooperScooper[/b]: They sell sprays for that 🙂 Is your cat neutered/fixed?
The cat is looking for some water to drink
Cats eat grass to get rid of their hairballs, i'm glad i am not a cat in your house!
brillent but a little pricey
Excellent idea. I noticed the videos are set more than three months apart. Has your cat learned to keep of the counter or it still does it as much ? …
Greaaaat ! theses fucking cats will keep out of the house now !
it may be cruel but still really funny especially the last one where the cat has a super freak out. The cat will get the message eventally
it may be cruel but still really funny especially the last one where the cat has a super freak out. The cat will get the message eventually
Guys, stop repeating the same arguments that plasma and others have already shot down several times. Repeating 'omg abuse' over and over again isn't going to make it any more true, but it will make you look like idiots.
Great videos, man. If I had the cash to blow I'd seriously consider this–my kitty keeps getting up on the dining table and counters whenever we're not around, and no matter where we put the candy bowl we wake up to the candy strewn to all corners of the apartment.
I love it!!! Im going to go out and buy a cat, put his bowl of food on the counter and buy one of these just for the hilarity that ensues!~~~~
It's a good way to amuse yourself I'm sure, but I wonder if the cat ever learned. Like Ghosts said, cats don't care. Cats are independent. I have two cats, and they do what they want. If you want something that has no independent will other than to eat, run, poop, f**k, and be controlled by you, get a dog.
The cat/dog debate will go on forever. Cats treat you like their friend, but don't expect them to be a slave to your every whim. Dogs want to be controlled and mastered. They offer companionship as well as a feeling of power. (BTW that dog will chew up that thing if you leave it laying around, no matter how many time you tell it not to. They don't care either, it's in their nature.)
In the end, it's every persons choice to own an animal, and they should be prepared to love it, care for it and accept it for what it is. Best bet for wrecked stuff; animal proof your house as best as possible, and I don't mean rigging everything to scare the living crap out of your animal. A+ for creativity and lol's, but you obviously like you plant more than your cat.
If you hate cats then I'm sure you will be happy with a dog, but to hate a cat because it is independent is like saying the cat hates you too because you do what you want and you don't care what other people think. BAD HUMAN!!! People can't control everything, OH NO!!! If you hate dogs because they are smelly and loud and need a lot of love and exercise then you probably hate kids too.
Such silly reasons to spend energy hating. I hate rapists.
I like both cats and dogs. Both have their pros and cons, just like everything else.
Brilliant. But, why would a cat want to eat your plant?
As far as the cat vs. dog debate. Dogs do have more cognitive function, thank you science. Also, dogs are social animals, like humans, and dogs naturally operate in packs. When a family has a dog, the family is like the dogs surrogate pack, which is why dogs live so well with people. Cats tend to be more independent, tho there are conteraugurments (prides of lions), i've seen packs of stray dogs, never have I've seen packs of stray cats…
This is AWESOME! Is there any way you'd be willing to share your source code? My cat counter surfs all the time and I've always been looking for a good way to scare him off, and since I already control my entire saltwater aquarium with X10 modules this is right up my alley!
AWESOME!!! Now all it needs is sound!!!!
[b]@Scott[/b]: Do a google search for "heyu". Its the program i use on linux to control X10 🙂
in the 3rd video on the page ( 2nd on the video section ) , you can see a small blender move due to the vibration caused by the powerful big blender!!
The question that remains: will it blend?
If you guys haven't realized by now (by seeing this project, and looking into the other projects plasma has done (party button and Christmas tree)), you'll realize that they are not cheap, and they are not the most obvious way of solving the problem/situation. They are entertaining and creative. Plasma has this amazing mind that generates these very interesting ways of dealing with situations – and he enjoys programming and electronics. They are interesting projects – not supposed to be the most efficient, economic, or obvious way of doing things.
We know we could get rid of the cat, move the plant, put sticky tape upside down, etc etc and it would be much cheaper while still solving the problem.
As we have said multiple times, and as is described above, he already had all the parts needed to do this project before hand – it didn't cost us anything. So technically – this is the cheapest way FOR US to do things. Plus, it is effective, entertaining, and we still get to keep the cats, which we do, actually, like having.
[b]@ariel sergio wollinger martins[/b]:
Actually, I originally had two blenders set up to turn on. The one you see moving had turned on as well as the big one. I later decided that it didnt really add much to the effect and was just too redundant 🙂
ever thought of giving the cat a good kick up the ring piece?
Thanks Plasma and Sarah! I also love cats. Will you post your scripts so people can reproduce your project? I am thinking ,on my next trip to the US , of buying all this gear and making one for me. I'll use windows though.
joncfc:
That doesn't work.
Poor Kitty! Have you maybe thought of moving the plant somewhere the cat can't access it? That would be better for everyone. Do you plan on keeping your cat a long time? His heart won't withstand this type of treatment for long! If you really can't move the plant, try putting a bit of cayenne pepper on the leaves. The cat won't like it.
Very clever and certainly not cruel.However why just let your cat out to munch some grass from time to time? They actually need to do this.
This is ace.
[b]@Homebrew5[/b]: Look at the picture above your comment please.
[b]@sam[/b]: your money
This is awesome! If I owned a cat I would do this too! Dogs may get dirty but cats walk around in a box of their own poo and pee! I like them and all but I don't want their filthy feet on our counter tops. Yuck!!!