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 |
Just blogged about your projects 🙂 And will try to adapt the blender one to see if it works with my odd cat. http://fcolaco.com
[b]@Canadian Boy[/b] and [b]@savocado[/b]: How about you both back the fuck off?
Very funny….i'll need to try this someday….damn cats chew through all my electronics cords….
[b]@Graham[/b]: No, the cat was not being electrocuted… she is just a VERY timid cat… anything will scare her. Especially a blender.
[b]@Warren[/b]: Of course it can! But if its a case of where its the dog OWNER that is being a jerk by letting their dog take a crap in your yard, what I would do is the automated sprinkler approach. Take [b]Izak Burger[/b]'s idea from the comments below ([i]http://ispburger.blogspot.com/2007/06/shower-o-matic-feline-edition.html[/i]) and instead of a PIR motion detector, just replace that with a camera and a computer 🙂 That way, you get the dog AND the owner wet…. AND you get a video of it!
[b]@keith[/b]: I don't quite have any rodents or roaches around to test the device on them, but im assuming it would work the same.
If your cats are anything like mine, they just lay around the house and do nothing anyway, so an occasional adrenaline rush should do them some good. The heck with orange and lemon peels, that's just a good way to attract fruit flies, and is not as entertaining as the Blender Defender. If you really want a cheap fix for keeping your little feline friends off the counter, just leave a lint roller next to the plants. It only takes 1 trip around the house with the lint roller stuck to it's butt to teach the cat not to get on the counters. Mind you, this is not something that we did to our cats intentionally, but rather, they did to themselves, and they never got on the counter again after that 🙂
Maybe your cat just needs some vegetables in his diet (ie: cat grass). Still funny though.
This could be done much cheaper…
http://www.smarthome.com/2514/SensorPlug-Plug-In-Motion-Sensor-SP-01/p.aspx
If you don't like this one, just google search for "Plug in Motion Sensor" The trick is going to get one that goes off quickly You don't want to run your blender for 5 minutes, just a few seconds.
[b]@Benny[/b]: That may work…. but you wouldn't get any videos out of it 😛
Freaking hillarious!!!! My son sent me this link. I have 5 cats that all have their own little bad habits!!! Looks like I will be recruiting my dear son to fabricate this contraption for me!!! And of course the byproduct of the whole thing is that we will get to sit around ROTF watching the videos!!!!!
If you look at the dates of the video clips, you will see that the cat does not learn to stay off the counters. It is only scared away when it approaches the plant area. I do not think that the cat will ever "understand" that. It would be much better to trigger the scare EVERY TIME it jumps on the counter, regardless of where. Then it might eventually stop doing it and keep its paws on the floor.
infrared motion sensor and a relay, its all available at radioshack for under $50
[b]@Rick[/b]: Scroll down and look at my comment from 10-19-08 at 10:26pm.
I think we need an FAQ page – you guys all keep asking the same questions or saying the same things…
[b]@cartufer[/b]: Fries and a Big Mac, its all available at McDonalds for under $5
whats your fucking point
I don't think people understand that the most expensive parts of this rig is the web cam and the blender. Yes – you could detect motion for a lot cheaper – but you don't get the videos of it. And we already HAD the blender for the scare tactic – we'd have to go out and buy the other things that you have suggested. In fact – we already had EVERYTHING listed in the parts list. It cost $0 to us! Plasma used what he had on hand. if you have those $50 parts on hand, I encourage you to use them. He didn't say "this is the only way to do this! there are no other ways! you must build this exactly as i have described OR ELSE!"
jeebus people, READ…its so frustrating.
Read? Read? What's that? Come on Sarah, you can't actually EXPECT people to take the time to READ, now can you???? THAT would suit a purpose!!!!
[b]@ladychef41[/b]: That's fine if people don't want to read – but when you comment about something that is clearly explained if you scroll up – you sound like a complete moron.
I don't mind if people want to sound like idiots – it's just irritating answering the same questions/concerns 100 times.
interesting idea, but who wants to be woken up by a blender in the middle of the night?
Nice work – We have a cat who always is on the counter, like he owns it! I can see spending a few bucks for some training. ^^
[b]@donna[/b]: We sleep upstairs, blender is downstairs. Plus, we sleep with the fan on. We never hear it.
geile idee, mal gucken ob ich das nachbasteln kann ;P
You could buy a Critter Gitter from Betterbee for 60$ that would do the same job, albeit in a way less interesting or creative way.
This is extremely funny. Thanks for the belly laughs. Another more expensive but equally effective "training method" is the zap collar. The only problem with this method of behavior modificatoin is that you have to be around to push the zap button but one or two jolts will have those bad habbits going out the window.
That is fluffing HILARIOUS!!! I’m doing that kind of laughing where sound doesn’t come out anymore. Especially the clip of the solid black cat. If only the same could be done with sound detection to cure the early morning YEOWLING my little treasure has been doing every morning. I may stick a lint roller to her but just for fun though…
what is in the blender? just water? i make fused glass art, and the quickest (and LOUDEST) way to make small granules is to put scrap glass in a blender. try this if you are looking for a volume boost! but make sure the blender has a glass pitcher, as plastic ones will get torn through fairly quickly. it is also hell on the blades, so get a cheap used blender from goodwill or something.
I'm crying with laughter.
Haha, nice vids! Took some stress off!!!
I'm really disgusted with some of the cruel remarks. Cats can be trained to not jump on counters or scratch furniture. The use of scratch posts and turbo scratchers placed near furniture and introduced to the cat or kitten as soon as you get it, will induce the cat to use those. Cats are creatures of HABIT. You want to establish GOOD ones and not wait till negative ones develop. There are itesm you can buy that are much cheaper than this solution. Scat mats and motion devices that emit a hiss and loud noise work great. Also keep a can of compressed air on hand and when your cat does something you don't want him to do, aim a squirt at him. After a few times you will only have to hold up the can for him to stop.
Animals are at the mercy of those around them. They show what is really in a person's heart. (For the person that wanted a "kind" way to kill a cat that kept coming to his barn: I would tell you that that cat will keep down vermin and snakes and earn his keep. You would do yourself a favor by letting him live in your barn. And giving him some food & water will only make him a better hunter. A weak or starving cat isn't a threat to mice and rats. BE KIND.
Stop asking stupid questions people. You're pissing off sarah. >:[
[b]@Tim[/b]: Of course its cheaper Tim. Its the principal. I should be able to put MY plant where I want it.
LOVED IT! You're a genius.
What about employing the help of a carnivorous plant? That'd that the cat down a few notches.
lol.. this is a really good idea.. i laughed so hard when i saw this thank you so much for posting
Sarah, I was totally AGREEING with you! It is VERY irritation when people make comments without even reading what they are commenting about! Didn't mean to give you the impression I was one of those "morons" who think it's OK NOT to read something before commenting!!!
Alternately, you can set a bunch of mousetraps and carefully place them upside-down on the counter. When they go off, they won't harm the cat — they're upside-down — but they scare the willies out of the cat. I've tried it. I think the toaster ended up on the floor.
[b]@ladychef41[/b]: Im the one deleting comments… Sarah was jus sayin that the rest of the people around here are lazy 😛 And IM the one saying a lot of them are morons. Ive been trying to delete the moronic comments as soon as they pop up
Cat Expert is RIGHT!!! Try a little KINDNESS!! I have 19 cats and they all obey their mommy. They train easily with POSITIVE enforcement, not cruel tricks. I even trained one to lick my snatch.
CAT EXPERT, I'm afraid I will have to strongly disagree with you about your training methods that seem to work so well for YOU. I have 5 cats (have had up to 20 at 1 time as I foster a lot!) and have scratch posts, scratch boxes and every other kind of "scratch" device in my home at all times, and I STILL have cats that scratch no matter what. Some cats are just always going to be scratch on whatever they want no matter what. Especially if they have already gotten their scent on something. You're touting using a can of compressed air or "Scat mats and motion devices that emit a hiss and loud noise", but in essence, this is the same thing being used here. And like it has been said ALREADY, this is to use while no one is around!!!!! Lighten up, it's not hurting the cats….
[b]@ladychef41[/b]: i didnt get that impression, i know you were agreeing with me…i was just venting some more 🙂
Plasma and Sarah… I love your contraption and will continue to check back to watch all the fun! I think people are taking the whole thing WAY too seriously and looking at it for more than what it is! It's YOUR way of dealing with YOUR situation. You are NOT harming the cats, there is NO meaness involved and I agree that you should be able to have a plant any place you want to have it! Keep posting the videos and I will keep watching them and getting laughs we all so desperately need at times! Thank you for posting them…..
OK this is just great I have all the gear to make this happen. These cats are a bunch of free loaders and this is a great way to earn there keep by entertaining us!! This may be much more fun with my wife as the mark!!
Ha ha pissing myself laughing. Cheers, from england. Stumbler.
Thank you Sarah!!!!! Love it!!!!!!
Pure genius, love it! 🙂
Love it! The best video is of the black cat going up and over the faucet as he tries to get away.
That is brilliant and also amusing!
Oh my goodness, I almost hurt myself laughing at the last video. I think I need to rig up something like this to torture, I mean, discipline my cats. Yes, that sounds like a brilliant idea.
Thanks for sharing your setup! And also for the laugh.
Trainable or not, the question is: would cats encounter such surprises in the wild? Yes (if it surprised an incubating hen, for example). Is there a legitimate reason for the contraption, no different from inflating of a cobra's inflation of its neck? Yes. There we go, the cat is experiencing what a normal cat experiences.
Just a quick note: Those videos are fun to watch with a Flash seek bar. (Those videos are in SWF format, like he said.) With the seek bar you can watch the action frame-by-frame, back-and-forth, however you want. Makes it even more fun to watch!