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 |
i watch these cats jump jump jumpl i saw the colored one would turn its eye. do thae eat too. i would like to see that. if i can get my sisters carfixt we could all meet and see the cats. i didunt know ther were so many cat people aruond here.
this is fucking awesome! uaheuaheuaehuae
cat + jumping on counter tops that u use = disguesting!
fucking bitch this is cruelty to animals. i am an animal cop so watch out
fuck cats
Hillarious! One question, though: Do they learn? I mean, do you see a decrease in the daily number of cat visits on the counter? If so, how long did it take, and can you remove the device now?
I would love to have a device with a similar effect (but quiet though) to prevent my cat from repeatedly scratching my bedroom door while I (try to) sleep.
Does it work with dogs, and little kids?
😉
My brother did something like this. When I was growing up we had a dog that would jump on the couch at night or when we were out. So my brother (who is an electronics guru and works in the security alarm business) rigged up a sensor and beam across two couches that were in an "L" configuration, using a mirror in the corner. When the beam was broken (i.e, dog jumped on the couch), it would start playing a cassette recorder with my brother saying, "Shadow! Get Down!!". Well, after about a week the dog learned….we usually didn't have to rewind the tape anymore in the morning or when we came home.
Now all this was about 30 years ago!
This is not cruelty to animals… Someone should have a contraption that hits you in the head with a frying pan when you make a stupid comment…
*pang*
I love it! You could probably run a gimicky smoothie shop this way and make millions.
Why not just put the cat in the blender?
I love cat's, But this was so funny. And yes, Cat's do have a mind of their own! And they do what they WANT TOO!I have three.Thanks for making my day!
I have 2 of these: http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/training-ssscat.htm
When the original repellent ran out, I substituted cans of spray duster (the motion sensor/trigger fits most spray duster cans also). Unfortunately, my cat still eventually finds a path through the defenses, so I have to move them around often.
Unadulterated sexiness. I want to hook one up to my pants.
P.S. I don't own any cats
Email me. I have a simular idea I would llike your take on. Warm regards,
Kath
We also have cat counter issues. I took some extra wide duct tape and turned it sticky side up – put it all over the counter with the issue. ONE TIME was all it took and my male siamese will go nowhere NEAR that counter. But it was dangerous the first time he did it. He zipped form one end of the house to the other throwing things, skidding and running. (don't do this when you are not at home – you have to save him) After I took the tape off his paws, he never touched that counter again.
We haven't gotten any videos for a few days now – i think it's working!
you are lucky the cat didnt kill that nice plant.
I laughed myself off the chair when i saw those videos, amazing and working idea, i hope you develope the idea to one device, and get a patent, and you will one day be a millionaire because of The Get-The-Cat-Off-From-COunter-Device ! 🙂
Married to a cat lover for 38 years, I've hatted cats since I raised chicks and chickens as a little boy, (that they some times killed), but have had to put up with 1 to 2 cats at a time, all those years and put up with cats on the counter because I though they were unteachable, but these videos taught me I was wrong. I laughed so hard for all those years of failure at trying to keep ours off the counter. Love your art work I wished I would of though of it 38 years ago!!!
Evil genius.
Brilliant!! And the plus side is, my sisters pussy is the same as yours!
Brilliant & not cruel animal lovers. The cat is acting upon instinct by getting away from what it perceives as a threat. No chemicals, electric shocks, or physical pain, just the cat's system doing what it was designed to do. Exactly what it would do in the wild.
Hilarious. I hope the people around me at work didn't think I howled too loud when I first saw this. I sent this on to others I know have cats.
You have too much time on your hands.
Next time buy a fish.
If that not exciting enough, add a snail to the tank.
Speaking as a snail myself, I hope he doesn't take up your suggestion. Although he does need to get out more. Playing in the traffic should help.
Ever notice how people who say "You have too much time on your hands" don't have a creative bone in their body?
Will it blend? That is the question!
[b]@DividableFiend[/b]: I was wondering how long until somebody was gonna ask that 😛
Cats are very, very lazy. If the cat had good food and water on the floor, counters would not have been a problem…nice job! Expect nasty stuff on your pillow next!
Hilarious… he's as much a villian as ours was when younger. How can I train mine to regard mice as enemies?
My cat would just learn how to make margaritas while he's up there
$214 is a lot for a $5 plant
Hi!! I really like seeing my name on the bottom of this page! I can't wait to show my friends today. I love this cat project, it made me laugh plus I think it's an in"JEAN"ious idea!!!!!! Keep up the good work. 🙂
That is so funny! when you use the blender now, does the cat have "flashbacks" and run away?
couldn't you just….i don't know…move the plant?
this is incredibly intelligent. wish i could find an alarm to make my one cat use her litter box.
i hate retraining my cats.
Purrsonally, I think this is nothing short of disgraceful. Getting on the counter is a feline right, much like puking up half-digested plant matter into your shoes or scooping copious amounts of sand from the litter pan onto the floor. I hope your feline superiors wise up to this gaff and take their revenge on you with a swift and merciless paw. If it were me, I'd find a way to rig a similar device to the underside of your dining table. Without opposable thumbs, I'm sure it wouldn't be easy. Believe me, though, I'd find a way; and once implemented, I'd get one hell of a kick out of it.
Yours Hissingly,
W.C. Humphries II (Mr. Fleez for short)
Plasma, You have made such a great impression on me with your kitty project, that I have ordered and received all of my X10 equipment and I went to Spencers and got my strobe light 🙂 Can't wait!!! I'm still trying to source a camera since I will need wireless in my kitchen. Do you have any scripts and maybe a little more detailed advice on setting this up? I'm a network tech so a little help should be able to help me get this setup. Got the wife and daughter's approval. Actually they can't wait!
Thanks
WHat the heck that is funny>>!
It's cute but too much bother when a 50 cent Fleeple 4.21 can be programmed to control my plasmatronic cat and make it do the same thing.
This one sick prank and you are one sick dude. Would you do that to a child? "Oh kiddie don't take that bicky". You could put the bicky on a metal plate and wire the plate to a wall socket. When little Joey takes the bicky he gets zapped! That'll teach the motherfucker!
"$214 is a lot for a $5 plant""can't you just move the plant?" sure, you can move the plant, but that won't stop the cat from getting on the kitchen counter where it ought not to be. don't you people have any common sense?
Why not try temping the cat *into* the blender with catnip and tuna and then having it go off, I'd fucking laugh my anus off if I saw that.
My Cats are named McCain & Palin they are actually the Glue that bonds my house togeather.
Before they came along we had a House in turmoil.
I'm impressed that you have an ethernet jack beside your kitchen window. I'm a little jealous.
Hmmm… not sure about this. Seems to me you are tempting the cat with the plant and then punishing the cat for showing interest. I've NEVER had a problem with a cat jumping up on my kitchen counters. Why? Because I learned a long time ago to keep plants and any other tempting item, high and out of reach. If the cat can't get to it, it won't bother. I've had 6 cats in my life up to now and none of them have ever tried jumping on the kitchen counter. Move the plant. It's called cat-proofing your home, similar to child-proofing. A cat is a living being with a heart and soul. You wouldn't do things like this to your child, why do it to your cat? Grow up.
I don't think you're temping the cat. Even if you put a plant on top of the fridge – a cat will find a way to get to it. I applaud you for it.
Black-and-white kitty seems to be a little more determined than all-black kitty. Maybe he/she gets off on the excitement? How about a little catnip compensation?
I don't think this is cruel, but is probably a bit of expensive overkill. I applaud your philosophy of doing it just because you could.
I would TOTALLY do this to my kids, heck I have already got plans into action for when little Johnny tries to watch porn; nothing like striking fear into the hearts and souls of the little ones for the purpose of training.