Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
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Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
1–10 of 26 posts
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#2Side note: some dogs also seem to enjoy & request laser pointers.
We bought our pets a pre-built version of this for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it randomly going off during the day when we're not around or busy.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#3Side note: some dogs also seem to enjoy & request laser pointers. We bought our pets a pre-built version of this for Christmas. They seem to enjoy it randomly going off during the day when we're not around or busy.
Side side note: Eastern gray squirrels, Steller’s jays, and assorted chickadee and junco species completely ignore my green laser.
I expected them to chase it, run away from it, or at least look at it a bit to determine if it was a threat, but no, I have not see any reaction at all.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#4I built this using an Arduino board once for my roommate's cat.
It played with it for a little while quickly lost interest, despite how much I tweaked the randomization algorithm. (I tried stuff like truly random points, random jumps, slow movement, etc. etc.)
I figured out that she played much longer when I did it by hand. I realized that when I did it manually, I'd wait for her to catch the dot and then move immediately, so I thought about making something that tracked where the cat was, too, but never got around to it.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#5The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot.
For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot.
Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#6Why do they use a Raspberry Pi for this?
Seems like some Arduino-style microcontroller for $2 could do this just as well.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#7[deleted]
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#8The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot. For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot. Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.
Indeed. Please do not do this to your cat. It will frustrate him/her, if you don't believe me, ask your vet.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#9The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot. For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot. Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.
Some cats are smart enough to know it's humans controlling it and enjoy chase as a bonding exercise. In fact the often repeated arguement that cats are solitary creatures who don't enjoy companionship can be quite far removed from the personalities of some cats.
Re: Cats, lasers and Raspberry Pi
#10The problem is cats get no reward from catching the red dot. For some it can be a stressful as they need to catch the prey. The key is top reward them with a treat or toy once they have caught the dot. Just like humans, endlessly chasing something that gives no rewards can lead to undesirable outcomes and behaviours.
I kinda want to setup a laser play toy for my cat, but have it "end" at a box that opens with a servo with some treats.
That or maybe some steppers to move a stick around that has a string at the end (my cat's favorite). Hmm....
Is the consensus that as long as they have something physical to play with, or in the case of a laser have a reward after - then it won't stress them?