Wandering cat

[mark.duyvesteyn]

My 2 year old cat keeps wandering off to a neighbours house about 500m away. Have done every thing to try prevent him doing this so it's time to get a bit techo...

One of the only ways to get to the neighbours is over a small foot bridge, I want to set up a water sprinkler so that when he approaches, the sprinkler will hit him to scare him from crossing the bridge.

There is quite a bit of foot traffic on the bridge but not many other cats.

Any one have any ideas? Thinking about two vertically mounted ir light beams, the top one to mute the cuircuit if something taller that a cat passes. Other idea is a beacon on the cats collar which when in range starts the sprinkler?

Thank for any ideas/ susgestioms!

 

[SAborn]

No cat.........?

 

[mark.duyvesteyn]

I guess that's an option, but not the most ideal. He does come back for food at night and the morning but buggers off during the day and at night. He also has a rfid chip in him, so maybe a coil under the bridge or a long range rfid reader could be an option, but would probably be expensive.

 

[beb101]

There were a lot of good ideas on keeping a squirrel off the roof. Perhaps they could be adapted to keeping a cat off the bridge ...

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?21893-Seeking-Ideas-on-How-to-Keep-Squirrel-Off-Roof

 

[manuka]

Mark: I "speak cat" & sense something is going on here. By 2 yo. cats will usually have settled down to their home turf, & a 500m meander may be for a feline reason, so consider hence just why he's wandering that far. Maybe better food? Mice/fish/birds at the neighbours? Lady friend? Cuddles? No teasing kids? Day or night wanders? Neutered? Why/when does he come back?

Perhaps initially park any cures & look at the cause - or give Gareth "cat ban" Morgan a call! Stan.

 

[SAborn]

Perhaps my solution was a bit harsh , but im not a cat lover, but i do respect those cat owners who make an effort to contain their cat to their own property.

I fully agree with Stan, there is a reason why the cat wanders during the day (night time can be different) and its important to find the reason for the wander, then the solution.

 

[MFB]

Could your cat carry a 433 MHz receiving collar that activated an alarming buzz in his ear when out of range of the home based transmitter? Not very precise but simple and cheap.

 

[techElder]

Something tells me this isn't the appropriate place, but there could be an idea in here.... well, the moderators can ban this post if they want to.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/05/business/la-fi-tn-stuffed-coptercat-sparks-global-outrage-20120605

 

[RexLan]

Here's a novel idea ... keep your cat home and supervised ... LOL

 

[SAborn]

I have seen a catapult before, and now a pussacopter, it would only seem normal, when you think we have other critters like flying foxes etc.
Then this goes in hand with post #7 of shoving a 433mhz transmitter up its collar, and a wireless controlled cat.

 

[Dippy]

Many pet lovers would find that a bit ghoulish I'm sure.
Yes, I read that it was already killed in an accident apparently.
As a dog and cat family person I find it a bit worrying.
Most mentality stable caring pet owners would show a little respect.
And, yes, there have been some ghoulsih ones with humans too.

Over the years I have been shown many videos of cruelty to dog, cats and other animals inlcuding mutilation and decapitation.
The cat ones are usually found amusing by the macho-man variety (usually little-man-big-dog mentality).

I'm not going to delete it, but my fear is that this sort of thing (in the bigger wider world) can 'encourage' closet nutters and half-wits to do something a little more unpleasant.

Back to the plot, I agree with Stan. Often a reason but often simply nature.

 

[MFB]

The cat would only be wireless controlled if the receiver activated a taser when out of range.

 

[John West]

When they pass away, I bury my cats beside the flower garden, with a small marker that seems fitting for each. Looking at the remains of my pets every day would only sadden me. The thought of flying them around for fun sickens me. But I understand others people are not like me, and the "artist" is certainly one of them.

I would hate to be his elderly father, and would ensure a very closely worded will be prepared by a fully competent lawyer.

Manuka's comments are the best idea, as far as I'm concerned, and as far as the technical comments, starting with an RF radiating collar seems the best followup, instead of rf-id proximity detectors. Better reliability at greater ranges.

BTW, what would happen with the water spraying when the cat crossed the bridge at the same time as a person?

 

[RexLan]

I have got a good idea. Recap - what we have is a cat that is allowed to free range, coming home evening and morning for food and a pet owner who doesn't understand why the cat will not stay home. The cat has a rfid in the collar.

We need a Picaxe controlled sensor that can read the rfid collar and then communicate back to the house with a small RF link. The OP is required to wear one of those shock collars and/or sit in front of the sprinkler any time the cat is not in sight. When the link is activated by the Picaxe, as the result of the rfid collar being detected in an out-of-bounds space, the slave Picaxe will energize OP's collar (briefly so as to not be cruel) and the sprinkler system. A clever algorithm could be developed to increase the severity based of repeat offenses and so on. As a backup, the neighbor who is being offended should be given a remote that can activate the link on-demand when a visual sighting warrants a defense.

I am so sure this system would be totally effective that I'd be willing to bet, and give odds, that the cat would soon learn it's lesson and stay home!

 

[Hemi345]

Buy the neighbor a dog?

I've briefly looked into using the RFID chip in my dog's neck to allow him to go through the dog door while preventing our cat (and other animals from using it) but from what I gather it's almost impossible with those chips because they don't give up their code unless the receiver is nearly against their neck (last thing I want to do is create a potential strangle hazard).

If the cat uses the same route over to the neighbors, I'd go for the motion sensor/beam break idea with a piezo or something else that would make some noise and scare it back home (a motor that thumps the inside of a coffee can?).

 

[eclectic]

I'm inclined towards Stan's post #5.
Why does he wander?

However, gratifyingly, he keeps coming back.

Can you make "home" a more inviting place
from a moggie's point of view?

And, perish the thought, have you asked advice from a local Vet?

e

 

[techElder]

My wife has had up to 19 cats; all from one mother; each other; and untold fathers. Feral cats to start with, but then they all had names like "tiger kitty", "circle butt", "spot", "mama kitty", "psycho".

After a decade or so, now there are only 4 left. (I had nothing to do with that reduction.) They come and go when they want, but mostly they stay and come for the next meal.

Have you ever heard of the old saying, "Like herding cats"? There is no way to make a cat do or go where you want it to. Give in and be happy.

 

[eclectic]

Cat (and child) Psychology 101

What do cats do?
They do what cats do.

Why?
'Cos that's what they do.

And that's it.
e

 

[Bill.b]

You could try on of these http://dx.com/p/ultrasonic-cat-dog-repeller-white-107769


Bill

 

[mark.duyvesteyn]

Thanks for the responses. I have ordered a couple of PIR sensors and will set up the sprinkler in a couple of days time to see if it helps, if anything it will be a fun project and can be reused to keep cats/possums off the veggie garden in the future. Unsure how to make the house more cat friendly, it is a only a little place in Raglan, New Zealand, away from roads, people and dogs, surrounded by bush. Has lots of shade and privacy, as well as a RFID cat door that only lets him inside. The neighbours recently (2 months ago) moved in there and i suspect the previous owner was feeding him. I think just need to break the cycle and he will be fine.

 

[manuka]

The neighbours recently (2 months ago) moved in there and i suspect the previous owner was feeding him.

Aha -knowing Raglan's resources this was probably yummy fish as well!

 

[inglewoodpete]

A recent issue of Silicon Chip magazine ("Serviceman" column) discussed using mobile (cell) phone technology to track a cat (Biggles to be precise!). The Dave Thompson hails from Christchurch, so the info is NZ-centric. I'm sure the technology was purpose-designed and available via the internet.

 

[mark.duyvesteyn]

I have bought one of these as well, http://www.indiegogo.com/projects?utf8=✓&filter_text=bluetracker&search_submit=Search will come in handy to track the cat, but also want to use it for an idea of developing a sports camera tracking application for an iPhone. The headphone jack would output left and right and zoom commands to a servos via a picaxe.

 

[manuka]

I recently read of these US$69 units,so would be interested in your experiences. They're intended for a dog or child etc & are really too big for a cat of course, but more the point is that extended Bluetooth ranges are only viable under decent LOS (line of sight). With even a few bushes in the way, 2.4GHz ranges will probably be peanuts- a particular issue for tracking low level items like hedgehogs & cats...