Science
Science
Keep an eye on kitty with a “cat cam”
What do cats do when their owners are away? There was one way to find out — "cat cams."
Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.
Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats' time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.
"What surprised me was how active the cats were. I believed my three cats were sleeping during the day," said Jill Villarreal, an animal behavior scientist who collected the data for Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand of cat food.
The 777 photos studied by Villarreal showed the cats looking at a television, computer, DVDs or other media 6 percent of the time and hiding under tables 6 percent of the time.
Coming in at 5 percent was playing with toys; eating or looking at food finished at 4 percent.
Will the cats get movie cameras next? "We are in the think tank now," Villarreal said.
- Posted on December 4, 2009
OMG that is cool I would like to put one on my cat to see what they do when I am gone I think that is so intreast.
They should make a human cam for people on probation so they can know exactly what they are doing 24 hours a day instead of just knowing where they are they can know what there doing and where there doing it.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! that is adoreable we need one of those for my kitty. My cat would probably sleep all day she is so lazy it is sad.
The cats are really active. I thought that they were so boring. Cats spend a long time staring at whats outside a window. Very little time sleeping.
i should do that with my cat cause i all ways wanted to know what my cat is up to. they should make a cam for dogs too cause if your dog is know where around you can find them earlier.
I think this would be cool to do. I do want to know what my cats do all day. It is interesting that they are looking out the windows all day because I thought they were sleeping all day just like most people assume.