04 /04/16

The best tech gadgets for cats

  • BEHAVIOUR, TECHNOLOGY

Cats love their gadgets – here are seven of the best we’ve selected for you and your feline friends

e pet owners love playing with our pets and seeing them entertained and comfortable. And cats certainly love being pampered and played with, so with this in mind, we’ve collected ten of our favourite techy feline devices.

Shru

Shru is an intelligent cat companion that is a Kickstarter success story. It’s effectively an egg-shaped smart toy that features several custom play modes for your cat. It responds to inputs (like being chased and played with) and features smart detection to veer around walls and objects. It's kind of like a Roomba reimagined more playfully.

Kittyo

Kittyo lets you play with your cat while you’re not home. It’s a device that's compatible with iOS and Android devices, and packs features that allow you to activate a sound to get your cat’s attention, move the pointer around for your cat to chase on screen, speak to your cat, watch live video, and remotely give treats. It's based in the US and we aren't sure when it'll hit the UK, but it's an interesting one to watch out for.

Catfi

This futuristic gadget uses facial recognition technology to track all the food and water your cats eat during the day and reports back to you. It takes managing your pet's diet to an altogether new level, and combines a camera, scale and automatic feeder to make sure each of your cats is getting the right amount of food. If you are really bored, you can even watch your cats eat in real time. The product is in Beta testing right now, so you can sign up to be an early adopter.

There are better things than a ball out there. Image credit: getshru.com

Woozy

Woozy is a versatile hammock-bed for cats that can be installed on a radiator, or placed anywhere on the ground. While the concept isn't new (we remember a plastic and fleece version we used to have on our radiator that became our cats' new favourite snoozing place), Woozy has updated the design for our modern times. And hey, it's Scandi, so they know how to make even pet accessories look super sharp.

Treat Maze

Make your moggy work off some calories and burn some brain power in order to earn their treats. This Treat Maze is pretty relentless, has varying difficulty levels and is designed to entertain and exercise (not to mention frustrate) your cat.

Come here, you pesky fish treats.

The Cat’s Phantom Mouse Teaser

As crazy as it sounds, this battery powered toy is ostensibly a fabric skirt with what looks like a mouse’s tail poking out. The unit rotates, spinning the tail at one of four different settings. Your cat gets a work out pouncing on the tail (or trying to if yours is on the tubby, slow side) in total safety.

Eyenimal Digital Videocam

This light-weight yet sturdy video unit clips to your cat’s collar and means you can monitor what it is they get up to when you, or they, are out. It’s got 4GB of onboard memory, which is enough for up to 2.5hrs of recording time. It’s not a Go-Pro, sure. But it is well-built and priced smartly enough to make it a genuine option if you want to keep tabs on your cat.