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Catsitter's Friend

For a more healthful cir-kitty-an rhythm
  (+10, -1)(+10, -1)
(+10, -1)
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against]

Problem - A friend of mine can never sleep through the night because his cat paws him until he gets up and lets the cat outside. Sometimes twice a night! Non-cat-lovers like me have to sit by and watch as our cat-loving friends lose sleep and health because of their cats. The last time I cat-sat, the cat kept me awake with its late-night careening, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Next time I cat-sit, I refuse to lose sleep. But how can I get the cat to agree to this?

Solution - a special cat collar that keeps the cat awake all day, so that the cat will be so exhausted at night that it can do nothing but sleep. All night.
This special collar monitors the cat's breathing all day, during your "waking hours". When the collar detects that the cat is asleep during "waking hours", it wakes the cat up with a loud chirp or a buzz. No more catnaps, Fuzzball!

Can be used in conjunction with melatonin-flavored cat chow.

robinism, Mar 16 2005

[link]






       not sure how to vote on this, it's not a bad idea, but I like my kitties to play at night, they never wake me until 5:00 and I have to get up then, anyway.
dentworth, Mar 16 2005
  

       I like. Despite the fact that I love cats, I think they should be doing something more useful than sleeping during the day, so that they don't go feasting on nocturnal critters at night.
froglet, Mar 16 2005
  

       Great idea. My two boys sleep all day and through the early evening, and then when I'm ready to go to bed it's party time for them. It's so bad that I have to shut them out of the bedroom so that I can protect my own insomniac sleep. Another angle I see for this is putting up a videocam to capture all of the inevitable startle reactions when the buzzer goes off.
Noexit, Mar 16 2005
  

       It's a bit like what you do to young kids in order to buy a night's sleep.
wagster, Mar 16 2005
  

       Is there a reason not to leave the cat out all night?
Shz, Mar 16 2005
  

       "Is there a reason not to leave the cat out all night?"   

       The cat only goes out to prowl the territory and use the facilities. Within a very short time, the cat wants back in again, and will howl at the bedroom window or skylight loudly enough to keep you awake, until you let it in.
robinism, Mar 16 2005
  

       My cats are nocturnal hunters. They ask to go out at night and don’t come back until morning, unless it’s very cold. One of them goes out on 5 day excursions several times a year. That’s just their nature. But since the cat you mention wants to come right back in...   

       One possible solution: Install a cat flap.   

       I’m sure they will dislike your sleep deprivation device immensely, but [+] for not electrocuting them.
Shz, Mar 16 2005
  

       I have suggested a cat flap too, but he says that the cats need to be watched as they come into the house, because they sometimes try to sneak in distasteful trophies.   

       A possible solution to this would be a feline-o-metric recognition system, requiring the cat to drop its carrion luggage, stick its empty muzzle against the nose-freckle sensor, which trips the lock on the cat flap. When the cat hears the lock click, he hops in. This would also keep out canny neighbor cats. (I guess I should post the anti-carrion cat flap idea?)
robinism, Mar 17 2005
  

       Great idea. Would also work on my Labrador who is hyperactive when I get home because she's been snoozing in the sun all day.   

       A friend of mine has a collar that you can send a signal to, to buzz the dog with a small electric shock if it barks. I think this is very cruel - but sleep deprivation is OK.
Flux, Mar 17 2005
  

       //they slaughter gazillions of native birds and animals.//   

       They wear bells, and mostly kill mice and moles, which I’m not too concerned about. I usually only get one flying ‘gift’ per year (though last year, it was a duck - I was fairly impressed).
Shz, Mar 17 2005
  

       Are you sure the duck wasn't a witch?   

       (Oh no. Now somebody is going to say something from Monty Python.)
froglet, Mar 17 2005
  

       It floated.
Shz, Mar 17 2005
  

       Hmm. My cat must be weird as he sleeps through the night at the foot of the bed. Often atop my feet. He sleeps in, too.
bristolz, Mar 17 2005
  

       Bred or cloned diurnal cats would probably be popular pets.
FarmerJohn, Mar 20 2005
  

       I would've thought that cloned cats would get boring after a while, I mean, they're exactly the same, plus if everyone got a cloned cat, there's bound to be a lack of genes in the gene pool, so inbreeding might occur.   

       I'd like one of those weird cats that don't have any hair.
froglet, Mar 21 2005
  

       No inbreeding there.   

       [+] Great idea, lots of coyotes here at night. Lost my last 2 cats to their nocturnal excursions.
darkboy115, Mar 21 2005
  

       I thought that this would be some sort of padding to wear while sitting on cats for sport.
Guncrazy, Mar 23 2005
  

       Cats killing rodents are still a concern when they're the native rodents. Cats seem to have a taste for those which are endangered too (ie. most of them).
Detly, Mar 23 2005
  
      
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