Background - Cats love to go in and out of the house, for hunting forays and to defend their territory. Unfortunately, this turns cat lovers into cat-doormen. Installing a cat-flap solves this problem, but creates a new set of security problems.
Problem - Current cat-flap design allows cats to drag their hunting quarry into the house.
Solution - Install a snout recognition unit right next to the cat-flap, on the outside of the house. The cat slides his pussycat nose into the snout recognition unit. Note that the snout has to be empty and closed in order for the cat to fit his nose into the snout holder. The electric eye detects that the cat's mouth is in fact empty, and allows the locking cat-flap to temporarily open.
The enhanced version learns what your cat's snout looks like, so that your cat can't teach all his cat friends how to use the cat-flap and have cat parties while you are gone. This would also keep out any hungry possums, quail, or aibos that might be wandering your neighborhood.-- robinism, Apr 02 2005 Recognizing snouts http://www.eternaln...larry/footfall.htmlWe're not in Kansas anymore, Hairy Red........ [normzone, Apr 02 2005] Flo control http://www.quantumpicture.com/an image recognition solution [hazel, Apr 02 2005] A small hairnet that covers/uncovers the cats face as it places it's snout in position might do the same thing.-- mensmaximus, Apr 02 2005 A chap has developed some image recognition software that recognises if his cat is coming home with prey - it's linked to the catflap and doesn't let her in avec mouse [link]-- hazel, Apr 02 2005 [hazel], amazing link. fascinating!-- dentworth, Apr 02 2005 ...dripping blood and with her lips and snout torn, Miffy's heart leapt as she finally neared sanctuary. She promised herself that never again would she attempt a hunt so late at night, so near to that ruffian Bosun's territory...the giant tom had surprised her, just as she was about to devour the last remaining golden grass parrot in North America. Extinction?..What did she care about extinction. Her owner certainly didn't care - pretending to be animal lovers while allowing her to roam and slaughter at will...but that was not on her mind now. All she could think of was safety. She had tried to fight, but the tom was just too big, too skilled in the ancient cat fighting art of mee-ow-do. She had taken a beating, lost a lot of blood and felt as though her life was draining away through the jagged rip across her nose. Desperately she pressed her muzzle into the unit beside her little door .... nothing!! The door didn't unlock! What was that? That soft pad, pad, pad, ... the deep and angry breathing? Bosun! It was the great ugly brute Bosun! He had followed - his blood lust not yet satisfied! Again Miffy pressed her snout into the unit. Again nothing! Bosun was almost on top of her now, she could sense him! Franticly she tried again...and again...wriggling and thrusting.. why wouldn't it work? She had to get inside! She had to! She...-- ConsulFlaminicus, Apr 02 2005 very compelling [Consul] - I don't let my cats out for all the above reasons.-- dentworth, Apr 02 2005 As Bosun stood over the lifeless Miffy, a plan formed in his mind. He had observed Miffy pressing her nose against the door jamb. What if...? If he could get in that door, he could finally experience for himself all the luxuries that the spoiled, pampered Miffy had enjoyed. He, Bosun, would be fed caviar in a silver bowl. No more hunting the wharf for fishheads! He carefully licked Miffy's once-perfect nose until the blood was washed away, then pressed her ragged lip back into place as well as he could. Grabbing the scruff of her neck in his powerful jaws, he hoisted the body up and pressed the now-cold nose against the door jamb. Click!-- robinism, Apr 03 2005 It rubs the lotion on its whiskers.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 03 2005 Or else it gets the hose again?-- Texticle, Apr 04 2005 Aww, how cute !!!!-- Vegan_Princess, Apr 04 2005 Something like a retina-scanner, perhaps?-- RayfordSteele, Apr 04 2005 A retina scanner can't tell if the cat has something it its mouth.-- robinism, Apr 04 2005 Top Link Hazel! - We need one of those to stop the big black bugger down the road from coming in and eating all the food, marking the place as his own and scaring the old siamese!. Hope that Pete 'n' Dud are double hard bastards and wont let this happen!-- gnomethang, Apr 04 2005 The 'Cat Nose Recognition' idea has some merit.
Currently I have no cat door, but with the current mild weather here in Texas, I have the sliding glass door locked open about four inches, and the openings sealed with foam, except for the bottom seven inches. So my two cats currently come and go as they please, but occasionally an opposum gets in, too!
Also, as summer is approaching, I will soon become the warden of cat jail again, or put up with a big leak in the AC system, unless I install a cat door and train them to use it.
One of the cats is tagged with an RF ID chip in his right shoulder; perhaps that can be incorporated for pet recognition.
Both cats will bring home their catches, though, so the empty mouth idea is good, too.
About ten years ago my first cat would come to the front door when she wanted in, but I had no way of knowing she was there. I first tried to tackle this problem by using a motion detector connected to my front doorbell, but had way too many false alarms due to cool plants blowing around with warm ground as a background. So I installed a temporary cat door for her by nailing boards to the top and side of the garage access door, with a rag blocking the gap at the bottom. Then I cobbled up a magnetic catch to hold the thing closed, and would leave the overhead door up about six inches. But my neighbor's outdoor cat soon learned to come in and relax in comfort! Also, opposums later took up residence in the garage and made a horrible mess of my workbench!-- Shooter, Apr 05 2005 A collar key system will keep out possums, but a collar key can't tell if the cat has something in its mouth.-- robinism, Apr 05 2005 //but a collar key can't tell if the cat has something in its mouth// Can't you muzzle cats?-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Apr 05 2005 //Can't you muzzle cats?//
With all the un-muzzling and re-muzzling, (every time the cat goes out or comes in, or wants a drink or finishes a meal), cat-muzzling sounds like even more work than being a cat-doorman.-- robinism, Apr 05 2005 Not a retina-scanner per se, just something like it. Similar technology that would scan the cat's nose.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 05 2005 //Hope that Pete 'n' Dud are double hard bastards and wont let this happen!//
Pah. They're both wusses of the most determined kind. They've never caught anything, ever, except a couple of flies. Rubbish animals.-- hazel, Apr 08 2005 quite true, although Pete did see off a particularly threatening looking woodlouse today. That's hunting for yer.-- jonthegeologist, Apr 08 2005 Related, perhaps. "[San Jose Mercury News, 4-28-02] Seattle computer programmer Boris Tsikanovsky told the San Jose Mercury News in April that he has developed software that will stop his cat, Squirrel, from bringing animal prey into the house when he's not at home. Squirrel can enter though a special door via a magnet on her collar and had been hiding dead mice and birds in the furniture. Consequently, Tsikanovsky developed imaging software, with a camera by the door, that permits Squirrel to enter only if her pixeled profile shows nothing in her mouth. "-- baconbrain, Mar 13 2008 random, halfbakery