i’ve been thinking about this for a while but cannot come up with a way to install it, without hurting harming or disturbing my cat. But he is very disturbed when I step on his tail in the dark which happens sometimes a couple times a week.
possibly an easy solution would be to just dip the tail into glow in the dark paint, but I’m sure it will wear off and will need repeated dippings.
another idea is a bodysuit that is very light and has some netting where the tail slips through and some type of battery operated light could be installed. you know a cat will try to get this off from the very first minute!
The last attempt will be to shave 1 inch of the tail and get the cat a piercing there. Now a little Piercing that lights up might do the trick.-- xandram, Feb 03 2021 Instead, what about one of these, but with glowing eyes? No_20More_20Cats_27_20Arses [hippo, Feb 04 2021] Night Vision Goggles, military-surplus https://kommandostore.com/products/qtnvgInstead of stepping on cat, become cat. [sninctown, Feb 04 2021] Self-acting portable cat reducer. https://en.wikipedi...Betsy%22_(1912).jpgVery effective [8th of 7, Feb 04 2021] // Wait, how did I get to this before 8th? //
You didn't. We were watching and waiting ...
[+] for the idea. We won't go into details as to why ...
// dip the tail into glow in the dark paint, but I’m sure it will wear off and will need repeated drippings. //
There is a way round that. <Sniggering/>
// Is there a clinical term for amputating the tail? //
Yes. "Joyous".-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2021 //term for amputating the tail//
Were you thinking of docking, or will you insist on something ending in -ectomy?-- pertinax, Feb 03 2021 [xandram], I was going to say not to mind the mean old Borg, and that your cat is perfectly safe, but then I remembered that if it were perfectly safe it wouldn't need this idea.
What if you installed a much lighter- coloured floor?-- pertinax, Feb 03 2021 thanks [pert] the dance floor from Saturday night fever might work, but I will never sleep with that much light. I don’t mind the Borg, he’s really just a pussycat!-- xandram, Feb 03 2021 //just dip the tail into glow in the dark paint// - a spray might be easier-- hippo, Feb 03 2021 The alternative would be a metal tail thimble, held in place by a painfree piercing stud. This would protect the tail in the event of an accidental tramping incident, and being as an item of cat adornment, would also look great and make other cat owners quite jealous.-- xenzag, Feb 03 2021 //We won't go into details as to why// It's to shine brightly enough that it can't show you its butt isn't it?-- Voice, Feb 03 2021 Forgot to mention this is also for my own safety. My cat weighs 22 pounds, is 99.9% black, and is almost 16 years old. In the dark I have almost fallen into things after stepping on his tail and trying to jump away quickly.
I like the thimble idea kind of like cat bling!-- xandram, Feb 03 2021 What are those GPS trackers on phones and cars etc. Smack one of them on his ass and then look at the phone as you gently walk in, Makes sense to me. Just clip it where he can't get to. For my cat that is somewhere just slightly north of the kitty butt. If it won't stay, yah, piercing there with GPS. ( I was sure this was xenzag's work.)-- blissmiss, Feb 03 2021 Piercings for cats are gooood ....
<Hefts pistol crossbow thoughtfully/>-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2021 ^ perhaps attach the GPS device to the cat's collar. Knowing that the cat* is 1.2 meters dead ahead will help you avoid walking into any part of it.
*and the typically-attached tail-- whatrock, Feb 03 2021 Since a cat will typically try to remove any attachments, it needs to be somewhere the cat can't see or reach. So attach a blinkenlight to the back of it's head (top of neck, thereabouts). A small clip to the fur should suffice (none of this piercing malarky...).-- neutrinos_shadow, Feb 03 2021 Would not children's shoes or slippers with those light displays work? Even for the cat.-- 4and20, Feb 03 2021 // thimble //
Why stop there? Get a suit of armour for the cat made of something suitably squash proof. I think the cat would be very happy to strut his stuff with the neighbouring kitties.
The balance of power would shift and you'd probably want to put lights on it to avoid being harmed if you tread on it.-- DenholmRicshaw, Feb 03 2021 // made of something suitably squash proof. /
Radium. Nicely visible in the dark ...-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2021 [Xan], can you elaborate on how this unfortunate situation vis a vis the cat tail occurs? Does the cat like to sleep in doorways?
A lighter colored floor covering, head lamp and/or night lights seems fairly practical. A different approach would be purchase of a night vision device.
Cats can be tricky. One time long ago a stray cat came into the house through the cat door and laid low for several days before anyone confirmed that there was an extra cat in the house.-- sninctown, Feb 04 2021 cat is black. night is black. cat lays by wood stove, but he is SO big that even if he is far enough away...his tail is right in the way of where i am walking...and then you know...he wags it so it moves! ( under my foot) it’s a cat science-- xandram, Feb 04 2021 // he is SO big //
Oh-ho, there's your problem, right there.
If you reduce your cat by one dimension, the problem is solved. What you need is one of <link>.-- 8th of 7, Feb 04 2021 Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poor and the towers of Kings.
-Horace
That was before medical technology improved enough for wealthy people to live longer.
More to the point I think access to a few million "donated" organs will help him out a bit.-- Voice, Feb 05 2021 One of my cats (black as night, 3.5lb) has had white paint on various parts of her since she investigated the recently painted thing, she's not bothered, even by the extra weight on the end of her whiskers. I reckon you could easily dip the tail in a rhodamine/fluorescein based acrylic fluorescent paint, then just set up a couple of UV/blue LEDs wherever. You don't need much power. It will eventually come off as hairs fall out and the cat picks at it, but it isn't toxic.
Changing the heat source will also work, my cats sleep either on the router on top of the kitchen cupboard, on a server, on me somewhere elevated. But I guess that would mean giving up on a fireplace, which isn't a sane option. Some kind of elevated fire-adjacent platform? With contrasting color?-- bs0u0155, Feb 05 2021 I for one signed up for cryogenic freezing and look forward to an eternity as part of the future hive-mind after the Great Assimilating.
About the cat paint thing, the cat might eat it as part of self grooming. Not ideal.-- sninctown, Feb 05 2021 //cat might eat it as part of self grooming.//
I'm sure it will, but if children's pain were toxic, we'd know by now, and if Fluorescein were toxic, then the city of Chigago would be in trouble with all sorts of authorities, since they use it to dye their river green each St Patrick's day.-- bs0u0155, Feb 05 2021 // Not ideal. //
Hur hur hur ...
<Re-reads Wikipedia article on the Radium Dial girls/>
<Re-reads Wikipedia article on Radithor/>
<Hiccuping and arm-flapping/>-- 8th of 7, Feb 05 2021 But... but, children's pain "is" toxic!
As for the idea; a cat should be supremely aware of its environment at all times and, unlike you [xan], can see just fine in the dark.Therefore I imagine that your feline roommate is manipulating you for affection over and above what it receives from you already, because you are its slave.
You just need to accept that and worship it in the manner to which its current whim dictates.
You can do this girl.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 06 2021 That is very sweet [2fries] but sometimes i worry that at his age he is getting feline dementia!-- xandram, Feb 06 2021 Best to open up his skull and find out, then.-- 8th of 7, Feb 06 2021 random, halfbakery