Bird Box Club (cat version)

I definitely think there's something we should do here as an experiment in surveillance. I propose that we hook up a webcam in mine and Matt's front window, and RFID Inky so that the camera videos the view when he's sat there. I think we'll get some nice footage of pedestrians looking in at him. Mostly people smile when they see him...

So it's him, looking out at them [and other stuff] providing entertainment for them looking in. It's also, obviously, a camera watching outside our house and so it retains a primary function as a surveillance camera. But Inky's in control of it. He might see something important, and if he does then we will know. He'll be able to tell us, a bit like Lassie, only not as smart.

OK so I may be going really OTT with the cat thing

but he's really good.

There are some nice and some not so nice things on this page, including him at the end. It's from a site called Modern Cat, in the "DIY" section. I found it by typing "cat shelf" into Google.

This is one of the nicer things. It originally came from here.

Animal vision

Not sure where this is going, but this is apparently how dogs and cats see:

The position of the eyes within the head determines the degree of peripheral vision as well as the amount of the visual field that is seen simultaneously with both eyes. This binocular vision is necessary for judgment of distances. Dogs have eyes which are placed on the sides of the head, resulting in a visual field of 240 degrees compared with the human field of 200 degrees. The central, binocular field of vision in dogs and cats is approximately half that possessed by humans.

The eyes of dogs and cats have many of the modifications typically seen in animals which evolved as nighttime hunters. The pupil functions much as the aperture for a camera and can dilate for maximal light capturing ability in dogs and cats. In addition, there is a reflective layer under the retina called the tapetum which serves to intensify vision in dim light. The "mirror" effect of the tapetum results in the "eye shine" observed when an animal looks into a car's headlights. While dim light vision is enhanced by the tapetum, scattering of the reflected light may result in reduced acuity.

Although it is commonly believed that dogs and cats see only in black and white, recent evidence suggests that animals may have some degree of useful color vision. The perception of color is determined by the presence of cone photoreceptors within the retina. These cone cells function in bright light conditions and comprise approximately 20% of the photoreceptors in the central retina of the dog. In humans, the central retina (macula) is 100% cones. Behavioral tests in dogs suggest that they can distinguish red and blue colors but often confuse green and red.

Us:
Them:
Us: Ink:
It's that blue car isn't it.

Surveillance cat

He must spend hours doing this. Exactly there, sat upright looking at stuff. Surely we can offer him some gadgets to assist him on his mission to sit and watch stuff. It may be going off the point I know, but he's sort of nature.

edit: Maybe we should set up a camera outside to observe his observations. Or, we need a little 'Inky-cam' fixed to his head so we can see what the hell it is he's looking at. Obviously it's probably just anything that moves and might be prey... but you never know. Maybe he knows something we don't?