Heh. Cat videos: the currency of the Internet. Anyway…
Notes:
- I topped off the battery on Tuesday (1 Jan, 9:30-10:30 P.M.) after seeing a low battery warning. I must have failed to properly seat the tracker on the charger during the normal Monday charge window.
Undercover Mouse: How Is That Going?
- Anecdotally: Awesome. Snickers loves this toy, and now that it is automated she gets more quality playtime with it than even the craziest of cat ladies could provide. She has learned to recognize the sound, and will regularly trot downstairs with a few moments of it activating.
- Empirically: Might be too early to tell. Her weekly “step” totals (even when considering “steps” not counted during an extra hour of battery charging) are consistent with those of the weeks before this fancy Undercover Mouse setup. This may be her initial apprehension of the toy wearing off. When she first began playing with the UM she would sit in one place and cautiously poke at the wand whenever it approached her, as seen in the video. Jennie has informed me that Snickers has gotten better at playing with the toy over the week; she will now chase, jump, and even do quasi-somersaults trying to catch the wand. Another issue that may affect the results: Often when Snickers catches the wand, she will detach it from the UM (as designed) and bat it around the basement. Jennie or I will then find it -hours later- and reattach it. This likely means that several cycles go by with no wand attached, and probably therefore little or no cat exercise going on. Hmm.
I think another week of data collection (with this fancy Undercover Mouse in isolation) is warranted before I move on to the next hilariously over-engineered cat exercise system.