Four-legged home automation

Time to think about the holidays, but what to do with the house cat? Cats, habitual and by definition more linked to the environment than to human companions, do not tolerate movement as well as dogs. Often it is preferable to leave them at home, with someone who can come and look after them. But the days are long, and even the most willing of cat sitters cannot replace a constant presence. Not to mention the fact that the offices are reopening in presence, and our cat, accustomed to smartworking, could find himself displaced to spend long hours of solitude again. We are helped by a set of home automation, gadgets and virtual assistants able to do almost everything we do for our cat. Anyone with a cat, for example, knows how picky they are with their water bowl, and how important it is to encourage them to drink often to avoid dehydration and kidney stones. Many cats prefer running water, and if the bowl is dirty and the water isn’t fresh, they ignore it altogether. A must-have gadget for prolonged absences from home is a bowl with fountain and integrated filters, which keeps the water clean and is activated with a sensor when the cat approaches to drink, while the intelligent bowl comes to the rescue for baby food. There are many on the market, equipped with timers or compartments that open at various times of the day. The smartest ones, however, meet cats and owners with even more advanced functions. Petlibro’s instead of releasing the food of the day all together provides it in small meals, avoiding binge eating. Not only that: it can be controlled remotely, so you can monitor how much and how the cat eats, and before refilling the bowl of kibble it calls it with the same voice as the owner thanks to a pre-recorded message. But those who have more than one cat will find it very useful, especially for short absences, to use bowls like Muukkie: to each his own, and it opens only if the integrated camera recognizes the cat from the photos that the owner has provided. he is used to going out in the garden or on the terrace, but we are afraid that in our absence he will organize gatherings with all the cats in the neighborhood, it takes a smart cat flap, which opens only with the chip that the cat will wear on its collar. And to avoid damage to curtains and sofas due to boredom, there is the Petcube virtual assistant: a small cube that allows us to see what our cat is up to thanks to a zoomable camera with night vision, sends alerts to the mobile phone in case detect suspicious noises or excessive meowing, you can connect to Alexa to play the house cat’s favorite music. Not only that: it also allows us to call our cat, talking to him and playing from a distance using the integrated laser pointer.A final chapter deserves it: a dirty litter box can mean the green light to use the carpet in the living room. This doesn’t happen if the litter box is super smart like Litter Robot 3 Connect. Thanks to the integrated sensors it detects when the cat enters, and, as soon as it comes out, the rotating core centrifuges the litter eliminating the dirty parts, which end up in a removable tank. Then the clean sand is put back in place and leveled, ready for the next use. The plus: it connects via Wi-Fi and sends notifications to the owner’s smartphone every time it is used.