Pets

Smart pet treadmill might get fat cats up and running

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The Little Cat is a smart treadmill for cats
Pet Ding
The Little Cat is a smart treadmill for cats
Pet Ding
The Little Cat can be controlled through an app, and records a pet's run data
Pet Ding
The Little Cat smart treadmill is not small
Pet Ding
We're not entirely sure cats will really use the Little Cat treadmill, but maybe the LED will help coax them in
Pet Ding
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Most dogs are lucky enough to get a regular walk in the great outdoors, but cats are usually left at home. Looking like a giant hamster wheel, the Little Cat is an app-driven machine designed to give our feline friends some much-needed exercise – although whether they'd actually use it remains to be seen.

The Little Cat is far from the first exercise wheel for cats, but it looks like the most interactive one we've come across. Earlier devices like the One Fast Cat were just big felt hamster wheels that you'd almost have to physically put the cat on yourself. Considering how much trouble it can be to get a cat to use a scratching post rather than a nice new couch, we wouldn't have much faith that it would figure out how to use those wheels.

The Little Cat's biggest selling point is that it has a built-in incentive – an LED light that moves up the center of the ring. As anyone who's ever flicked a laser pointer around on the floor knows, cats go nuts for those lights, and this might be the missing ingredient that gets their lazy butts onto the treadmill. In some of the videos it seems to work, but in others the cat is far more interested in the LED and looks visibly uncomfortable as soon as the floor starts to move under it.

The Little Cat smart treadmill is not small
Pet Ding

Where other wheels are passive and only move when the cat starts running, the Little Cat can be set to move on its own at different speeds, like a treadmill. It's controlled through a smartphone app, letting users set the speed, move the LED around, watch the cat through a live camera feed and even record voice samples to play back when you're not home. The app also works like a fitness tracker, recording your pet's run data and apparently using that to develop a customized exercise plan.

Pet Ding, the company behind it, hasn't given any details on availability or pricing just yet, but the Little Cat is on display at CES this week. Check it out in action in the video below.

Source: Pet Ding

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5 comments
Ianspeed
Okay, so cats don't get exercise??? Really? Who came up with that? Put a GPS tag on a cat and see where it goes! Just because you don't walk your cat doesn't mean it doesn't go anywhere. I wouldn't see my cat for days, then some times I'd see him a 1mile away in the next village, but to be fair he did sometimes miss out on a walk when he would come back home in the car! Cats are not reliant on us, they just choose to use us. Haha
Catweazle
The best thing for exercising cats is a laser pointer.
I've never seen a cat yet that won't chase the red dot for hours!
MarcinBuglewicz
- ok guys, we made hamster wheel but it's not selling well, people prefer cats over hamsters. ideas? - let's scale up the wheel and make more money! - ok but how are we going to sell it? - just tell bs story to people that cats need exercises! - do you think lazy cats will bother with that machine in first place? - who cares, we need innovation so there!
Jean Lamb
My cat would just sleep on it. But she gets plenty of exercise chasing the lawn toys outside. <G>
Julie Brooker
@Ianspeed, Pretty sure the article refers to INDOOR cats, that really don't get adequate exercise.