Cat countertop deterrent and the Falling Cat Problem - GIFs and video

Keeping a cat off a countertop with motion-activated air spray. I've found a similar strategy works fine for getting a dog out of my face, even my own dog - just gently blow once toward their face.

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Somehow this is related to the cats vs. cucumbers/bananas videos. 2:35 video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuJm5gXmQQ


It's not really appropriate to delight in videos of pets injuring themselves. Some may remember the legendary 2009 episode in which the internet vigilante group Anonymous tracked down fourteen-year-old cat abuser Kenny Glenn after he posted videos of himself torturing Dusty the Cat.

However, in this case, the truth is that there's a weird phenomenon (or maybe not a phenomenon, just perfectly normal physics) involving cats' ability to fall long distances without injury. In fact, looking at the data we have, I believe their risk of injury is reduced once they hit terminal velocity. Look what happens when this little guy drops down nine stories -- see him flare out towards the bottom? And then he doesn't exactly limp away after he lands.

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I admit I don't fully understand it. And when we don't understand something, there can be only one explanation:

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Either that, or something called Cat righting reflex. The physics problem behind it is called the Falling cat problem.

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...at_problem.gif


Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...725#post128929
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...607#post136332

Pretty sure I seen the cat on the "hot bench" before. It(the others) seems to be about "that wasn't there before & gosh it might hurt or bite" or "WTH" in cat language . Feral cats leap much higher in defence, when startled.

Before my daughter left home last year & took her dog, I regularly made cups/bowls for her from coconuts but her dog would go ballistic over a coconut left on the ground: "that's an intruder" or maybe she had been marooned on a Fiji Island with Tom Hanks.

Mate,
Our little guy, Bentley, has forced us to be very tidy in the yard...leave the barrow or anything else on the lawn, he goes nuts! 'It wasn't there before...BARK'....

JimAttachment 30154

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Originally Posted by Beserkleyboy

Mate,
Our little guy, Bentley, has forced us to be very tidy in the yard...leave the barrow or anything else on the lawn, he goes nuts! 'It wasn't there before...BARK'....

JimAttachment 30154

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Bronson is getting used to my culling with stuff everywhere:some to play with, some for burning, some for charity, some for the tip, some for the "toy boys", some for gumtree etc.
not sure if my post on making a dog coat for a wee chap was saved properly but has pics of his growing up. LOL.(I couldn't find it in miscellaneous)
Cheers

Jon,

How about a warning that the "...post's contents may show injury to defenseless animals..." or something similar so we animal lovers will know not to open it.

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nhengineer

Jon,

How about a warning that the "...post's contents may show injury to defenseless animals..." or something similar so we animal lovers will know not to open it.

Thanks

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Your point is valid, but this thread doesn't show injury to defenseless animals. The whole point of the physics surrounding the Falling cat problem is the mystery behind why cats aren't injured by falling.

But yes, agreed - the internet-acceptable injury viewable hierarchy is as follows, with the first-listed injuries most acceptable to view:

1. Injuries to humans.
2. Injuries to wild animals.
3. Injuries to pets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jon

Your point is valid, but this thread doesn't show injury to defenseless animals. The whole point of the physics surrounding the Falling cat problem is the mystery behind why cats aren't injured by falling.

But yes, agreed - the internet-acceptable injury viewable hierarchy is as follows, with the first-listed injuries most acceptable to view:

1. Injuries to humans.
2. Injuries to wild animals.
3. Injuries to pets.

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After reading nhengineers post, I was going to rewatch as I hadn't seen any injuries: then I saw this post of yours Jon.

Few of us, me included, would not like to watch injuries to animals but lovely ones like excavator saves deer is heartening.
Thanks again

I believe there is a movie "Difference between Cats and Dogs". . .
Peel and point a banana at my dogs. They'll sit and wait forever; just for a piece broken off and fed to them.

Thanks for your response, Jon. I admit I did not read the text - only watched that poor cat fall 20 feet to the asphalt and then be chased by the dog. Not something I wanted to watch. I'm glad the cat wasn't hurt too bad in the fall but I can't imagine what that dog did to her and I don't want to know.

I can't watch:

1. Injuries to humans, 2. Injuries to wild animals or 3. Injuries to pets.

....but, that's just me.

Regards,
DSLee

What about a perfectly innocent bear being chased by a cat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ne_4Tgyag

I'm OK to watch injury videos, as long as it's a person being injured, or possibly a wild animal, but not a pet. However, I prefer no gore, and at least some sort of educational component or tie-in to safety procedures.

Interestingly, the Falling Cat Problem was addressed in Nature in 1894, and the investigating scientist, Étienne-Jules Marey (who also invented the photography machine to capture the experiment), demonstrated the problem by dropping the cat!

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...hotography.jpg

And Eadweard Muybridge who solved how certain animals 'collect' and whether any time occurs the feet are not touching the ground when running.

Naturally Wikipedia has a fine presentation of biographic material on him and his work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge

There are exceptions to every rule; besides, the bear and cat weren't injured.

Only thing hurt was the bear's self-esteem. It's most unlikely he'll tell his mum what happened.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jon

What about a perfectly innocent bear being chased by a cat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ne_4Tgyag

I'm OK to watch injury videos, as long as it's a person being injured, or possibly a wild animal, but not a pet. However, I prefer no gore, and at least some sort of educational component or tie-in to safety procedures.

Interestingly, the Falling Cat Problem was addressed in Nature in 1894, and the investigating scientist, Étienne-Jules Marey (who also invented the photography machine to capture the experiment), demonstrated the problem by dropping the cat!

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...hotography.jpg

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No catastrophe there not even a cat in the tree.

A classic in the genre. I like how the cat body-checks the dog. And then goes back for more!

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Originally Posted by Jon

A classic in the genre. I like how the cat body-checks the dog. And then goes back for more!

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I think in this vid. the cat was chasing the dog in play then the dog was looking for the cat. Why the dog toppled the toddler is anybody's guess but the cat didn't like it and chased the dog off then decided to follow to make sure he had left.
we have 2 4 month old puppies that are still at that everything goes in their mouth phase and a small litter of 4 kittens that are about 2 months old the pups will wallow and wallow the kittens carry them around then the kittens will have enough of it then hiss and scratch until the pup lets it go then the stupid kitten will come back and lay down right at the pups mouth as if to say let's do this again.
Our chickens are opportunistic food thieves. they free range anywhere they want during the day we keep dry food out for the dogs and the cats at all times and treat them once in a while with leftovers of I will scramble up a dozen eggs once or twice a week and feed them the occasional can of their favorite pet food. cat food on a table in the car port dog food under the table. The cats will nibble once in a while at the dogs food but if the dogs were able to get at the cat food they would eat all of it. the chickens will wander into the car port for a snack but Jane does not want them there for obvious reasons they will leave droppings everywhere unlike farm cats and dogs who will go off way out of the yard to do their business.
This 1 male dog we have now 11 months old by a previous litter somehow broke one of his legs at 3 months old. so a trip to the vet was mandatory. he is the first animal we have ever allowed in the house since her 15 year old female Warlock Doberman died 25 years ago from fright of a thunder storm. Anyway Jane will open the door and shoo the chickens by saying shoo, Hurry up. the male if he happens to be in the house of outside and hears her will bolt like lightening and jump at the chickens once they leave the carport he will stand guard several minutes to see they do not return before going off and doing dog things. Jane can be outside and see the chickens a just say Victor Chickens Hurry up and he bolts off to the car port. it wasn't anything we trained him to do just something he learned on his own and now he has taught his half brother and sister to do the same thing. They won't bother the chickens if they are not under the car port.
In some ways animals are very smart and protective.
I suspect the yellow cat and the black bear cub incident is a case of the cat protecting his domain.
I can't say about the cat's and the cucumbers except that maybe they are just city idiot cats our cats young and old will not react to things like that.

It is interesting that the vid is/are from two locations: almost anticipated!

To get my jack russell out of his bed & to check out a shed from which I was retriving something, I told him to skitch the monsters this morn. He checked the shed with pup in tow & I heard a scuffle soon after. Leaving the shed I found he had dismembered a snake behind the shed. he goes to extrordinary lengths to kill when pup is with him, whwere as usually it is over & done with in seconds.

When concreteing the other day I heard some kaffulle & noticed the pup running away from him with something. After getting up from my knees (arthritis is a bugger) I noticed it was a black snake that the pup had killed & the jack russell probably wanted to make sure it was dead. They have a whole language of their own & i can't woof! I do however recognise a "snake" bark & generally pick up the dog if not already in kill mode.It not a good idea to distract them at such times as they can be bitten in a split second of distraction.

cheers

The male we call Victor named so due to the markings on his head face resembling those of the famous Victrola commercial of the 1950s When he had his broken hind leg the vet said I can immobilize it and he has a 30% chance of healing properly but he is very young and still growing so hopefully my predictions are way off. I said lets go ahead and start his round of shots anyway he is going to need them no matter what. the Vet asked if we wanted to include the anti snake bite shots to help him against the probability of encountering a rattlesnake. I didn't know that one was available I told him but yes by all means. About 3 weeks ago the wife let him out around 6:30 Am then around 8 AM he wanted back in his ear and face was bleeding and starting to swell. so we drove the 45 miles to the vet. by the time we got there his face was swollen all the way down under his mouth about 4 times its normal size We had to go to another vet because our regular one was out on a farm call the new vet Lady said your dog was not only bitten by a snake but it appears that he was in a fight with it there are 2 or 3 pairs of bites on his face. I doubt if he is going to make it unless he had had the shots for snake bite. I told her that he has had them. She cleaned and shaved the whole side of his face then wrapped him with a slight compression bandage to stem the bleeding gave us a round of antibiotics to give him. After we got back home I found a very dead snake with 23 rattles and a button quite a ways from the house. Yep I thought you might have hit my dog but you picked on the wrong animal to tussle with. Victor's hair is growing back nicely. By the way he can jump up on the table where the cat food is kept and run like a streak of lightening so his leg turned out all right One tough 37 lb blue healer mix
Jane just told me that the momma dog we call Maggie has had her 4th litter of pups this one as we have been saying for the last 3 litters are going to be her last Victor is from litter #2 Her first litter was a litter of 5 we gave 3 way then the 2 got killed victor was from a litter of 6 a snake got 5 of them while he was being kept in the house nursing his broken leg Litter #3 was only 2 pups they are victor's trainees. Jane says she thinks 4 dogs are enough but I disagree far too valuable to keep varmints at bay.
But getting her fixed it high on the priority list 4 litters in less than3 years is just too much to deal with

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Frank S

The male we call Victor named so due to the markings on his head face resembling those of the famous Victrola commercial of the 1950s When he had his broken hind leg the vet said I can immobilize it and he has a 30% chance of healing properly but he is very young and still growing so hopefully my predictions are way off. I said lets go ahead and start his round of shots anyway he is going to need them no matter what. the Vet asked if we wanted to include the anti snake bite shots to help him against the probability of encountering a rattlesnake. I didn't know that one was available I told him but yes by all means. About 3 weeks ago the wife let him out around 6:30 Am then around 8 AM he wanted back in his ear and face was bleeding and starting to swell. so we drove the 45 miles to the vet. by the time we got there his face was swollen all the way down under his mouth about 4 times its normal size We had to go to another vet because our regular one was out on a farm call the new vet Lady said your dog was not only bitten by a snake but it appears that he was in a fight with it there are 2 or 3 pairs of bites on his face. I doubt if he is going to make it unless he had had the shots for snake bite. I told her that he has had them. She cleaned and shaved the whole side of his face then wrapped him with a slight compression bandage to stem the bleeding gave us a round of antibiotics to give him. After we got back home I found a very dead snake with 23 rattles and a button quite a ways from the house. Yep I thought you might have hit my dog but you picked on the wrong animal to tussle with. Victor's hair is growing back nicely. By the way he can jump up on the table where the cat food is kept and run like a streak of lightening so his leg turned out all right One tough 37 lb blue healer mix
Jane just told me that the momma dog we call Maggie has had her 4th litter of pups this one as we have been saying for the last 3 litters are going to be her last Victor is from litter #2 Her first litter was a litter of 5 we gave 3 way then the 2 got killed victor was from a litter of 6 a snake got 5 of them while he was being kept in the house nursing his broken leg Litter #3 was only 2 pups they are victor's trainees. Jane says she thinks 4 dogs are enough but I disagree far too valuable to keep varmints at bay.
But getting her fixed it high on the priority list 4 litters in less than3 years is just too much to deal with

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Blue healers are a very determined & protective breed. I knew a guard dog breeder & he claimed the only guard dog better than a bluey was the close relative that had dingo blood in it viz: Aust'n Red Cattle Dog. He told me of so many people who wanted dobermans, shepherds, waimarino & bull terriers because of shows like 007.

FWIW- Unfortunately idiots have crossed bred big strong happy/docile dog breeds due to their power with other less reliable breeds like pit bulls that when badly treated become "dangerous" to everything and its no wonder that some have killed their owners. A savage dog does not make it a good snaker.

Never liked the look of rattle snakes or sidewinders as they remind me of our aptly named death adder and some smaller and larger tigers.

Expanding on my previous post= It is winter here and everyone knows that snakes are not active during winter but all those folk forgot to tell the snakes that. I went to the shed seeking stored items in low shelves so took our Jack Russell with me: the young silkyX following to learn from the other learners. They quickly abandoned me and I continued my search on bended knees (I have a small walkway in that shed).

I heard a kaffuffle behind the shed but continued my search.
After finding the tractor mower deck wheels I went to check out the commotion. The Jack Russell was covered in blood, & totally exhausted but still doing his thing to the totally ripped apart jo blake. I wasn't going to count scales to try to assertain what species it was but it could have been a harmless Keelback; a very pugnatious & venomous Rough Scale snake: or a smallish coastal Taipan :too many small bits and as the bin guy was due the next morning that became its temp resting place.

Incomplete Very Important ADVICE :- never distract your cat or dog that is in direct contact with a snake. (Unfortunately cats are often just curious or playing with critters.)

Be aware of your own instincts ( My hairs on the back of my neck rise ((at least that is what it feels like)) & I get an almost goosebump feeling when a venomous snake is detected by my subconscious).

Be aware also that most fatalities/ bites here in Aus ( we have many of the very dangerous species ) are from folk trying to kill one or they stand on one=keep your eyes peeled. They can strike at least twice their length so a long handled post hole shovel or a brushcutter is no match for a one metre snake strike. Coastal Taipans can strike several times in a second. A bit like dodging lightning once it started.

Also be aware that most snakes (Taipans and some other venomous ones excluded) have poor eyesight but see your heat and detect your vibrations=somethings you just cant hide.

re ranald's snake encyclopedia; now I'm staying home.
Like the black & white photos mucking out Venetian canals, the Australian snake thing never shows up on travel posters.
Wonder why.

Yep and that old wives' tale about a western diamond back cannot strike unless in a coil is about as true as the moon being made out of cheese. When they coil it means they had tried to get away and couldn't and are now agitated the coiling is a defensive posture against predators attacking it. Normally I would have just shot it but after running as hard as I did to see what she was hollering about I knew that I wouldn't have been able to hit it clean in 1 shot with my pocket 9 mm onw of my many shot guns sure or one of my rifles but those require aiming and I had neither with me at the time. it they are not coiled I generally stomp their heads into the ground then cut it off. One note they can strike through a thick leather boot so you don't want to stomp on one if you don't know for certain that you are going to drive the head into the ground. Tangling 1 up in a garden rake never a leaf rake means you need a 2nd person to pin and lob off the head. A machete works well but this brings your hand within a couple feet of the critter and if your don't chop close enough to the head you'll most likely require a trip to the ER

Cripes, Now Texas!

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Cripes, Now Texas!

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Not to worry any snake killed on our property is one that is most likely just passing through the cats keep them worried away the dogs kill them one of my dogs got bit a while back we took him to the vet because he was bleeding badly had his shot against snake bite several months ago so about all that happened to him was he was swollen up really bad a few days he drug up one of the beasts the other day without a head know it wasn't the one I shot because bagged it a d shoved it in the dumpster. Don't see as many any more san they are becoming smaller Our first year here I killed nearly a dozen large ones a couple over 5 ft long but I went hunting them. the more we increase the cleared area by removing brush and mowing the fewer we see. If anybody has a problem with my eradication desires then they don't have a wife who can only se out of 1 eye all slithering things are fair game in my book. But try as I might I can't get her to carry a small shot gun. the little Rossi .410s are perfect they don't weigh anything and you can carry 4 rounds in the stock #9 shot does the trick and impossible to miss at a few feet away.

NASA brings cats on the Vomit Comet.

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More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced-gravity_aircraft

How scratched up were the guys when the cats got a foothold?

Well, these cats fared better than Space Monkey, or his friend, a "blind red-headed, one legged parrot who had done some minor research for Dow Chemical"

Cat friend vs dog friend.
Warning: Gore at the end (not really)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GbycvPwr1Wg

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Originally Posted by f800

Cat friend vs dog friend.
Warning: Gore at the end (not really)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GbycvPwr1Wg

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If you say so

Cats demonstrating direct registering, in which their hindfeet are placed in the same place as their forefeet.

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Direct registering. Nifty.
But never heard of any saving their owner from a fire or other calamity. It's the distinction of being considered 'Owner', versus 'Staff'. House cats are barely akin to their pre-domesticated roots.
Bond of man and dogs, carved in stone.
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Our urban (urbane) neighborhood runs a little app, for all kinds of communication. Bulk of the posts, pleas to locate missing pets, kitties predominate probably 20:1, if not more.

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Originally Posted by Jon

NASA brings cats on the Vomit Comet.

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More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduced-gravity_aircraft

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re post *23..... Just noticed. Air Force officers with nothing better to do than cat-tossing. But at least one in full dress and cover no less, to make it official government spending. Not different than pharma ads and jokers in lab coats, lending atmosphere of trust.
Not any more! Your gig is up.