Cat Bringing You Dead Animals as Gifts? Artificial Intelligence Will B

Published A Few Days Ago
ADVERTISEMENT

The use of artificial intelligence in the pet industry is slowly but surely gaining more ground: this AI-powered cat flap just proves it.

If you have a cat that’s free to go outdoors as he or she pleases, you’ve probably got a few gifts in return. And by gifts, I mean dead (or almost dead) critters your kitty has hunted down for you and oh so helpfully put right on your bed so you could find them once you wake up. It’s disturbing and disgusting, but hey- studies show that that means your cat considers you their family member, albeit an incompetent one. While the gory gift is a kind gesture in your cat’s eyes, it doesn’t mean you have to like it though.

Ben Hamm certainly didn’t like his cat, Metric, bringing his prey inside the house. That’s why he developed an AI-powered cat flap that blocked the thoughtful kitty whenever he tried to enter the house with a critter stuck between his jaws. He installed an Amazon Deeplink camera above the cat door and trained the artificial intelligence with pictures of his cats with and without dead animals in tow. The algorithm is based on 3 steps: checking if the cat is going in or out, checking to see if the cat is in the frame, and lastly, checking to see if there are any critters in his mouth. Hamm had to feed over 23,000 images to the AI for it to start detecting his pet trying to sneak in dead animals.

Once the artificial intelligence was able to discern his kitty ‘coming in for a snack vs coming in with a snack’, the rest was easy. He programmed the kitty flap to stay locked for 15 minutes once the gory gift was detected, send him a picture of the deed (just in case) and automatically donate a small sum to Audubon Society, a bird organization. (Metric seems to prefer bird prey.) In the case Metric was coming empty-mouthed, he could enter normally.

Needless to say, many cat pawrents would be thrilled about having this type of AI-powered pet door at their disposal, but this is still far from being a publicly available product. Until it hits the pet store shelves, though, my advice is just to have an indoors-only cat. The nastiest thing my indoors-only cats have gifted me with is hairball vomit- and I’d take vomit over a dead animal every time.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

You May Like

Your Cat Really Likes Spending Time With You!

He likes you! He really, really likes you! Your cat may be playing hard to get, but deep down, he loves spending time with you.
Adoptable Dog of the Week-Nutella

Sweet and gooey! Our Adoptable Dog of the Week is Nutella, a 5-year old chocolate brown Chihuahua mix from Phoenix, Arizona.
Preparing Your Pooch For His First Dog Groomer Visit

Is Scruffy starting to look a bit scruffy? We''ve put together some points on what you need to do to prepare your pup for his first dog groomer visit.
Blue Naped Parrot

Long-lived, affectionate and interesting, the Blue Naped Parrot will make a great companion- sometimes even for more than one family generation.
Want a Dog Bed That Looks Like Real Furniture?

%%excerpt%% [...]
Two-Faced Kitty Pulls an About-Face With Copycat Face-ade!

Now here''s a look you don''t see everyday. This adorable little two-faced cat has scientists wondering if she is a true ''Chimera.''
It Took 5 Cats to Nail the Role of Church in New Pet Sematary Movie

The showbiz can be tough for actors, especially four-legged ones. But, that wasn''t the case for the five fab felines that were cast for Pet Sematary movie.
Teen Takes His Cat to the Purrom

No need to buy her a corsage - she''ll just eat it. Stuck without a date to the prom, this teen decided to do the logical thing... bring his cat as his +1.
Best Dog Calming Collars

Dog calming collars rely on the potency of pheromones, herbs, or essential oils to provide much-needed relief to anxious dogs.
10 Best Bowls For Bernedoodles

Finding the right bowl for your dog can be challenging because they vary so much in size, so we''ve compiled a list of the 10 best bowls for Bernedoodles.
Silver Fox Rabbit

The Silver Fox Rabbit is known to be one of the rarest breeds in America. It has a ""standing coat"" that resembles that of a Silver Fox in the Arctic.
Princess Parrot

Loved worldwide for their fun personality, wonderful looks, and cute talking abilities, Princess Parrot has everything that a perfect pet bird needs.
6 Ways To Properly Clean Dog Ears

Some dogs need their ears cleaned regularly. Here are some important tips about how to properly clean dog ears, as well as some things you should never do.
Pyrador

The Pyrador is a designer breed that blends the loving personality of the Labrador Retriever with the strong, protective traits of the Great Pyrenees.
Gluten-Free Ghoulishly Good Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipe

Did you hear that? Was that a creaking oven door? Creepy paw steps walking toward me? OMD! It’s… it’s… Oh, wait… it’s…