kitty & doggy cams

I just read an article on data collected on what cats do during the day when their owners are at work.  Friskies people had collar cameras attached to 50 cats.  The cameras took a photo every 15 minutes, and interestingly enough, the data found cats don't sleep all day.  In fact the cats only spent 6% of their time sleeping.

It kinda makes me wonder what my pets are doing when I'm not home, but I'm fairly certain it doesn't involve hours of sleeping.

Sometimes it's fairly obvious.  You know, such as when I walk in the living room and there is pillow stuffing strewn wall to wall, on table tops, under tables, hanging from the ceiling fan – well you get the picture.  Or when I discover knick knacks or papers that were on shelves or counters when I left for work are now squirreled away under the kitchen table or the recliner in the living room.

The incredible exploding pillows along with furniture covers that suddenly develop HUGE gaping holes in them, I'm 99.9% sure is attributable to the dogs.  Doe, Willa, and Izzy are more the curl up on, in, or under pillows and blanket types, rather than the MUST KILL PILLOW/BLANKET NOW! type.

The dogs have also taken to playing with the cat toys.  Well, playing may not be entirely accurate.  More like dismember.

Funny story...
     On walking into the living room I saw Fallon chewing on something that didn't resemble any of the dog toys, so I scooped it up.  It was what had at one time been a cute little giraffe cat toy.  It had a cute little head and cute little body and cute little feet that had been attached to the body with thick bits of thread, which were the "legs."  Sadly, the little giraffe was missing a couple of feet, but I figured they'd probably appear in the back yard at some point in the next 12 - 24 hours if you get my drift.
     Cut to a couple of hours later...
      On the floor, I see what looks to my trained eye something that suspiciously resembles cat turds.  I heave a huge sigh and prepare to do the EWWWW!!! chore, and head over with paper towels and carpet cleaner.  As I lean over to do the dreaded deed, I realize it's not cat turds after all!  It's the cute little feet off the cat toy.
       Now why it didn't occur to me that it might be something other than cat turds is beyond me, since my cats have NEVER used anything but their cat box for their bodily functions.

Everyday when I get home, I'm greeted by five *starving* pets.  The overzealous reaction when I walk in the door, I know, is not their happines at seeing me, so much as knowing food is forthcoming.  The cats have kibble out for them all the time, so I'm not sure what their story is.  I *know* they aren't starving!  In fact, this is another clue they haven't been sleeping all day, because generally the full bowls of kibble are now empty.  Unless the dogs are getting on the couch and climbing over the bar onto the kitchen counters (which while not completely out of the realm of possibility, is highly unlikely,) the cats are the ones who have noshed to their heart's content.

So, even without a camera attached to Doe's, Willa's, Izzy's, Kyna's, or Fallon's collar, I can say with great certainty there isn't an all day sleepfest happening while I'm at work.

It would be kinda fun to have the camera - maybe even one of those live web cams, so that I can watch them while at work.  It would even be more fun to have some sort of speaker system rigged up so that if I see one of my little darlings doing something illicit, my voice would resonate throughout the house, "NO!  STOP THAT NOW!"

Hmmm....I might have to consider this some more...