Do you leave tv on for your cat when you leave the house? (1 Viewer)

[Robert_eb]

I was wondering if anyone leaves your tv on for their cats? A friend of mine does it and I laughed at first and then began to wonder if this has any affect on cats (or dogs).

 

[Patrick Sun]

No, but I leave my clock radio on (until it stops a few hours later once the alarm cycle times out).

 

[Tony Whalen]

I can't see how that would do anything.

Personally, my cats (I have 3) tend to ignore the TV. One of them will occasionally watch it, but she only REALLY pays attention when I put in the "Video Catnip" tape. (Footage of birds and rodents...funny to watch the cat watching this!)

My cats love lounging in the windows while we're gone... can't see them watching TV when looking outside is far more entertaining.

 

[Ted Lee]

my girlfriend sometimes leave a light and/or the radio on. i can't imagine the pets care one way or the other.

i suspect it is more for her peace of mind than anything else.

 

[Andrew Testa]

My cats aren't interested in human forms of entertainment. What I've done is place squirrel feeding trays and suet baskets for birds outside their favorite windowsills. The steady stream of birds and critters outside their windows keeps them VERY entertained. It keeps them alert and happy.

Andy

 

[James T]

I used to leave my radio on for my dog when he was still a puppy. Back then, he just wanted to be near a human (doesn't matter if they communicate with him or not). It was just to comfort the dog into believing he was not alone in the house.

Now, he could care less if the radio is on or if there's a dog pictured on the tv.

 

[Philip_G]

my puppy seems to be entertained by tv and my computer, she'll sit in my lap when I surf and watch the monitor, when a new window opens she'll look at it, so I think she can see it which surprises me, I didn't think they were supposed to be able to, guess not.
she stays in her plastic box during the day, she'd destroy my house otherwise

 

[Michael Reuben]

My cats aren't interested in human forms of entertainment.

Have you shown them Meow TV?

M.

 

[Andrew Testa]

Have you shown them Meow TV?

No, but we watch enough shows on Animal Planet to know that they'll completely ignore any image of animals of any kind. They will however beat the hell out of the screen whenever a high contrast spot moves back and forth. I can do that with a flashlight and a wall.

No, if they can't hear or smell it, they just don't care. For some reason a TV image doesn't count with them.

And that's consistant for a herd of seven.

Get a couple of Chickadees on the feeder right outside their window and you'd think they're about to crawl right out of their skins. Half of them are chattering and climbing the window, the other half are in stalk mode, flattened into the shelf with ears down. All it takes is one large human to make a noise and the most horrendous cat chain reaction goes off. It takes a good ten minutes to clean up everything that gets knocked over in the explosion, and about 30 until the last one comes out from under the bed.

Ah, good times.

Andy

 

[Malcolm R]

The scary part is when you leave it on Meow TV, but when you come home it's on C-SPAN.

 

[BrettB]

herd of seven

Did you ever see that commercial where the cowboys are driving the herd of cats?

 

[Darren Crouse]

Strangely enough my wife and I always listen to classical music in the den. It tends to be on at an audible, but low volume, 24hrs a day and my cat seems to like it. She tends to cuddle up in the room, evidently she(the cat) probably doesn't mind the music, or atleast the ambience it lends to the room.


Take Care,
Darren.

 

[Tony-B]

I do not leave that TV on for my cat. I don't even leave any lights on for him either, and he is just fine when I get back. He probably just sleeps a lot when I am gone.

"Video Catnip"

I want that tape! You should transfer it to DVD and sell it to people! You could make a fortune off of that! Who knows, one day it might become part of the Caterion (not Criterion) Collection.

You should just see my cat in the morning. About 5 AM, he goes into my parents' bedroom, lies down on the window-seat, and looks outside. He hears chirping, and wants to kill whatever the source of it is.

 

[Grant B]

My Scottie Asta will sit on my lap and watch TV. I always wondered if he was watching until we were watching Lady and the Tramp. When the Rat went in the Babys room his ears pearked up and he started growling. What really threw me was when he barked at Tom (as in Tom & Jerry)
His brother doesnt watch TV but the 1st time they say a cat on TV; one waited in front of the TV and the other circled around back in case it tried to escape. We leave animal planet on for them at times.... if it is a wolf special they will watch and growl for hours

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Daytime TV rots your brain, so why would I want to do that to my cats?

Seriously, our two cats rarely even notice the television, so I doubt they would care if we left it on for them. My wife will occasionally leave a light on for them, which I never understand (I usually turn it off if I catch it) -- they can see a lot better in the dark than we can.

 

[Andrew Testa]

Did you ever see that commercial where the cowboys are driving the herd of cats?

Oh yes! One of my favorites. My wife wrote to the company and they sent us a video tape of the commercial and a short 'behind the scenes' piece about how it was made. Very funny.

Andy

 

[Dave Poehlman]

One of my two cats is very interested in whats moving around on the TV or computer... he'll swat at the screen. The other cat could care less.

They both love to try and climb in my inkjet printer to catch the print head whenever I print something. I have to make sure they're locked out of the room before I hit the print key.

The things we do for our pets... sheesh.

 

[Dave_Brown]

Every once in awhile I'll throw in the tape of birds and other animals running around having fun to see if the cats take an interest in it or not. It's probably their short attention span but it only gets watched for maybe a minute or two before they wander off. I like to refer to it as their tape of "Kitty Porn" that keeps them from annoying me.

My biggest fear is they will see something they like on tv and drag their claws against the screen and do some damage.

 

[BrettB]

My wife wrote to the company and they sent us a video tape of the commercial and a short 'behind the scenes' piece about how it was made. Very funny.

Andrew, please tell me you still have the address or name of the company, anything, please. :b

 

[Tony Whalen]

All it takes is one large human to make a noise and the most horrendous cat chain reaction goes off.

Are we talking about entertaining cats, or entertaining humans? Because the thought of a 7-cat chain reaction is hilarious. I have it bad enough with 3!

Oh jeez.. I forgot about Animal Planet. Yah.. whenever we're watching that...my one cat will invariably park herself in front of the TV for a little while, just staring.

Then I bring out the laser pointer and move the bright spot around the carpet and watch her lose her mind.