It seems tablets are not just a hit with humankind. Cat lovers are using
the iPad to entertain their furry friends ... yep, there are iPad apps
for cats. Here's a look at what's out there for those brave enough to
try dispensing feline diversions of the digital kind.
Cat Apps
Game For Cats is free and like most of these cat-apps, it engages your cat's hunting
instincts, in this case by chasing a laser-pointer-dot as it darts about
the screen in a random fashion. When kitty manages to whack the dot, it
makes a noise to reward the capture. There's - you can see it in
action in this
video.
If your cat's hunting instincts aren't piqued by a laser-pointer-dot, Game For Cats also offers virtual rodent chasing as does Catch the Mouse. For $1.19, Cat Toys extends the prey selection to rats, frogs, spiders and that long-time
natural enemy of the domestic feline - the ping-pong ball. Check out Cat Toys being put through its paces here.
In the spirit of involving the owner as well as the cat, there's the $1.19 app called Enjoy with Cat.
Via a "finger-pad" in the corner of the screen, it gives you the
ability to control the movements of the cat's prey, be it mouse, a fish
or butterfly. Otherwise it is essentially the same as the others.
Some cat-apps entertain not the cat so much as the owners.
Cat Piano Jr for example, at 99 cents is a real laugh. It is a one octave, virtual
piano keyboard with large black and white keys. As the cat steps on a
key, instead of a piano sound, the iPad emits the sound of a cat's meow
at that precise pitch. In effect, it sounds like a cat walking across a
regular piano except with cat noises, but it is very funny.
Strangely, the app does not have an option to switch it to a simple
piano sound that does not annoy cats and can be quite intriguing for
them as you can observe in
this video. So, if you want to entertain your cat rather than you, then it may be better to download a regular digital piano app.