Woman Tries a Fitness Tracker Out On a Cat

Fitness-related technology is the thing of the moment. Everyone has become obsessed with using technology to count their calorie consumption, record their daily steps, monitor their sleeping patterns, and measure their cardiovascular activity.

But What Happens When You Give a Cat a Fitness Tracker?

That's exactly what Rosie Hewitson tried to figure out when she decided to put a fitness tracker out on a cat and report her findings on the Vice. She decided not to use her own cats as one is too moody and the other is an old lady cat. Instead, she used her friend Izzy's cat as a volunteer for her mini-study.

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The cat is a Maine Coon called Kubrick who spends all night out on the town.

via Vice

His owner reports that when he comes home in the mornings, he has a distinct smell of salmon. Hewitson thought it would be interesting to find out what Kubrick got up to on his nightly adventures.
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The tracker is attached to the cat's collar and then the app collects data including activity levels and location.

via Vice

The level of activity of the cat is categorized into three categories; lazy, active, and dynamic. This allows users to see when their cat is most active. The more active the cat is, the more pet points they collect. Users can then trade a pet point to compare their cat's activity level to the activity of other cats that are wearing the device. Another feature of the app is the virtual safety fence. This allows users to set up a one around their house where they do not want their cat to leave. If your cat goes beyond this point, the app gives you a warning notification.
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Hewitson has likened the experience of using the app as being like checking on your social media constantly.

via Vice

After Hewitson had fitted Kubrick with his new device, they let him out for his nightly stroll around the streets of London. Hewitson found the app quite addictive at first as it was such a novelty being able to track the activity of a cat. Over the first few days, she was constantly tracking Kubrick's activity. She found it fascinating to watch him when he was most active at night, and he even made it out of his virtual safety fence on one occasion.
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More of a night person

via Vice

Hewitson claims that she discovered just one interesting piece of information during the week that she tracked Kubrick's activity. Despite the cat spending approximately 40 percent of his days sleeping, his nights on the prowl allowed him to enjoy more activity than most humans during the day. She says that Kubrick was covering a longer distance on his little legs during his nightly strolls than she is covering on her much longer legs during the day.