Can my cats solve the dowel puzzle?

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[@MakersMuse]

Thanks to KiwiCo for sponsoring this video! Get 50% off your first crate of a monthly subscription at www.kiwico.com/makersmuse with code MAKERSMUSE.

[@BENBOI_1]

I can confirm that kiwi co is very much a great thing, my mum got me some of the boxes a while ago and they are really good.

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

You really need to add them the speaking buttons from "Billi Speaks". When they start forming sentences, you'll really begin to understand how smart they are.

[@eddog6666]

I have a cat that when he is half asleep or fully asleep. When you touch his nose his front paw shakes. It’s funny

[@tek87]

Where do you live where you have such beautiful birds on your balcony?

[@BENBOI_1]

@@tek87 he lives in Australia, and Sydney I think

[@sarahstrong7174]

When we were children we had a cat. A smart cat. She learnt how to unlock & open our friends rabbit hutch & let his rabbit out so they could play together in the garden.

[@MakersMuse]

That is absolutely adorable

[@PumpkinHoard]

Cats are individuals just like us, there is a wide spectrum of intelligence. We had a couple of smart cats growing up who could open doors. We also had a tiny little black cat who had nary a thought in his head. He'd sit with his face pressed into the radiator, walked around with his tongue poking out all the time and never figured out how to do much of anything. You literally only had to look at his face to see the stupid, but he was by far the friendliest cat I ever had. No fear of random strangers whatsoever.

[@sarahstrong7174]

@@PumpkinHoard I think you are right.

[@markmuller7962]

​@@PumpkinHoardYes, cats personality spectrum is huge

[@red-winged_blackbird]

Awwwww!!!!!!

[@DanteYewToob]

One tip, avoid problems and tasks that potentially mimic negative behaviors. You don’t want to accidentally reinforce bad behaviors by rewarding them with the puzzles. As an example, I trained my basset to let himself out to potty and come back in, and he would shut the door behind himself. I just attached ropes to the sliding door, and he pulled. This was great until he started always closing the door any time it was open, if you opened it to bring a platter of food out back, he would slam the door in your face. Then, as a hound I taught him to hunt.. adventure time! I would hide little treats all over the house, always 5 and I’d let him hunt for them. The issue is that whenever he got bored and sassy he would start getting into everything looking for treats… it took a long time to teach him that game time was the only time he got that. My sister got a cat toy where you pull a string to drop a treat.. the cat went ripping every shoelace out, yanking the blinds strings… etc. cat went absolutely string bonkers and would cry and scream because a treat didn’t pop out of a shoe. “Heeeey! I did the thing! Where’s my damn nummies! Treachery! Liars! Thieveses! Tricksy little hobbitses! Mmwwwrrraaaggghhhrrrr!” and it was an absolute nightmare. She had to get closed shoe cabinets and “string proof” the whole damn house. Learn from our mistakes. Make sure your games and puzzles don’t accidentally encourage bad behavior… because then they’ll just be confused why they are allowed to do that thing sometimes but not others. “Clearly this human is just a big idiot… He forgot I’m supposed to do this… I’ll just pull the string on this smelly paw box harder…” haha

[@user-yc4fz7vv6u]

Laughing so hard i am wheezing.

[@DanteYewToob]

@@user-yc4fz7vv6u Yeahh.. one day the little jerk did a hit and run on me. I was grilling some burgers and hot dogs out back and I was making a trip inside with two plates of food and my dog runs up, slams the door on my leg I drop a plate, he snatches a hot dog and runs away. But… he’s such a bizarre paradox of good and bad behavior that he ran to his bed, set down the hot dog and waited for permission to eat it. Lmao We were like “No! You little butthole! You smashed my knee and robbed me! You don’t eat the spoils of your mugging!” and then I felt bad when he actually gave it back so I gave him a piece and a bone. So he technically still mugged me and got away with it. He “technically” did nothing wrong. We trained him to close the door.. he just engaged in malicious compliance and carefully timed obedience. Little jerk turd. He careful what you teach your pets!

[@tsm688]

I am reminded of those "failed" service dogs... They have been trained in all the good things like leading you around and opening doors and shutting off lights and getting stuff down from shelves. But they don't listen to you, just do all this to amuse themselves. Whenever they feel like it. They are agents of absolute havoc and require an extremely tolerant owner with a very dogproof home.

[@SoniaH-m4g]

😂😂 Just like any child, you teach them the skill and then have to teach them to use the skills appropriately lol.

[@Irilia_neko]

Humans do the same remember, so just consider your cat as another human of the family 😉 because your cat will consider you as another cat of the family 😊

[@AlyssaNguyen]

"Results were inconclusive" Every attempt to study cats ever. 😹 I vaguely remember reading that conclusions on cat color vision went from "cats can't distinguish between colors" to, after realizing just how aphetic cats can be, "cats can distinguish colors but they don't care"

[@EversonBernardes]

Same with sounds/their names. Some recent study showed that they _do_ recognize their names, they just opt to ignore it most of the time.

[@kellybraun7048]

Cats are independent by nature and therefore hard to motivate. My cat is both more dependent (in personality) and more intelligent than the average cat- he comes to his name, obeys commands for his meals, is motivated by affection/pets/scratches, playtime (he doesn’t like to play alone), and food. He responds to over a dozen commands, as long as he’s motivated. I try to use contrasting “colors” when playing with him- dark vs light. He differentiates where a string is by its movement more than its color, but the increased contrast keeps him more focused (he gets bored if he can’t follow it visually to pounce on). The favorite toys are fake yarn balls that have a color-changing string with white, blue, and purple. He rips the string off the foam ball eventually and we drag the string around. So my cat color theory is based on using the same yarn- he goes for the white more on a blue background (old laundry bag he loves to pounce on) and the purple more on a light background (beige carpet).

[@frostfang1]

​@EversonBernardes I recall a few different cats that I'd find sitting comfortably (like they'd been there a while) watching me I tore up the house looking for them in clear distress. Not even a meow back. Like if I come home they will immediately twitterpurr back to me and are generally very willing to chitter whenever I chitter. But sometimes they go into silent mode for no reason at all and I'm like "I don't even have to touch you right now, if you just role call and you call back, everything would be fine!"

[@RomulanskaSvine]

@@frostfang1 That's exactly what my cats do. If I call them from other room, they come immediatelly in 90% of cases and usually are very loud about it. But when I need to leave, both of them disappear and are nowhere to find, no reaction on calling. Maybe they just don't want me to leave. Also, when I am just blind and don't see the cats laying 50 centimeters near me, they just stare at me like I am totally dumb and do not say a word.

[@oggatog3698]

@@frostfang1 I wonder if the silent thing has to do with them being ambush predators and it's part of a game that we aren't aware of.

[@paulw3830]

Congratulations on becoming the servant of these two adorable kitties

[@MakersMuse]

I'm so keen

[@paulw3830]

I'm sure you have already started to fill your phone with endless photos that all look the same, but you just can't bring yourself to delete any. It's a tough job having such cute companions

[@notsonominal]

haha, yeah when he said he had never owned a cat i laughed a little at the "misunderstanding"...

[@essneyallen6777]

​@@paulw3830 I feel incredibly attacked right now 😂

[@ChimpGPT]

yes, the cats have trained their human well ❤

[@omar.alsharif]

MAKERS _MEWS_ IS BRILLIANT!

[@802Garage]

Could literally be a whole channel.

[@Instamatic898]

Underrated comment 😹

[@Vexguy2]

@@802Garage yeah

[@beaconofwierd1883]

I too have two cats… I too can confirm that one does the work and the other steals the credit. Funny thing is, they have ”specialized”, one cat knows how to solve one toy, another the other toy, then the steal each others reward :p

[@SanchoPanza-wg5xf]

It could make sense that cats would work together in that way, with one flushing out the prey to be caught by the other.

[@wingracer1614]

One of my cats loves to play fetch. The other just watches for a bit, then goes down to the other end of the room to intercept the throw and walk off with it.

[@sylviam6535]

As I suspected, cats are a criminal syndicate.

[@zachnunya9199]

lol you're about to enjoy the fact that cats Do retain solutions to puzzles and very often learn to apply those solutions to other situations! the reason most cat puzzles have the same mechanic is that there is very few things in a household that can hurt a cat or cause property damage by it pawing it to the side across a surface, there is however a Lot of things in a household you do not want a cat pulling on to see if treats come out😬

[@MakersMuse]

uh oh

[@JanPeterDeVries]

It was at this moment @MakersMuse knew he f***ed up

[@EversonBernardes]

They are really, really good at generalizing solutions, too. "Oh, pulling on this opened this cabinet door? I wonder if it works for _all doors_ ?"

[@frostfang1]

​@@EversonBernardesThe dogs have an occasional canned food wet treat. The cat knows this. The cat has a plastic peel wet treat. The cat knows this. I have a yogurt plastic peel wet treat for myself. The cat refused to believe it is not cat wet food. He also knows I sometimes store them in a specific drawer, or in the minifridge and will hop on them if I open them or meow demandingly near them. My past cats have been smart, but this particular one is so forward and blunt, you could mistake him for a dog at times. Another cat had an escalation order of things to knock off my desk to wake me up. Like he figured out the value of the objects to me and would start with low level stuff and then up the ante when I would ignore him and not get up. (Aka wanted me to open my room door or go outside or get fed earlier than necessary)

[@a.ramosakadrumgrl6677]

Cats love boxes and when I had cats years ago, they loved when I would cut holes on a box just big enough to stick a paw through. They would play for hours with each other, one on the inside and the other on the outside. Pure entertainment. Christmas is even better with holiday decorations and lights. That should give you some ideas.

[@AltCutTV]

Should probably teach them to play Chess for the rewards. They can identify with the paw..ns.

[@SneakyJoeRu]

This guy created a continental problem of smarter parrots able to open trash buckets. Since parrots can learn from each other, they spreaded the knowledge and government had to redo all designs. Now he's doing the same with cats. Damn you! :-D

[@patrikhjorth3291]

Some cats enjoy puzzles, some don't. I had a puzzle for my cat which consisted of a plate with a number of holes/cups drilled into it where you could put treats, and wooden balls that would cover the cups. She quickly learned that she didn't need to look for each treat individually, she could just sweep all the balls off the board in one go. When I tried other puzzles that required more effort, she would just give me that look that seemed to say "Why are you like this? Just give me the food directly, ya doofus!" and walk away.

[@tiger8linny788]

Thank you, brilliant, young cat lover for not only caring enough about your cats to want proper entertainment for them, but to design and build this extraordinary “toy” when all others were found lacking! Well done YOU❣️

[@sarahb.6475]

The cats seem to be very attracted to how the kibble moves inside the puzzle too, as we all know how they love to watch tiny things move! It probably simulates prey moving about + they get all excited! I no longer have cats but I had them for years. These days I am part of the "horse distrubution network". 🐎 horses are very clever too. They can recognize people in photos. Many can untie knots in ropes or know how to open gates...if they want to that is.

[@mjinba07]

I watched a horse once grab a long board on the ground with its teeth, pull it up to the wire fence and drop it there, then step on it and walk out. This horse belonged to a friend of ours who'd asked us to board him for a bit because he kept escaping from the pasture and our friend hadn't yet figured out how. Our friend didn't have any boards laying around, so obviously the horse was using a different strategy. Or two. Or three.

[@theyxaj]

I'm the kind of crazy cat parent who loves challenging their cats with puzzles. I don't mind if they get smart and learn to do tricky things around the house, I see it as a further challenge to myself. Plus, I always have the trump card of thumbs. One day they used the power of gravity to achieve unlimited dry food for about 5 minutes.... that was the day that we had to put baby locks on all of the hazardous and cat-interesting cabinets. I get the vibe that your cats might become as creative as mine, and I'm very excited to see the continuation of Maker's Mews!

[@frostfang1]

My cat has learned to get into so many things that treats are in, I finally keep the treats on the over the door hook because that's the only place thats far enough away from anything he can't reach it.

[@Optisystemizer]

We have two black cats, Shadow is a female and Darkness is a male. For a long time we thought Darkness wasn't as smart as Shadow but it turns out he is just too lazy for problem solving. When we play with them he mostly prefers watching after a little while. He also lets Shadow eat all his food. The best toy all time is shredded packning paper. They try to pluck it like the feathers of a bird and spread small pieces of paper all over the house. They also love when we drop small pieces of it from atop the stairs.

[@isturma]

I saw your questions in the video, and you put forth some questions that i really want to answer with my own story. Cloud LOVES his treats, and to stimulate him, I bought some of those toys that you criticized. You have a good point about the holes being too small for their muzzles, but he knows how to get them out. It's part of the puzzle solving to him. The toy i'm talking about specifically looks like a slice of watermelon, and if he sees the humans interacting with it, he'll spend a good half hour digging at it. He'll even open all the covers, just in case. There's another toy he likes that looks like a flat disc, it has a clear top and openings on the side, but inside there's a plate with protrusions that spins freely. The goals is for him to work the treats out from around the spinning inner plate and out one of the holes. I actually stopped offering it to him because after he figured it out, it takes him less than 5 minutes to get all of the treats out of it. no tricks, just remembering what he's learned through trial and error. He's dumb about a lot of things, but he takes his playtime and treats very seriously.

[@Mightydoggo]

I teached my dog how to open the mini fridge to bring me a drink. The dog teached the cat how to open the mini fridge. Dog forgot to also teach what "no" means. The fridge has a lock now.

[@kellybraun7048]

😂 sounds about right.

[@edmann1820]

Taught. Teached is not a word.

[@Mightydoggo]

@@edmann1820 🤷

[@a6am3mn0n]

@@edmann1820 if you say it enough times it becomes a word. Type irregardless into a search engine and you'll get a spelling, pronunciation, and a definition. One more thing.... Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached Teached

[@red-winged_blackbird]

😂

[@felmlyd]

Watch out man. My cat figured out how to open all my kitchen cabinets and now nothing is safe.

[@craesh]

Cabinets, drawers, door handles,... mine will open everything!

[@radish6691]

One of my cats opens kitchen cabinets, one cabinet in particular is her safe space during thunderstorms or fireworks . The cabinet has a stand mixer which she can fit behind, though if there are thunderstorms in the forecast I replace the mixer with a pillow.

[@stolenwings133]

If the problem is really bad, a potential solution is magnetic cabinet locks. They're normally used for baby-proofing, and they're basically like cabinet handles that you remove to lock and place back on to unlock.

[@SanchoPanza-wg5xf]

Damn you all have cats way smarter than mine. Mine's too dumb to even meow when she requires attention. Her fanciest trick is to enter an open dresser drawer and climb over the back to descend into the drawer below it and take an long, uninterrupted nap.

[@kellybraun7048]

Mine figured out how to beat our makeshift magnet locks- gorilla taped two strong magnets on a cabinet door. He figured out that if he kept trying, the tape would eventually give.

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

Very nice! The toy scratches the itch for the ol' hunter instinct, as well as provide a reward for food-motivated cats. Idea: Livestream these 2 lovely kitties playing with the toy for hours.

[@zyamadeadborn1785]

Here's a thought. If you drill those dowels lengthwise, then draw that rope through and fix it there with knots on both sides, they can be pulled from both sides of the puzzle.

[@AmixLiark]

I love the idea but i wouldn't use removable dowels. I would use monostable levers so they require no manual reset by a human and it would keep them in the path of the snacks to trickle/cascade them down. Right now everything falls as soon as all of the dowels are gone but if you have monostable lever gates they'll fall to the next gate and be stuck there until that lever gets pressed.

[@ElderTreeStump]

A big roulette wheel that occasionally gives treats when they hit the jackpot

[@MakersMuse]

ahah that sounds amazing!

[@Onni-]

Great now my cats are gambling addicts. I have to keep buying new bags of kibble daily because they gamble all of it away.

[@neclimdul]

All the cats I own love the ball in a raceway toys. Wonder if you could do something like this with that idea.

[@OutbackCatgirl]

make it double as an exercise wheel, the carpeted ones they can run inside. ​@@MakersMuse

[@Potatorouter]

Cat bambling addiction

[@GrafRamolo]

My cat is wicked smart she even figured out what an elevator is for. Also, she was watching the whole video with me. Great Idea!! Give them time they will become smarter.

[@notsurt]

A self-resetting version with an electronic dispenser that dispenses at random times throughout the day could be a great way to keep kitties entertained while their servants are away.

[@3v1Bunny]

wait till they know how to open the fridge and turn on the lights 😂

[@MakersMuse]

They'll figure it out soon enough !

[@S.A.S.H.]

Years ago I dated a woman whose cat knew how to twist a door knob. Talking about scary the first time I spent the night. Thought it was an angry EX showing up uninvited.

[@Mightydoggo]

My cat can do just that. Wild part is, I didn´t show him. The dog did.

[@0LoneTech]

Dad knew a cat who opened the child lock on the fridge (push button while opening door, opposing forces, up high; he reached around from the counter iirc). The main problem was how to motivate him to close the fridge afterwards. He was also toilet trained, which is not that rare, but there he did also flush the toilet by pulling the knob up.

[@EversonBernardes]

My cat can open drawers and cabinet doors, had to child lock the whole place. So yeah, not unrealistic.

[@802Garage]

This is sooo cool! Cat problem solving has gone under appreciated for too long. I was actually impressed. I wonder if they could learn to use talking buttons like dogs?

[@orngjce223]

They absolutely can! In fact, I think button cats are more interesting than button dogs, because cats have less intrinsic desire to please people, which means that a "Clever Hans effect" (the animal responding to the human's subconscious cues rather than actually understanding what is going on) is less likely. Check out the late Billi the Cat (who has sadly recently crossed the rainbow bridge) as well as catmanjohn('s Russell) and The Chronicles of Todd for my favorites. Russell is the "spokeskitty" for his entire household's worth of cats and has asked for things for the others, Todd has asked for toys to be combined and reported on another cat having health issues, and Billi enjoyed narrating things she was already doing.

[@802Garage]

@@orngjce223 That's all awesome thanks a ton for the recommendations!

[@pandammonia234]

Your kitties are gorgeous. Welcome to the CDN.

[@IOUaUsername]

Use some custom printed keycaps and keyswitches with LEDs under them connected to a Raspberry Pi Pico W to make an electronic game. A random switch lights up blue, you bat it with your paw and a food door opens slightly. If you bat a yellow light it closes slightly. Take too long and the light goes off. Give each cat a version of the game with the colours reversed and you can train them to have a different favourite colour. Then have their food and water bowls colour coded, even have them take part in a roll call where they sit on their colour of mat when they hear the dinner bell.

[@JenMarco]

My cat I have now is a genius like your cats and understands everything I say. I got her in 2016 and was told she was abandoned and living outside but she was declawed and needed a home I can show her how something works and she could do it, especially if there’s a treat involved.

[@somerandomgamer8504]

It is always fascinating that cockatoos are so damn intelligent, even compared to mammals like cats.

[@feynthefallen]

As a high priest of Bastet, I welcome you to the fraternity, and tell you the answer to the age-old question "are cats smart enough to solve puzzles?": They are, in fact, smart enough NOT to solve puzzles, and patient enough to wait till you give up and give them the reward for free.

[@c.jishnu378]

It will be "NOT smart enough", not "NOT to".

[@feynthefallen]

@@c.jishnu378 Thanks teacher. Once you know as much about cats as I do about the English language, you may contact me again.

[@c.jishnu378]

@@feynthefallen Oh sorry, if you are talking about them being smart enough to not solve puzzles then you are right. However with your introduction as a cat expert I thought you were being serious, in which case they are not smart enough to solve puzzles where I will be right.

[@jaanikaapa6925]

@@c.jishnu378Why would the cat bother to solve a puzzle? They have staff for that.

[@c.jishnu378]

@@jaanikaapa6925 I mean that they biologically and/or psychologically cannot(I mean compared to dogs) as their brain is simply too stupid.

[@shuura]

I so needed the smiles this video delivers!! Many thanks!!

[@Snarlacc]

One thing you have to keep in mind with cats: They see very badly at close range. They don't really see the food close range, only smell and hear it. So if the pellets are just sitting there without making sound and the cat not able to smell where it is throgh the transparent plastic, they might not know they can get something from pawing at the toy. They are just going at it brute force, I bet they would play the same with it when it's empty since it still smells like food. That makes it hard to design cat toys compared to animals with better close-range sight like birds.

[@ennard3866]

10:16 the reason might be that cockatoo’s get used to get their food by they own. But the cats usually takes the food from human. Maybe if they were stray cats, they might be more smart.

[@hanslain9729]

On of our cat's favorite toys is a 6-8" piece of 22AWG hook up wire. I give them to her when working on projects. She will play fetch with me down our main hallway that's 35ft long, wall to wall.

[@bwt99]

Very clever build. Thanks for sharing, enjoyed watching the kitties.

[@MattGrayYES]

Top marks for Maker’s Mews!

[@karsonkammerzell6955]

My boy Diego is SUPER food motivated owing to his life as an overweight cat before we got him on a diet. After losing so much weight he has this overwhelming level of energy and no experience playing with anything, honestly. Previous owners all had overweight cats with low energy. All my other cats hate his guts because he just overwhelms them, lol. So brought out a treat box to keep him occupied one night. Put the treats on the edge, he knocks them in with his big goofy buffalo face, and gets motivated to reach in and pick them out. Was going great! Then...I came back through a few hours later and he had decided rather than pick them out with his paws he had a better idea; chew a hole big enough to shove his smooth brain in there and eat them face first, lol.

[@Russwig]

Never disappointing! Try putting the dowels in from opposing sides, randomly. That should confuse them, for a sec!!!

[@LisaHarsh]

That is a great puzzle. I think a maze that requires their jumping ability and have areas that they can scratch. Prince reminds me of my Tony, who has been known to knock a bird out of the sky.

[@LincolnWorld]

Congrats on the kitties! All 3 of you are very lucky to have each other. I have some ideas for cat toys to design and 3D print, but I haven't done them yet. So far the have a lot of fun just batting around failed prints. LOL Any that are big enough that I'm not worried about them swallowing, I leave out and within minutes, they are knocking them all over the place.

[@rokurosecake]

A simple DIY puzzle for cats: paper rolls in a box, then treats, it's really entertaining and they learn fast!

[@MalorMintspark]

This is really cool!!! I also love the extra touch of 'Maker's MEWS' on the acrylic panels!

[@humanerror7]

this thing is dope. I'd love to see a version where a particular order is required in order to obtain the food. Now that these cats understand the concept of a food puzzle, maybe you won't need to worry about designing it to grab their attention as much, so long as they can see the kibble and the interactive components. I picture something like buttons that must be pressed in a particular order,

[@hanifarroisimukhlis5989]

OMG I IT!!! The two kittens are like yin yang, complementing eachother. Some comment: - It's theorized we evolved green cones to distingush leaves from snakes. So it's pretty safe to assume most animals are dichromats. - Do they still able to use it without the cotton threads 🤔 - I like the kitty spinner. As a suggestion maybe incorporate it more in the future, preferably gears? - Cockatoo vs cats, puzzle battle!

[@klikitzsmith8416]

We sacrificed the night vision though

[@hanifarroisimukhlis5989]

@@klikitzsmith8416 On the other hand losing tapetum lucidum (the glowy eye effect when you shine a flashlight to a cat) makes us able to add more cones without it being washed out.

[@mjinba07]

Cockatoos and cats' brains are wired differently - foragers vs. hunters. So any puzzle battle is going to be apples and oranges. Oh, I guess that'd be apples and mice!

[@75keg75]

8:43 - cats love random movement - get some servo or timer that randomly moves the bits it can keep them occupied when you’re out at work etc.

[@dine9093]

Totally understandable, Random Movement is a great producer, and DJ.

[@Catherinzsl]

I'm impressed as heck. Great research, development, execution, documentation, and promotion. 👏

[@justinsemple7454]

Tully solves the puzzle, Prince swoops in and eats the reward. Tully has high intelligence while Prince has high wisdom.

[@natef.5880]

Would totally buy that as a kit! For sure, the acrylic panels and stl files etc,

[@hed420]

0:00:01 That's the complete opposite description of my cat.

[@thni1703]

Welcome as a cat dad :) We have also had a lot of different toys through the years ... the best are a golden string for Teeefi and a Black one for Rynke ... Rynke also loves the laser dot ... the rest is looked upon for a short time and then ignored :D

[@chrisdixon5241]

Great video! In a way I'm not surprised that Prince turned it into his own fun game where he does a little play and gets a small reward over and over, rather than a quick solve for maximum reward and then the fun stops

[@rickstaggs2376]

Awesome work. The market is overdue for quality, safe cat puzzles

[@BanglesAU]

my cats have the puzzles like the first one. I think they would love this!

[@theduke9023]

Ok this is actually brilliant, you need to sell these. People outside the maker community, and their kitties, need access to it.

[@donlasagnotelamangia]

Such a cool idea and neat execution! The cats are very lucky to have you as their dad :)

[@ScytheNoire]

They are adorable. Reminds me of my younger years, long ago, when I had a grey tabby, Slayer, and a black cat, Sabbath. We have two girls now who are able to do the "dog" puzzles, and they remember how to solve them, even the really difficult ones. The one girl is way too smart, and we worry she isn't stimulated enough mentally. She loves puzzles.

[@kellybraun7048]

My highly intelligent cat requires plenty of stimulation/enrichment or he causes trouble. We have several common games, plus we’re always teaching him a new trick/command. He doesn’t understand “fetch”, unfortunately. He’s also harness/leash trained for exploring adventures. I’ve also started letting him sniff all foods and drinks, based on how Jun cooks with his cats on his channel. I rearrange a series of cardboard flats around the house as hiding places for him to 1) explore, and 2) play the cat version of “hide-n-seek tag”- think the toddler version, I’m the seeker. “Where’s Attila? Is he behind here? No… is he under this one! No… There’s Attila! I found you.” *cat runs to hide under another slanted cardboard flat*

[@locouk]

I used to get the yellow plastic capsule from kinder eggs, make a hole for a bit of string and one just big enough to let a kibble out, my cats loved that toy.

[@Wireball]

On the topic of rolling cylindrical objects, empty toilet paper cardboard rolls are great, since they're light and can go flying and be pursued when batted. Cats behave somewhat differently when humans aren't around, I've observed by watching them through a gap or a camera. And my dad notes that depending on how the cat looks at it, it may be expecting the mouse to run out the other side.

[@rosenia5409]

They’re both so smart, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re able to use the pet talk buttons quickly to communicate too! ❤

[@triplemikes]

Awesome idea mate. This video will have a zillion views for sure.

[@Ice_Karma]

Awwww, congratulations! And good idea, adopting a pair of cats! 😻😻

[@radish6691]

Looking forward to the mouse robot build!

[@solracer66]

Cats are way smarter than we give them credit for. After coming home fro the vet one day with a cone on his head our late cat Kotya walked into the bathroom in front of our full-length mirror like a million times before and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his reflection. he very carefully moved his head left and right and observed his reflection. From that point on he knew that the mirror cat was himself and would check his reflection from time to time. He would also use the mirrors in the bathroom to maintain eye contact with me. He would sit on the edge of the tub watching me directly and as soon as I moved such that I could only see him though the mirror he’d switch to that and watch me that way. He would go back and forth as I moved in and out of the bathroom, it was incredible!

[@ericbwertz]

Great project! You might want to consider making a batch of these as a Kickstarter using whatever manufacturing process makes sense for whatever batch size you're shooting for. I'd certainly be interested. Congratulations on such a great outcome -- and, more importantly, your cats!

[@libbylandscape3560]

Yeah, think about it!

[@bzqp2]

Huh. They really look like they are doing it on purpose in the end. They clearly check out the position of the snacks in the trap and attack the correct pins. It's not just random moves. :o

[@christopherd.winnan8701]

Looking forward to seeing some of the viewer suggestions. I personally am waiting for the host to discover cat climbing walls, and then go on a massive deep dive, designing all kind of clever new adaptations and implementations, which can also be 3D printed..

[@surewhatever8843]

I have two and learned that while both like to figure out how to free treats from a puzzle, only one will gobble up the treats.The other seems to tattle on the other for eating them up, and expects me confiscate and even distribute the treats in their bowls. He’s a proper gentleman, I guess?

[@Lampe2020]

1:21 Yep, that's how all cats I've met in my life worked XD

[@wendypeterwendywendy]

As a victim of the cat distribution system myself, I welcome you to the club. Great cat toy. Your new masters obviously approve.

[@leannecanty8821]

I bet the cats would like the art spinning thing

[@MakersMuse]

they loved it, too messy for them though!

[@AsioEntomo]

So glad that your friend got these kittens off the street, and kudos to you for giving your kittens such great enrichment! You're a new cat guardian who's doing everything right as far as I can see. I think they probably also like the noise of the kibble dropping, if I had to guess?

[@roundcheesewheel]

I've been watching your content for close to a decade now and this was one of the best videos you have ever done

[@Ice_Karma]

2:54 Yeah, the issue is apparently that while cats can _see_ colour, they don't _care_ about it. Some years ago I read about a study where it took over seventeen _hundred_ trials to get cats to consistently pick an object of a certain colour. Except for when they're hunting, they're just not visually-oriented creatures like us; their #1 sense is smell, followed closely by hearing. Blind cats can seem almost unaffected by their lack of vision. 😻

[@thecursed_1lordofcats738]

As someone who has grown up with cats my entire life, I can say cats are smart enough to know how to cause mischief and get food.

[@SonofThor85]

I love the tone shift of Prince to Prince of Darkness. I too have a cat like that. We called her Nugget, I named her Nugget the Destroyer. She lives up to that name.

[@mutlubasdas]

I have the same exact distribution of cats. And the dynamics are pretty much the same :)

[@MakersMuse]

Haha! They make a great pair

[@mutlubasdas]

@@MakersMuse they do 🤣 Cosmo and Wanda are their names. Wanda, she always solves the puzzles and Cosmo, he gets the treats before she gets them 🙃🙃💩

[@TheSecurity16]

There is a reason black cats are called voids. They often have a void between their ears. My black cat often has to borrow a braincell from his ginger brothers

[@a.w.thompson4001]

I love that you gave two of the kittens a home, and work to keep their lives rich! Thanks for the fun video and making plans available. A few thoughts: some cats are very food-motivated and others are not. Our current generation includes one of each. Some are aggressive, agile and athletic, others passive couch potatoes. Ditto one of each. Another factor is the different styles of solving puzzles / enjoying toys. One of our cats plays with a rotating toy by batting at the feathers each time they go by. The other flops atop the moving parts so the feathers can't escape. I could go on, but the bottom line is that they're wonderfully unique individuals who enrich our lives. P.S. They're so well designed that they have changed little over millenia we've been partners. 🐈‍⬛🐈

[@AstrobotJones]

this is awesome. I know a lot of rescues and owners that would love this puzzle. As yiu found, many on the market are lacking in replayability and aren't very interesting for cats.

[@blackmoonroze9336]

Prince is the intelligent one!! He just waits at the side ready to pounce waiting for Tally to do all the work! HAHAHA both so cute!! My Kitty is an only child so he usually has Prince's reaction: Why are you making me do this?! Oh fine! I will just go, you will give me the food anyway! LOL

[@baskoning9896]

Prince: 'can I program my human to do it for me' 'what if I just steal it form the other cat'

[@juliecox6509]

Just when I thought I couldn't love this channel any more than I did already 😄

[@AndTecks]

you are my fav top 3 makers.

[@chrisj5489]

This one of my favorite videos in ages, fantastic!

[@oggatog3698]

Cats love hot pink and pink. Secondary favorite color is usually a green which is probably a limited color spectrum thing. You can also throw some treats in an empty tissue box for an easy to make enrichment toy.

[@FireyDeath4]

It's not really a puzzle if the objective is just "pull out all the dowels indiscriminately" without any particular failure or impasse states. They need to do really certain things if it's going to be a puzzle. Try adding some of those for your next pet puzzle projects!

[@mumblety]

Can't wait to see all the kitty toys you end up making!

[@Lord-Sméagol]

Prince: We will work together, well, you do the work, I'll take the treat!

[@BuddaT]

1:42 We have one of those puzzles and though it's designed for dogs, our cat has learned how to use it properly. He started off the same as the video, struggling to get his paw in without catching it on the puzzle itself, dragging it across the room - but letting him continue over a couple of weeks of teaching him and letting him try and he figured it out. Each time it's filled up now he'll complete the whole puzzle himself, only sometimes struggling on the spinning part to get to the covered holes.

[@mala3isity]

Our cats love to fish around chair legs and grab through tunnels/holes. I made a puzzle out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes in different arrangements wood glued to a pizza box lid. It was a hit for one day and then they ignored it. LOL "Mom, we did that one already. We're bored." They loved a bell ball inside a box with walled segments where they could see and reach through to just touch the ball on the top and sides (Grass Patch Hunting Box). That lasted for months bc the ball was a variable also single or multiple cats working the box at once. I'm thinking posts paw width apart, picket fence style going to inner honeycomb style posts with a light up/noise making ball as a bottom layer in a puzzle box.

[@FesterWerks]

Such beautiful young cats! I'm glad you got siblings.

[@a.scotth.9955]

Thats amazing for that cat to figure that out so fast....or at all!!!!❤

[@utlo]

You could include pegs that don’t block the flow of kibble. That way you could show the cats are working to release the kibble and not just playing with the pegs.

[@herodoesstuff]

ah yes, a cat loving pulling something out of its place and throwing it on the ground... average cat behavior LOL. epic video, so cool to see them enjoying it and figuring it out! such great teamwork too, cats can be so smart sometimes :]

[@joshtaylor485]

cute animals and a nice way to stimulate their minds. bravo!

[@chriscaseyg9362]

We have a yellow naped amazon and a pair of sibling cats ourselves. The mischief they aim themselves at can be quite the thing to see. We've found a few rounded cache puzzle toys, which they definitely prefer.

[@juliadandy6019]

Aawwnnn, congratulations on those beautiful babies ❤

[@Ernzt8]

You have just reached a whole new target group :) Cats are so clever when it comes to food...

[@SaffyFoo]

Fantastic! Your cats are as smart as you are ❤