I love my cat to death, but in the six years I’ve had her, there is one habit I can’t seem to break her of. When I’m around, she knows better than to climb up on tables, desks or counters. However, if I’m out of the room, she sees those areas as fair game. There’s never food out on those surfaces for her to eat, so there really isn’t any reason for her to go up there, other than curiosity. Well I think I’ve finally found a way to ensure that she’ll stay off the counters forever.

The owner of Plasma2002 had the same problem with his cat as I do, and decided to frighten his feline into staying off the counter. He did this using a blender, strobe light, an X10 home automation module and a network camera. He dubbed his creation the Blender Defender. I imagine that if you didn’t want to actually record the cat in the act, you could save some money and just use a motion sensor, instead of a camera. However, his instructions were designed with the camera in mind. What essentially happens is that the cat will jump on the counter, and the camera will see the movement. This will trigger both the blender and strobe light. Between the flashing light and loud grinding noise, the cat will be gone in a flash. After a while, they just won’t dare to jump up there any more. Problem solved.