What do cats do at home?

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Dec 4, 2009

What do cats do at home?

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES - WHAT do cats do when their owners are away? There was one way to find out - 'cat cams'.

Fifty house cats were given collar cameras that took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 per cent of the cats' time was spent looking out of windows, 12 per cent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 per cent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 per cent of their hours were spent sleeping.

'What surprised me was how active the cats were. I believed my three cats were sleeping during the day,' said Jill Villarreal, an animal behaviour scientist who collected the data for Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand of cat food.

The 777 photos studied by Villarreal showed the cats looking at a television, computer, DVDs or other media 6 per cent of the time and hiding under tables 6 per cent of the time. Coming in at 5 per cent was playing with toys; eating or looking at food finished at 4 per cent.

Will the cats get movie cameras next? 'We are in the think tank now,' Dr Villarreal said. -- AP