iPet Companions: Playing With Kitties Over the Internet.

         A new robotic toy called the iPet Companion has hit the market this week, allowing cat owners to play with their cats by controlling a toy from a remote location and watching the interaction on a webcam. A commerical version of the gadget has become a popular marketing tool for Humane Societies to encourage cat adoption by allowing potential parents to "meet" available cats without making a trip to a shelter.
          A New York shelter, Bideawee, offers online "Kitty Play Dates" that allow users to see kittens play with a toy that is responding to real-time remote control commands. Since the program's introduction in early October, over 2,000 visitors from as far away as Asia have logged on to the website to interact with the shelter's cats. According to an article from GizMag.com, various shelters have seen a significant increase in kitten adoptions since the installation of the iPet machines. 

Kittens play with the iPet Companion at Bideawee animal Shelter.

          A blog post from Technabob.com prices the home gadgets around $850.00 each for cats, a hefty fee for many cat owners. Other (less expensive) ways to connect with your cats while you are away include having a friend or neighbor check in on them and report back to you, or setting up a Skype account that you can access from a work computer or smartphone. By opening Skype on a home computer and setting it to auto-answer, you can videochat with your kitty by calling their name and watching them on screen.

A screen shot from the iPet Companion home version.