MakeUseOf » pets

6 Apps That Turn Your iPad Into An Overpriced-Yet-Awesome Cat Toy

Yaara Lancet — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:31:45 +0000

Cats are awesome. We all agree on that (if you don’t, I have a feeling you might not want to turn your iPad into a cat toy. Just saying). I must admit, though, that even for a cat lover like me, the idea of letting my cats play with my precious iPad seemed a bit crazy. I mean, they have enough toys of their own that don’t cost hundreds of dollars.

Well, I’m here to tell you that letting your cats play with iPad cat toys is the most fun you and they are going to have this month. Surprisingly, cats (at least mine) tend to be very gentle on the screen and don’t really use their claws, and seeing them trying to find the critters on the screen under the iPad is positively hilarious. So if you feel ready now, and think you’re up to trying, here are 6 great apps that turn your iPad into an awesome cat toy. You won’t regret it!

Friskies JitterBug [iTunes]

This game by Friskies was definitely one of the favorites. When you load it, you can either choose “Play Game” or “Advanced”. In Advanced, you can choose how many bugs you want to see of each, and choose to play the endless mode, which basically lets your cat play forever and ever.

If you start the game through the Advanced screen, you will get a totally black screen with cute bugs on it. My cats loved this. When the cat taps on a bug, it disappears, but new ones enter all the time. The game has no sound. If it’s not in endless mode, the cat can “win” by killing all the bugs.

If you don’t enter the game through the advanced screen, you will get a timed game with prompts and levels, which my cats found somewhat less appealing.

Cat Fishing [iTunes] & Cat Fishing 2 [iTunes]

These are two more games by Friskies, which are very similar to one another and are therefore included under the same title. The goal of the game is for the cat to tap on the fish. When it does, they disappear. Here, too, there is no sound.

In Cat Fishing, there’s just this screen with one fish, which is replaced by a new one when the cat taps it. There’s a “kill count” on the top right corner.

Cat Fishing 2 is a bit more complex, with more than one fish at a time, and a timer and levels that keep prompting and switching. As with JitterBug, my cats loved the fish, not so much the prompts.

Game For Cats [iTunes]

Game for Cats are really trying to sell you more games, but their free version is actually quite good too. When you launch the app, you will see this screen. The cheese version on the right requires an in-app purchase, but the laser version on the left is totally free.

If your cats like to play with a laser pointer, they’re going to love this. The laser dot moves around the screen at a surprisingly lifelike way, and is really calling out to cats to catch it. The dot is a bit hard to catch, but if they manage to do it, it blows up with a small ding sound, and a new one appears.

To exit the game, tap the paw icon on the bottom 5 times in a row (hopefully your cats can’t do this).

Cat Toys Lite [iTunes]

In this game, your cat gets to play with a purple mouse trapped in a box. You can control the speed of the mouse, and toggle sounds on and off. When your cat taps the mouse, it speeds up, and if sounds are on, it also squeaks.

Something about the mouse’s movements really caught my cats’ eye, and they went to great lengths trying to catch it. You can also get the full version for $0.99, which lets you choose between 5 different toys.

Cat Toy [iTunes]

Now this is a good one. Cat Toy is actually an iPhone app, one of those you have to blow up to fit the iPad screen, but if your cats are not too picky about their graphics, it’s not a problem.

The game lets you choose between four different modes: Itsy (spider), Flutter (butterfly), Zapper (laser) and Squeak (mouse).

The favorite in my house was the mouse, hands down. In this mode, the mouse is running around the screen, and then vanishes off it. While it’s gone, you hear scratching sounds that simply drove my cats crazy. They were sure the mouse was hiding under the iPad.

The other modes are fun too, but not as good as this. The only problem was that my cats were so enthusiastic, they kept activating multi-touch gestures and switching apps. This only happened with this app.

Catch The Mouse Cat Game [iTunes – $0.99]

As the only paid app on this lineup, Catch the Mouse is worth the 99¢, but (at least for my cats) only if you turn off the sound.

What you get in this game is a cute orange mouse, and it’s running around the screen for dear life. The sounds, unfortunately, are bit over the top, and my cats were not really buying it. They sat there looking at the thing, but it was making such unbelievable sounds, they weren’t engaged.

The magic happened when I turned off the sound. Suddenly, the mouse became very attractive, and the hits counter started climbing. If you don’t like orange on black, there are 5 different background colors to choose from, and 3 different mouse colors.

Bottom Line

Turning the iPad into a cat toy is officially a success. The apps are great, and the cats had loads of fun (and so did us humans).

What do your cats think of these games? Or do you think it’s totally crazy to even try? Do you know any more cool cat games for the iPad? Share everything in the comments.

5 Best Animal Rescue Sites To Find Your Next Pet

Joel Lee — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:31:15 +0000

If you’re thinking of adding a new pet to your household, you may want to look into adopting or rescuing one from a shelter instead of buying one from the nearest pet store. Local animal shelters and rescue groups temporarily house homeless dogs, cats, and other animals that are in need of owners.

Why rescue from a shelter instead of buying from a pet store? For one, there’s the problem of pet over-population. In addition, pet store animals – in particular, dogs – often come from animal mills where they are raised under poor and unhealthy conditions.

If you don’t have any animal shelters nearby, or if you can’t find the pet that you want, you can broaden your search by using online animal rescue sites dedicated to helping you find an adoption-ready animal. Here are some of the better ones out there.

Petfinder

Petfinder is one of the best resources for finding pets that are in need of homes. The website operates on a database that contains over 13,000 different animal shelters and pet adoption organizations all throughout North America – yes, that means Petfinder doesn’t only search the United States, but also Canada and Mexico.

The search database isn’t limited to dogs and cats, but also horses, birds, reptiles, small furries, and even barnyard animals. Their listings are updated on a daily basis, so you’ll never run into an outdated post.

Adopt A Pet

Adopt a Pet is an American non-profit organization run by a small group of people who simply love pets. Starting from humble beginnings in 2004, they’ve grown in size and popularity over the past seven years, earning sponsorships from big name brands like Purina and Bayer. They’ve even earned endorsements from celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Kelsey Grammer.

This animal rescue site has thousands of homeless pets in their databases, all looking for a new owner and a new home. Though most of their listings are dogs and cats, they do list other less popular animals like rabbits, birds, and horses.

Animal Adoption Center

If you live in or near the state of Wyoming, the online adoption search hosted by the Animal Adoption Center might be the thing for you.

The Animal Adoption Center’s mission is to find safe, permanent homes for their homeless animals. Because of this, their adoption procedure is more than a simple on-the-spot transaction. They require you to pass an application process and not everyone qualifies.

However, this website will only be useful if you’re looking for a dog or a cat as they do not host adoption services for other animal types. Furthermore, you will need to pay an adoption fee for their animals.

Best Friends Animal Society

Even though the Best Friends Animal Society operates out of Utah, their services are available to anyone living in the United States or Canada. However, if you are unable to pick up the animal at one of their locations, you will need to pay a fee so they can fly it out to you.

The Best Friends Animal Society website holds hundreds of animals waiting to be adopted, from dogs to cats to horses to parrots – even pigs! You will be required to walk through an application process, and each animal type has its own unique application. Fortunately, the website guides you through the process.

Also, you will need to pay an adoption fee that scales depending on the type of animal.

Rescue Dogs Europe

For all of you European readers who are looking to adopt a pet in need of rescue, you can check out Rescue Dogs Europe. Unfortunately, when compared to the American sites and organizations, Rescue Dogs Europe does not have near as much popularity or widespread usage.

The website can be viewed in English, German, and Spanish. Many of the listed dogs are from Spain, though a growing number of them are from Holland and Belgium.

In order to adopt a dog here, you will need to agree to the site’s adoption agreement and go through an application process. There is an adoption fee, and once that fee is paid, the dog will be flown out – you will need to pick up the dog yourself.

Conclusion

Right now, the online animal rescue and adoption phenomenon is mostly an American thing. There are thousands of pets ready to be adopted all throughout North America, and these websites make it easy for you no matter where you live. Europe is slowly catching up, as well.

If you can’t find a local animal shelter or if none of the local animals fit your criteria, we encourage you to use these animal rescue sites and rescue a pet that you will love and adore. You will find a pet, the pet will find a home, and everyone involved will be happier for it.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

4 Other Virtual Pet Sites for Your Kids Like Neopets

Taty — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:30:44 +0000

To anyone who has witnessed the Neopets phenomenon, which launched in 1999 and resulted in a line of toys and cards, distributed by Viacom to several real stores across the country; it is no surprise to hear that kids have an insatiable appetite for virtual pets.

It doesn’t seem to matter that the cute little creatures only exist in “pixieland”, they still want to feed them, buy them, clothes and play with them. So why not make the little ones happy by introducing them to other virtual pet sites like Neopets? It might be all you need to get a few moments of peace and quiet during the summer vacation.

Marapets

Marapets has been designed to work with several age groups. Its target audience goes from the very young to the preteen groups. If your kid has played Neopets, a lot about Marapets will seem very familiar.

The selection of pets isn’t quite as attractive as Neopets’ but there is still enough variety to keep most kids happy. Though the site is free, like several other sites nowadays, it has upgrade options, all of which require real money. Some of the most desired ones involve upgrading your pets to special edition pets, special items and costumes.

One major difference between Marapets and Neopets, is that they cater to a pop-culture-savvy audience, with dress up games that give you options to dress your doll like pop culture icons such as Lady Gaga, Usher, Pink and Zac Efron.

Subeta

Subeta targets an older audience, since you must be at least 13 years old to create a character. Though many of the pet features are very similar to Neopets, there is certainly an edgier style to the site, which feels less like a site for little kids and more like a site for pre-teens. To appeal to that age group, they made a few choices to differentiate themselves from the sites for younger kids. Some of those choices had mixed results.

For example, they named the groups of similar interests “Cults” and created journals that users can update with their thoughts, but that never seem to be updated with more than a few words. The design of the features is certainly well done, and the imagery of a lot of the features is interesting and original, even if the actual features on the virtual pet site are still so much like Neopets. Subeta is a good option for those who still want to play with virtual pets, but who want to feel like they are on a site with people from their same age group.

Build-A-Bear-Ville

Build-A-Bear-Ville is certainly built with a younger audience in mind, starting from its character creation which has a character guiding you all along the way. One of the first steps on the creation asks you for “your parents email address” so they can let them know you are a member of Build-A-Bear-Ville.

It is refreshing that they have golden rules you must accept stating that you must be kind and never give out personal information. The site itself is not quite as interactive as Neopets, and with long loading times between activities. Some of the games are also more repetitive than you would find in other sites, but it seems appropriate and welcoming to a very young audience. Note that some of the features are only available for those who have purchased a bear at Build-A-Bear-Ville stores.

Powerpets

Powerpets is one of the most obviously Neopets-inspired sites with a lot about it looking like a direct copy of Neopets. The good news is that if you like Neopets, you are bound to like Powerpets too. They have added a few features that make this site an interesting alternative to Neopets though, one being the ability to add pictures of your real pets to the “Pet Zone” part of the site. Some of the stock market and bank loan aspects of the site can potentially teach kids some real money skills.

So pick one of the sites above and explore them with your kids. It’s a great way to spend some time together, even when on the computer, and to introduce them to sites they can share with their friends. Know of other virtual pet sites like Neopets? What sites are your kids into? Tell us about them.

Best Online Resources For New and Experienced Dog Owners

Brad Owens — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:00:08 +0000

I’ve recently had the pleasure of bringing home my first dog, a seven week old Golden Retriever named Bruce Wayne who I call B-Dubs for short. My girlfriend and I took 6 months doing our research on breeders, making sure we picked out the right one, visiting various people, asking questions and bordering on annoying to make sure we got the perfect pup.

The day finally came where we got to take home our new baby. We loaded the car with B-Dubs and his blanket ready to make our drive back home, then it hit us. Uh oh… WHAT NOW?!

I’m sure I’m not alone in this panicked, first-time puppy parent feeling. So, I’ve put together my own personal choices of the best online resources for dog owners to help you avoid this same feeling I had.

American Kennel Club (AKC)

From picking out the right type of dog breed for your family, to training your new addition, the American Kennel Club website is full of valuable information. Their organization is most well known for their registration process for purebred dogs but the website is devoted to so much more than that.

The section I like best about this site is their extensive info on every breed imaginable. Select a breed you’re curious about and you’re presented with a brief history of why the breed came to be how it is and a short excerpt to decide if this is the breed of dog for you. I see many people who get their dog then say months later that “If I had know this dog would be like this, I would have never gotten it’

Don’t fall into this category. Do your research. Find the perfect dog for you and/or your family.

Dog Owner’s Guide – CanisMajor.com

The online dog owner’s guide is just that, a guide, from start to end, on owning a dog. Here, you’ll find the best collection of articles online that will make sure you’re informed through every stage of your puppy’s life.

My favorite section, that ultimately saved me from panicking once I got my pup home, is titled “He’s here! Now what?“. My thoughts exactly. This section helped me know what to expect when my new guy entered my home from the first minutes of exploration, to first potty time and first training.

I can tell this is a critical resource that I will be coming back to as B-Dubs starts to grow and mature.

PetMD

It is inevitable as a first time puppy parent that the first time the dog starts to throw up, you’re going to flip out. I did. I immediately thought “Oh no! My dog has Parvo!”

I started rushing around trying to find numbers for my vet, calling the breeder and asking my friends if their dogs had ever done this. Looking back, it was just an upset stomach but I didn’t know the difference.

Enter PetMD. Had I known about this site beforehand, I could have simply typed his symptoms into their large database of everything related to your pet’s health. I was presented with a large list of issues that my dog could have, all of which had way worse symptoms than my dog currently had.

I realized very quickly that I was overreacting and now I know where to go if I have any questions related to its health.

Eukanuba Puppy World

I am a very visual learner. There are only a few things that I can pick up from reading article after article about puppy training and becoming a puppy parent. That’s why I love Eukanuba’s web site.

They present you with the standard articles for picking out your puppy, preparing your home for your new addition and other important information but where they shine is in their EukTV Puppy Training Videos.

I was able to sit back and watch a video on what I’m supposed to do with my puppy which my fellow visual learners will appreciate. They also make a handy reference to go back to because there’s no way you will remember this info the first time through.

A few other places to check out videos like this would be YouTube and ExpertVillage. When I searched ExpertVillage for dog training, I was presented with over 8,000 videos.

Purina Complete Puppy Care

After I brought B-Dubs home, I found out very quickly that my free time has been quickly depleted. All of the extra duties of owning a dog, although fun, are time consuming. Going out to each of these sites and searching for articles and then taking the time to read them may just be more time than you find yourself with after having a puppy.

Purina has recognized this and created their Complete Puppy Care Program. Entering this program is as simple as entering in your email and some simple info about your new puppy.

They take the guess work out of finding the right information by sending you an email each month with links to helpful videos and articles that are specific to your puppies age. You will also get access to their entire library of videos to help address most questions you’d have about your puppy.

They also provide a handy iPhone application to take with you on the road in case you aren’t around your computer, like say, out at a dog park. (maybe meeting up with your friends you met on ZooToo)

I don’t know where I’d be without these five resources. I have already ran to them multiple times each to answer all of my first time puppy parenting questions because trust me, there are a ton! Good luck with your new addition! Don’t have a new addition? You can still see plenty of cute animals on the net at any of these six sites Simon mentioned.

Have you found a great resource for dog owners? Let us know about it in the comments.

The 6 Cutest Sites with Silly Pet Pics and LOL Pets

Simon Slangen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:41 +0000

In these ever so serious days, what better way to get a smile on your lips than with cute, furry animals.

Even the most dull and serious people can’t escape a laugh when they see a lemur getting tickled, silly pet pics, or browse lol pets pictures.

We’ve gathered the all-time cutest websites on the internet. Hakuna Matata - read on, forget about your worries and relax.

Cute Overload

Cute-hunters out there most probably know all about Cute Overload, and for those who don’t – the name says it all.

Cute Overload brings daily new cutie pictures, ranging from ninja hamsters to fat immobile cats. All pictures are based on reader suggestions, so they’ve got cuteporters all over the world, ready to make your day.

If you want to have a dose of funny cute, Cute Overload is the place to go.

FurryTalk.com

Tell me, what’s cuter than furry animals? Furry Talk is a blog, focused on the cutest and furriest animals in the world. Multiple pictures are posted weekly, accompanied by a witty comment, Q&A, jokes, or inspirational motto.

Walk your way through the site, and take some time to relax and smile. You can browse the site chronologically, or view pictures of the most popular animals by category.

Today’s Big Thing – Cute Animals

You might already know Today’s Big Thing from another perspective - presenting the awesomest video on the internet, every day. They’ve now opened a new subsection, entirely dedicated to cute animals.

Watch video of ninja cats, puppies learning to howl, or monkeys being tickled. On Today’s Big Thing, you can be sure to find the ever cutest animal videos, every day.

Lolcats & Loldogs

This list would not be complete without including I Can Has Cheezburger, especially being hosted on a geeky site.

This site, for those of you who don’t know it, is filled with thousands and thousands of cat and dog pictures, with hilarious captions printed over them. Where other sites might bring a tender smile on your lips, lolcats and loldogs will give you a good laugh and a tear in each eye.

If you’re into the LOL pets craze, browse the lolcats or loldogs section, or manufacture your own silly pet pics using the Lol Builder. I Can Has Cheezburger has a fanbase in the millions, both for the cuteness as for the lolness.

Daily Puppy

The old newspaper layout of The Daily Puppy should be enough to make your day. If not, maybe the daily added puppy pictures will hit it out of the park for you.

Each day, the site produces another Daily Puppy, a cute little dog with its own background and story. In the other sections of the site, The Daily Puppy gives the same treatment to grown-up puppies, and hosts a comprehensive database of dog-related articles.

For any dog lovers out there who like to have a little more than a cute picture, this one is a must-try.

ZooBorns

Contrary to the other cute-sites, you won’t see any cats or dogs on ZooBorns. This site only shows the very cutest exotic animal babies, be it seals, lions, or zebras. It’s Cute Overload all over again, jungle edition.

Each picture comes with a story; a story about the animals, about what happened in the pictures, about the exotic little lives of the ZooBorns.

If you like ‘cute’, but prefer lions over cats, and zebras over ponies, ZooBorns is the place to go.

Where do you get your fix of cuteness? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

How about playing some of the cutest games? Check out Leon’s post on Orisinal – Cute Flash Games For All.