My two cats live a refreshingly low-tech lifestyle. They’ve never experienced a robot litter box, an automated feeder, or a GPS tracker. Noodle and Loaf live blissfully unaware of the technological trappings that surround the rest of my life.
Except, that is, for the glowing neon sign that turns on whenever they go to the toilet.
I can’t, and won’t, take responsibility for the “On Air” sign. It was my partner’s idea, suggested — I thought — as a joke. That was until it turned up at the house and I realized she was all too sincere.
This all started with the cats’ water fountain, which has a little tech of its own. It’s a simple ceramic fountain with a pump to run water through a spout. But instead of running 24/7, it came with a cheap USB-powered motion sensor, which activates the fountain whenever the cats approach for a drink. This works well for the most part, until one of them sits on the sensor and wonders why the water doesn’t work any more.
But the fountain shipped with a spare motion sensor, and my partner spends enough time scrolling Instagram cat Reels to know exactly what to do with it. One USB-powered neon sign later, and the deed was done. Whenever either Noodle or Loaf steps into our living room litter box, the sensor turns on the sign, letting anyone around know that they are, ahem, on air. I really wish I was making this up.
I can’t recommend you do this yourself. Get the positioning of the sensor wrong, as we did at first, and it’s too easy to trigger the sign yourself. Ours is also positioned in just the right spot to create a glaring reflection on the TV, which is just a little distracting during an especially tense movie. For their part, Noodle and Loaf don’t seem to care — it never stopped them using this litter box. But I do know how I’d feel if a giant neon sign lit up every time I went to the bathroom, and let me tell you, it is not great.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge