Do You Monitor Your Kitties While At Work?

ginny

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 Do you monitor your cat while away?  If so what product do you use, and how well does it work for you?  

I really would like to get a monitoring system to check on my kitties during the day especially since they've had some recent problems.  There are a bunch of products out there like baby monitors, which may be what I go with, to more expensive set ups like HD cameras.  
 
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ginny

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I'd like to get something that is cost effective also.  So if you have a system in place, how much did you pay for it?
 
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ginny

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Anyone?
 

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Sorry you haven't had any answers yet Ginny. I work from home a lot so I rarely leave the cats for more than 4 hours, I do worry about them if I'm ever gone for longer than that.

I think a system with cameras would be quite expensive unless you kept your cats confined to one room.

Lets see what others have to say.
 

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Not an expert, due to numerous break ins was forced to set up cameras...

Purchased lynksys cameras plus few others, bought camera software online. You can purchase good webcams for 30. and up. Normally

you can demo online software first then make your choice. It's amazing what we can read from their body language.

In Demo mode cameras will have restrictrictions. some will only let you record for an hour.

Wireless cams are not as secure as wired.  Some programs will download and save your images online for a fee

or just save keep on your hard drive.

Software can start @ 100.00 running  single or multiple cams.
 
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ginny

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Sorry you haven't had any answers yet Ginny. I work from home a lot so I rarely leave the cats for more than 4 hours, I do worry about them if I'm ever gone for longer than that.

I think a system with cameras would be quite expensive unless you kept your cats confined to one room.

Lets see what others have to say.
Thank you!  Do you think this topic should be moved to a different forum?  Would that help?  

Luckily I live in a small house and I have a security system but no cameras.  So I could get by with only 2 cameras. Although more would be better.  
 
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ginny

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Not an expert, due to numerous break ins was forced to set up cameras...

Purchased lynksys cameras plus few others, bought camera software online. You can purchase good webcams for 30. and up. Normally

you can demo online software first then make your choice. It's amazing what we can read from their body language.

In Demo mode cameras will have restrictrictions. some will only let you record for an hour.

Wireless cams are not as secure as wired.  Some programs will download and save your images online for a fee

or just save keep on your hard drive.

Software can start @ 100.00 running single or multiple cams.
Thank you for telling me about your experience!  I hope the cameras have helped your situation!  I've heard of link sys and will look up the website.  

When you say wireless isn't as secure, do you mean that it can be hacked?  If so, how does that even happen?  I'm not tech savvy, but If I'm going to get a wireless system I need to know how to keep it secure.  
 

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Thank you for telling me about your experience!  I hope the cameras have helped your situation!  I've heard of link sys and will look up the website.  

When you say wireless isn't as secure, do you mean that it can be hacked?  If so, how does that even happen?  I'm not tech savvy, but If I'm going to get a wireless system I need to know how to keep it secure.  
I use nest cam (formerly drop cam) to watch their outdoor space, its not cheap $199, but very high res, lots of features and can be monitored from any device including your phone.  Has online storage in addition to real time for a little extra $.  https://store.nest.com/product/security/camera
 

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I've been doing research for security cameras for myself. I keep going back to DLink. Under $100 and you can view from your phone. there's also a one-way speaker so you can talk to your cats too.

I am planning on getting myself some after the holidays. One to aim at my reef tank, one in my kitchen at my back door and one in my livingroom
 
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ginny

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Thank you for the suggestions!  Wow, my head is kind of spinning after looking at Link-sys, Nest Cam, and D-link.  It makes me want to get the most expensive one out there, because what if I need to record something going on?  Until I win the lottery I guess I'll just have to dream on and just look at the lower priced options :(

I need to have one to view from my cell phone.  Just to check in.  So it doesn't have to be HD but that would be nice.  
Above is my crew, staring intently out my back door a a little brown dove eating seed from a kitty food bowl.  Back in the good old days.  Before they banned bird feeding here. :(  Any way it's a cute pic.  
 

stephenq

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Thank you for the suggestions!  Wow, my head is kind of spinning after looking at Link-sys, Nest Cam, and D-link.  It makes me want to get the most expensive one out there, because what if I need to record something going on?  Until I win the lottery I guess I'll just have to dream on and just look at the lower priced options :(

I need to have one to view from my cell phone.  Just to check in.  So it doesn't have to be HD but that would be nice. 

Above is my crew, staring intently out my back door a a little brown dove eating seed from a kitty food bowl.  Back in the good old days.  Before they banned bird feeding here. :(  Any way it's a cute pic.  
Great photo and understood about price.  I will also mention that the nest cam has a motion sensor and can be set to notify you if there is activity....
 
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ginny

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When you've got several kitties who are not well, being able to check on them remotely while at work is neither funny nor weird.  
 
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ginny

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Well, my pocketbook has taken yet another hit over these past 2 months.  I've been out of work all week with an URI virus I do not recommend to anyone!  It's been vicious.  I've been to the MD twice this week.  Yesterday my sinuses closed up completely, both sides.  I mean NO AIR!!!  Kind of frightening when you're so used to breathing through your nose!  Now I'm on a prednisone dose pack for the next few days.  Wash your hands, stay away from sick people if possible (not possible for me since I'm a nurse), wear a mask, don't touch your face, cough into your sleeved bent elbow, sanitize your hands if you can't wash them, and all that. 

So I have only thought about how to keep an eye on my kitties while I'm gone.  Now I'm thinking the cheapest option seems to be the best, for now anyway, which will be the baby monitor set that comes with 2 cameras.  Any moms and dads here that like a certain brand?
 
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ginny

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Great photo and understood about price.  I will also mention that the nest cam has a motion sensor and can be set to notify you if there is activity....
I like the thought that the nest cam would send notifications.  But for every movement they make?  There are times during my work day that I just cannot break away at that moment and check on a notification.   So how does that work exactly?  Would the clip be saved for me to view or would it only alarm while the event is happening?
 

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I like the thought that the nest cam would send notifications.  But for every movement they make?  There are times during my work day that I just cannot break away at that moment and check on a notification.   So how does that work exactly?  Would the clip be saved for me to view or would it only alarm while the event is happening?
Notifications by email and possibly by the nest phone app whenever there is movement in range of the camera like maybe 10-20 feet?  You can ignore them and all they will likely show is your cat walking past the camera and that's if its responsive to small movements, not sure i only briefly used the movement detector briefly.  Yes they will store the videos for you but thats an extra cost. look at the website.
 
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ginny

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Notifications by email and possibly by the nest phone app whenever there is movement in range of the camera like maybe 10-20 feet?  You can ignore them and all they will likely show is your cat walking past the camera and that's if its responsive to small movements, not sure i only briefly used the movement detector briefly.  Yes they will store the videos for you but thats an extra cost. look at the website.
I will certainly keep nest cam in mind, but for now I just can't afford it.  That's a very nice feature to have.  
 
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ginny

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Update:  I decided upon a baby monitor with wifi.  Got it from Walmart, of all places (not my favorite place!)  But when I went to set it up, I could not install the battery pack - one of the prongs in the base was skewed, so I took it back :(  

I'll be doing more price comparisons online and will just order there rather than go to a store.  I was disappointed to find that I couldn't buy a baby monitor with 2 cameras that also came with wifi.  So that's what I will be looking for online, if it exists.  
 
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