https://amazonfiretv.blog/fire-tv-a-cats-purr-spective-2ebec34967ec?source=rss—-4004146fc92c—4

How to entertain your cat with Fire TV.

During the colder and drearier months of the year, it can be easy to succumb to cabin fever of both human and feline varieties. But with your Fire TV, cats and humans alike can beat the winter blues.

This is reality TV: two birds are deciding whether there are enough seeds for both of them. Spoiler: nobody gets kicked off the island.

As a software engineer on the Fire TV team, I’m always playing around with Alexa on my Fire TV. So one day I just said “cats” into my Alexa Voice Remote. That’s when I realized that there are videos specifically for cats. This was a game changer.

I rushed home and played one for Ruby, my hilariously playful and needy tabby. She loved it! I started playing them for her, and she loves to watch and occasionally paw at the wall (careful if your TV isn’t mounted strongly). After a while, I noticed that I actually love these videos as much as she does. My favorite thing in the morning is to have a big sunny garden with chirping birds projected in HD on my wall. It gives that feeling of summer and the drama is very minimal (compared to other reality shows). I simply leave the video playing when I leave for work, and that occupies Ruby until her nap. She also doesn’t get so upset when I leave.

Why haven’t there always been TV programs for cats? My best guess is that since cats require at least 100 frames per second in order to see anything other than a jumbled mess, the older TVs (cathode ray tubes) just couldn’t cut it. Those old TVs had a frame rate of only around 50 fps and also emitted a very unpleasant high pitched sound. Cats in CRT households probably had no idea why humans were so interested in looking at these boxes. Now they understand, and even participate when the definition is high enough and when the subject matter is their favorite prey.

Here are a few of Ruby’s favorite shows. Check them out and try some related videos too. There are lots of them!

Garden Birds (pictured above)Relaxing AquariumVideo for Cats Birds and SquirrelsChipmunks Family Nature Relaxation (almost 5 hours!)

Happy streaming!

Fire TV: A Cat’s Purr-spective was originally published in Amazon Fire TV on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.