Cat Got Your Wallet?

Cute, but not worth $



I will admit it: I am not a cat person. Perhaps it's because I never had one as a kid: we always had dogs. I don't think I even knew anyone who had a cat at the time. Maybe it's the way their claws are so sharp as they rip into anything upholstered or in any way resembling fabric...say, my pants or arm, for instance. It's possible that the snooty air that cats always seem to possess bothers me, or that "I'll-play-with-you-when-I'm-darn-good-and-ready" attitude.
Whatever, it is, I'm not about to spend money on a cat for any purpose...certainly not to play with it over the internet! "Really?" I hear you ask. Really.
There is a company in New York named Bideawee that offers the opportunity to play, yes, actually PLAY with a cat online. After downloading the software, users can actually manipulate a toy in hopes of attracting some interaction from a real, live cat (often at an animal shelter). There is a camera and a variety of playthings that the users can move around and use to tease the animal...which, as you know, cats just LOVE!
While it beats watching endless YouTube videos of cats doing cute things, at least watching cats is free. Actually interacting with them via the Bideawee app will set you back $850. Yes, the decimal IS in the right place. In this economy? If I had that kind of money, I certainly wouldn't spend it toying with an animal of ANY kind, especially a cat, over the internet. I'd probably start up my own professional basketball league since nobody in the current owner/player/commissioner fracas seems to care about having one. However, I'll bet the animal shelter here would even let me play with any of its cats for free...any time I wanted to! (not that I would, mind you...it's STILL a cat!)
I guess the division between the worlds of the the "haves" and that of the "have-nots" just got a lot bigger. Here's the video, just in case you think I'm telling what Mark Twain used to call a "stretcher."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/video/breaking/chi-video-bideawee-web-site-lets-you-play-with-cats-20111013,0,7470538.htmlstory