Burglar Alarm and pets

[Jaffakake]

We're looking to replace our old cronky alarm for a new one and am looking for a bit of advice.

We've had a wireless Friedland one before which we liked. I've noticed they do one designed for homes with pets. Has anyone experience of these and can let me know if they work .... or is the cat restricted to the kitchen for evermore?

Cheers.

 

[John45]

I haven't tried the wireless Friedland alarms before but I do have extensive experience of using Pet friendly sensors with the Yale wireless alarms.

You have set yourself a little bit of a challenge as the Pet friendly sensors can be made to work very well , however cats do present a difficult challenge.

The problem with cats and allthough you may think you know them , they live a double darker life when you aren't around.

You may think that your cats sleep dutifully on your rug by the fire when you aren't in but in actual fact they are more akin to lepoards climbing trees.
They love being high up and will climb anywhere they possibly can. Even up curtains , on pelmets , fridge tops , shelves in fact anywhere they can hang on and look down.

When you position the pet friendly sensors dogs are no problem , cats however despite being smaller can get closer to the sensors thanks to their climbing ability and can fool pet friendly sensors into thinking they are seing a larger heat signature than they really are.

Position your Pet friendly sensors where they are facing to the most open aspect of the room with as few objects possible for the cats to climb onto. You may have to position a sensor mid wall instead of in a corner in order to ensure the cats wild antics wont be picked up.

Stairs also present a problem as cats will jump through banisters rather than going the whole way down and they move so fast their heat 'trail' can fool a sensor into thinking it is looking at something far larger.

So try not to position a pet friendly sensor towards a staircase or banister.

It can be done but you may have a few false alarms until you find somewhere where the comprimise between protecting your property and preventing cat activated false alarms can be found.

Obviously as you say an ideal would be restricting your pets movements allowing normal sensors throughout the home and a pet friendly in the room the cats are kept. sadly however the kitchen is the place with the most opportunities for cats to climb around.