Are you the kind of person who worries obsessively whether you little tiger-striped tabby Muffinhead has had a change in appetite while you're at work? Would you love it if there was an app-enabled feeding device that would alert you every single time Muffinhead took a drink of water or finished her dinner? Then you're in luck. Bistro is that device.
It's an intelligent feeder and water bubbler for cats that has a camera built in with cat-facial-recognition software (no joke) so that even if you are a crazy cat lady with four felines at home, Bistro will be able to monitor each of their eating habits, letting you know when Mr. Wiggles is bogarting all the kibble and forcing Muffinhead to starve. Also, the app lets you watch your cat up close while they eat, which is just creepy.
The company earned almost double their goal in an IndieGoGo campaign, so obviously people besides me think this is a marvelous idea.
Bistro founder and CEO Mu-Chi Sung talks in the promo video above about how he loves his cats. "They are family to me," he says. "But cats can't speak for themselves. That's why we need Bistro." Sung was inspired to create Bistro after having a cat that became dehydrated and stopped eating, leading to pancreatitis and paralysis.
I'm not sure if we need Bistro, but I bet there are some of you who want this sort of device to make your life more complete, with 24/7 alerts of every one of Muffinhead's little nibbles. Also, if the crowdfunding reaches the "stretch goal" of over $200,000 in funding, Bistro will be adding functionality to let you talk to your cat from wherever you are, while they're eating.
The retail price is expected to be $249 when this thing hits the market.
We will try not to judge.
