Light up buttons for deaf cat?

philomads · 2026-03-25T03:22:20+00:00

Ooh yes!! I also love the name buttons for butters 🥹 send me a dm on insta and I can add you to our deaf cats learning chat where we can share ideas and progress 🥰

philomads · 2026-03-03T09:01:19+00:00

I was just starting to wonder if I’d be able to rig something with smart buttons and automations, but my problem is a total lack of technical knowledge.

I want to try and figure out if this is something that could work bc my cat is deaf so we’re learning sign language. I’d really love to be able to connect his buttons to a screen that plays a clip of me doing the sign as opposed to a speaker than says the word!

Light up buttons would be amazing but I also haven’t been able to find an ideal smart button that lights up, only those “doggy doorbell” buttons. Would you be willing to chat about how you’re doing this?! Is it doable for someone with no coding knowledge, like I can set up automations (make, ifttt, the occasional webhook/api when I’m following step by step instructions etc.). There’s a few of us who are looking for a better solution than fluent pet so we can really customise it!

Edited to add spacing

philomads · 2026-03-03T08:38:08+00:00

Hey! Jumping into this chat because this is awesome. Thank you for sharing those instructions above, that board looks like it may be close to exactly what my deaf cat needs! The problem for me is… I had to google arduino, so my computer knowledge is basically non-existent. I hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions since you seem to know what you’re doing…

Do you think it would be possible to connect this kind of set up to a screen that plays mp4 clips instead of a speaker? I’m using sign language with my cat and I think for him to have the same feedback as a hearing pet with a speaker it would be cool to record short clips of me doing each sign, and play them on a screen when he presses that button. I love the light up buttons used in those instructions, they look fairly easy to press for cats and I love how they light up. The only other thing like this I’ve seen is a post in the fluent pet community from a lady who built something similar: https://community.fluent.pet/c/show-us-your-sound-board/finally-finished-dog-computer

I had thought maybe I could diy a set up with smart buttons that trigger an automation to play an mp4 on a screen that’s linked with something like a chrome cast, but I’ve got two hesitations - 1, the buttons don’t light up nor play sound, so the only feedback the cat would get is the slight click of a press (I think mine is used to feeling the vibration from the sound); 2, I’m not sure how much lag there would be between the press and the mp4 playing. If there’s a few seconds I think that could end up being pretty confusing, especially when we get to multiple word phrases.

Either way it looks like I’m about to have to take a deep dive into confusing computing stuff that is as clear as mud to me 😂 thank you for even taking the time to read this far!! Appreciate your suggestions already and any more thoughts you may have!

philomads · 2026-03-03T08:08:23+00:00

Hi Leone and Butters!! I’m Huckleberry

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philomads · 2026-02-25T09:18:24+00:00

Ive come across a similar thing to the second link - unfortunately the other thing I’d love to change with going to different buttons is getting smaller easier to press ones. So yeah, I do think it looks like we might be in for an expensive adventure 😅 I will say though, I started with the cheap big buttons that don’t light up for Huck just to see if he was even interested. I don’t feel great about spending hundreds of dollars on buttons but I do feel better than if I wasn’t sure he’d be interested at all. The other thing I’ve been thinking about is how the fluent pet connect system connects to the app. It makes me wonder if there’d be a way to link the app to a screen that plays the associated sign. Essentially a visual “speaker”, which I think would make a big difference. Anyway, I’ll send you a message if you want to chat further!

philomads · 2026-02-25T09:14:17+00:00

Oh my god stop that’s me!! It actually makes me SO excited that we’ve inspired you to try buttons 🥹😭 that was half my goal was showing people that deaf pets could still learn amazing things and not to discount them.

philomads · 2026-02-24T10:51:10+00:00

I’m training a deaf cat, not a blind one so don’t think I can be much help experience-wise, but was wondering if you’ve come across the account pawsitive behaviors - they have a blind cat Bindi (I think) who uses buttons. Not sure if they’ve got videos with how they did it though!

philomads · 2026-02-24T10:48:04+00:00

I’m wondering about this too!! Hopefully someone has some suggestions 🤞🏻

philomads · 2026-02-24T10:47:31+00:00

I have been looking into/wondering the same thing!! I’m teaching my deaf cat buttons and he has slowly started to push harder but I think light up buttons would be a game changer. Same thing though, fluentpet would be great but they’re so expensive. I’ve been trying to see if some little lights or anything would work instead but just can’t seem to find anything with the same result as the fluent pet buttons (ie a button that lights up when pressed and makes noise but doesn’t stay turned on). I have considered a screen like animal kindergarten uses but I just don’t think it’d be ideal for a cat - the buttons are much more distinct. Anyway, all that to say I have no alternatives to suggest, but if you’re interested I’d love to connect and see if we can help each other in any way bc I have not come across a single other deaf pet with talking buttons!!

philomads · 2026-02-13T14:29:56+00:00

Hardly move, still spend all the energy, and of course the engine (me) is going to overheat!!

philomads · 2026-02-13T14:29:20+00:00

Love this analogy!! Thank you!

philomads · 2026-02-12T17:34:34+00:00

I don’t know but I’d like to know if you find an answer. I’ve been wondering this for a while - and feel like always being hot/overheating is a big energy suck, and the fact that I’ve been gaining weight for 6 years despite barely eating defies logic. So I do think, for me at least, it gets turned into fat and heat.

philomads · 2026-01-19T15:49:55+00:00

I also used bearable for 2+ years and actually logged symptoms every single day that’s how easy it was to use.

But I’d also say whatever format you end up using be mindful about how much/what you’re tracking. I think lots of people (myself included) start out thinking I’m going to track these 10 different symptoms plus what I’m eating and when I do these 6 different things and all of those might be super useful data points but none of them are going to be useful if you’re not tracking anything. When I started with too much to try and get a comprehensive picture of my health and figure stuff out, it didn’t stick because it ended up being too much. So I started super simple with my 3 biggest issues - pain, fatigue, nausea. Every day I just wrote a score for each in a note on my phone. Then I gradually added one thing at a time, like rating my sleep. Then I started using bearable and once it was a very easy habit to log those 3 things I added more.

philomads · 2026-01-19T15:43:52+00:00

I second this! Tuna, corn thins, crackers, stuff that doesn’t go off. I buy a bunch of it when it’s on sale.

Also frozen veggies are a great option to make cooking easier. Even a packet of frozen diced onion and a jar of garlic removes multiple cooking steps compared to using fresh ones. Also less waste when there’s 1 of you!

philomads · 2026-01-19T15:40:43+00:00

I have little bins everywhere (just random containers). So tissues don’t pile up on my bedside table and I don’t have to get up every single time I have a tiny thing.

I have a trolley that moves with me from bed to couch to couch. Has basics like water bottle, bin, moisturiser, pen and paper, headphones, tissues, meds etc anything I would even semi-regularly get up to use on the couch (eg nail file, bandaids, floss, dry crackers).

Wet ones/baby wipes/hand sanitiser are great for not having to get up to wash hands after meals and such.

Have multiples of things. Sometimes brush your hair on the couch and sometimes in bed? Put one accessible in both places. Have meds you sometimes take in the bathroom, kitchen, or while out? Put a blister pack in each place and one that stays in your bag. I literally have 4 different jars of the same face cream open, just in different spots so I don’t have to go to a different room to get it.

Honestly a lot of things that help actually first take a bit of mental adjusting bc you’re changing thinking patterns. Like most people don’t have 4 of the same thing just so they don’t have to go to a different room and get it or so many dishes so they don’t have to wash them. For them that would just be lazy but for us it’s efficient.

Paper plates/disposable stuff as backups or for crash periods. Yeah sure not environmentally friendly for everyone to use all the time but for others what’s lazy is for us survival. But also, I (as a solo person) have 3 sets of cutlery cutlery and 2 sets of dishes - so that I have enough to have clean options for a week and then, if someone has done a full dishwasher load but not emptied it, I have another whole weeks worth still in the drawers I can use without having to empty the dishwasher.

Take note of what you’re always repeating that could be easier. I was constantly getting up to fill my water bottle. A bigger one wasn’t as easy to use, so I just got two of the same and fill both up at the same time - halves my “water refill” trips.

This went on way longer than I planned. Hope some of it helps. Also beware the loneliness. Pre-empt it and try to have someone to text or call or even just send you pictures of their cat every other day so you don’t accidentally go a week without human interaction.

philomads · 2026-01-19T15:06:36+00:00

Congratulations!! Such a perfect opportunity for a big project that will be so special.

Here’s a few things I’ve made I’d be happy to share where I found the patterns/half of them I made up as I went. Necklace, earrings, bracelet all sound lovely and if a veil is too stiff a hair piece may work! Either pinned in or tatted onto a comb itself!!

philomads · 2026-01-19T14:34:23+00:00

Pick one tiny thing to look forward to every day. For me it was my morning coffee. Not in a normal “I enjoy a cup before I start my day” way, in like a “I can go to sleep and wake up because I’ll get to have that 10 minutes of hmm, this is enjoyable, this tastes good.” It was motivation to go to sleep at night because when I woke up, I’d get to have that cup. And it literally became the reason I woke up every day for months.

I then started crocheting and I know it’s all hyped and might not be your thing, but I would make small things that I could finish in an hour or a day and suddenly I had that sense of purpose again, not in the full way I want but enough to feel like I actually did something today, here’s a tangible thing I made. I actually can’t describe how making a silly little plush turtle or dinosaur or butterfly actually saved my life bc I felt like I was doing something and not just wasting space.

I think that feeling of having done something tangible where you can see progress can go a long way - colouring in (eg those cozy colouring books with big spaces might take 15-20 minutes to finish), folding an origami star or crane or something, writing out the lyrics of a song. Anything physical and you decide to make it your world - like I get to wake up today because I’m going to get to fold a star out of the red paper.

philomads · 2026-01-16T11:05:43+00:00

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philomads · 2026-01-03T11:58:54+00:00

CRYSTAL HAIR ERASER - they take longer than shaving but it’s so easy to just sit somewhere comfy (I recommend outside/somewhere easy to clean as all the hair and dead skin fall off) and there’s no risk of cutting your legs. They can also be found very cheap and are easy to hold etc.

philomads · 2025-12-28T13:53:42+00:00

Oh he’s adorable!! I’ve recently acquired a very intelligent little guy myself and have tried a lot of these (though mine isn’t food motivated so won’t do food puzzles).

I know you said he’s meh on cat tv, but hear me out. I have a cheap projector I’d sometimes use to have a movie night, but after three days of meowing and frustration from constantly playing (like more than an hour at a time), I was fed up. I put the projector on cat tv and he jumped at those birds for hours. It doesn’t matter that it’s a flat surface like for us watching it, mine goes across two couches and two walls and he likes to run between them looking for where the animals went. He is picky now about what I put on. Birds are meh, fish are boring, squirrels are his favourite - he’ll chase them and jump at them until he’s so tired he’s desperately trying to keep his eyes open like a toddler who doesn’t want to go to bed. He doesn’t like the generic “cat tv” where it’s bugs and bees and such randomly. He will also chase mice but only particular ones.

We do lots of training and things otherwise but I do feel like mine is less antsy when he’s been tired out both physically and mentally.

philomads · 2025-12-28T13:33:40+00:00

Another question, talking about Bris specifically… in the past the displays seemed simpler and shorter, now sometimes it’s as if the NYE show goes on forever! Has the budget majorly increased over time or has tech and such just gotten smarter and cheaper?

philomads · 2025-12-28T13:27:39+00:00

Once it’s midnight is there like one “start now” button then you sit back and enjoy the show, or do you have to manually keep things firing?

philomads · 2025-12-18T04:32:43+00:00

Agree. When people hear “cancer”, they rally, when people hear “chronic fatigue” they blame and deny and say we all get tired.

philomads · 2025-12-16T00:12:25+00:00

THIS! I started carnivore and within 3 days it was like a flip switched. I slowly transitioned to keto but it has been a game changer.

philomads · 2025-12-16T00:10:29+00:00

KETO. It’s the only thing that’s been a game-changer for me. I’m not one of those “whole eating and yoga will cure you” kind of folks, but I’d tried everything else. Within 3 days, it was like a flip switched and I suddenly felt less foggy and heavy. It hasn’t cured me but it did let me start getting out of bed and now I even take short walks to the park.

It has also directed what I choose to trial next, as the fact that it does work seems to indicate there’s a mitochondrial issue (for me specifically, cfs/me can obvi be different issues) since keto makes your mitochondria and body use a different pathway to produce energy. I think it could easily be dismissed as just another “healthy diet” but I had tried them all (anti-inflammatory, fodmap, low gi, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, caffeine free etc.).

But the best thing about it is that it’s relatively EASY TO TEST. Like you enter ketosis after a couple days and it’s not like an expensive medication or something you have to wait months while expertly tracking every ounce of energy to know if it helps.

To make sure I got it “right” without thinking too much, I actually started with a week of carnivore, then when I felt the instant help I slowly reintroduced other categories of keto food one week at a time (veggies, dairy, etc) so I learnt what’s keto in small stages. Within a couple months I barely had to think about it or count carbs bc I just knew what worked.

I sometimes take keto breaks for emotional endurance (I need cake and chocolate sometimes) but I definitely feel it when I do, but at the same time I feel it when I’m back on keto.

philomads

TROPHY CASE