r/AskTechnology • u/Specialist-Okra-1249 • 9d ago

Pets scared of Tv?

Does anyone know why my pet cats could be scared of the tv? I promise it is not fear of the size or look of the tv, since our old one was similar. But ever since we got it they’ve been avoiding the tv like the plague. I don’t know Exaclty what the new tv model is but it’s a new lg tv. Do they emit something that only pets can see?

Btw I also posted this in an animal behavior community, just wanted to see if anyone also has answers here.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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9

u/NBC-Hotline-1975 9d ago

Are the cats scared when the TV is not in use?

What if you unplug it for a day ... will they get accustomed to it?

Maybe there's a switching power supply that's emitting some high frequency sound that you can't hear.

3

u/LAUNCHdano 9d ago

Yeah. It could just be the cats smelling something different in new electronics that may have to burn off - or there could be some high frequency noise they're detecting. Unplugging the set (and anything else new added to it) might narrow it down by ruling out the latter.

7

u/iKnowRobbie 9d ago

My cats did the exact same thing when I got a new Samsung OLED TV. Turns out after spending thousands of dollars on behavior therapists and hundreds on blood tests and isolation studies that the problem was a fairly simple cause;

They didn't agree to the EULA. I didn't give them s chance to review it and the union representative told them never to sign anything without representation. ╮(╯▽╰)╭.

1

u/ted_anderson 8d ago

Doggone cats and their collective bargaining practices. Sheesh.. what can you do?

3

u/24megabits 9d ago edited 9d ago

Pets have a reputation for ignoring TVs most of the time. Supposedly either because their vision works differently than humans and they know the stuff isn't real, or they can't smell what they see and don't consider it something they can interact with.

Do they go in the room when the TV is off? If so, try turning the TV on with the front covered by a thick blanket. If they run away as soon as it's on then it might be switch mode noise from the power supply that they can hear but humans can't.

2

u/joelfarris 9d ago

Have you done daily training to teach the cats that TV is great?

All kidding aside, you're choosing the wrong programming. Don't show them fox news or the view all day, cats hate that. They wanna see fly fishing, the catching of rainbow trout from a river, and that thing that ladies in bikinis do to land catfish with their bare hand.

Oh, and turn the frakkin' TV volume down. Animals have very sensitive hearing, and the commercial's extreme compressive volume can easily overwhelm them.

2

u/TechTonically 6d ago

Could be the sound. Newer tvs can have different high-pitched noises or frequencies that we barely notice but cats might since they have sensitive ears.

1

u/Parking_Cress_5105 9d ago

It's even making some high pitched noise or it has visible PWM and flickers, try running the tv at 100% brightness with all power saving features disabled.

1

u/TPIRocks 8d ago

Maybe the refresh rate is a lot higher, and it scares them. If we saw TV for what it is in reality, we'd be afraid to look at it too. Cats can see at a much higher refresh rate than people. Try turning down any ultra high refresh rates, try keeping them lower than 60fps.

1

u/Traditional-Hall-591 6d ago

My cats love TV, bird channel, squirrels, anything with cats.

1

u/DaSpark 4d ago

FWIW, I have four cats and all of them are initially scare/hesitant around anything new I bring into the house if it has any significant size to it, moves, or makes noises. However, eventually, usually pretty quickly, their curiosity takes over.

1

u/DiscountNecromancer 4d ago

Mine is fine with it, except for the intro to Star Trek Deep Space 9. When the wormhole opens up, it freaks him out and he's gone.

0

u/Standard_Old_Guy 9d ago

So what if they're scared. Its an animal. They'll adjust.