Ever wonder where your cat scoots off too when you let him or her out? Juergen, a German engineer who lives in South Carolina pondered that question about his cat Mr. Lee. The adopted stray cat would disappear for days. Juergen got the zany idea to develop a catcam - a camera small enough to fit around Mr. Lee’s neck that would capture the feline’s mysterious movements.

What an intriguing life it turns out the cat leads! You can see it in the film Catcam, the award winning documentary short that is currently an entry in the PBS Short Film Festival. Check it out below and vote for it if you like it.

Juergen’s Catcam yielded results beyond his biggest expectations. The first camera took still pictures. They were so unexpectedly artistic that Mr. Lee won awards from them after Juergen posted them on the Internet.

 

The next Catcam was a video camera. The videos showed Mr. Lee’s very active social life, his interacting with his cat friends, his arguments with is cat enemies. Publicity around Juergen and Mr. Lee sparked interest in Juergen’s invention. People started requesting the camera. He set up a website to keep people up to date with Mr. Lee and to sell the Catcam.

But the biggest unexpected result of this experiment is the bond that developed between Juergen and Mr. Lee. At first, Juergen didn’t want to have anything to do with the stray. Now they are inseparable!

Do you own a catcam or petcam for your cat? Tell us about some of the surprising stories you uncovered.