Evan Rodgers / Engadget

If you're in a meaningful relationship with a house cat, then it's likely you spend a lot of time showing your love to it through food. If it's not going outside, however, there's always the risk that your moggy will start to put on a little bit extra timber, which can't be good for its health. Which is why you can buy a cat treadmill, or maybe spend a lot more on a smart cat treadmill from The Little Cat.

Unlike a regular cat treadmill, The Little Cat has a strip of LEDs that run through the center of its body and can light up depending on what program you set. Naturally, if you've ever had your cat chase a laser pointer around your apartment, then you'll be familiar with what's going on here. The LEDs move just that little bit further away from your moggy in the hope that it'll keep chasing it for longer.

Of course, it's not an IoT product released in 2019 unless it's got lots of smart features, like a system that'll understand your cat's habits and try and build a routine. Plus you can set weight goals or a time each day for the cat to race along the wheel in the hope of slimming it down for beach body season.

Sadly, the company didn't have any cats on hand at CES to test out the machine, so it's not clear how easy it is to lure your pet onto it each day. The one thing we can say about it is that the hexagonal design motif makes it look pretty cool, and would go nicely in plenty of living rooms.

Now, a regular analog cat treadmill, that'll require you to motivate your cat manually, will set you back around $200. The Little Cat, on the other hand, will be priced at $1,800 in the US and 2,000,000 KRW in its native Korea when it launches towards the end of March.

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