I’d like to buy a small drone to mess about with it and as a cat toy. I’m not sure what features are desirable aside from the ability to remain undamaged after being smacked by fluffy paws and to not hurt the cats. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for?
(Yes, pictures will follow info)
You mean like this?
I think the props are going to be pretty good at lacerating kitty paws no matter what kind you get. For sure the smaller and lighter the drone the safer they’ll be. Which, fortunately, equates to cheaper for you when the cats promptly destroy the thing.
I would worry about that.
So, this is what happens when you combine DIY drones with dad jokes
They’ll certainly smack it around but it’s unlikely they’ll do more than that so I’m wondering how easily drones like these break when they hit the ground:
As for laceration, I’ll try it on myself first. If anyone has experience being hit with blades of this kind of drones, I’d like to know if it can break the skin. It wouldn’t bother me to break my own skin but not the cats’.
In the military we called that “self-critiquing behavior.” It was considered a good thing up to a point.
The kitten whose tail gets stepped on learns not to sneak around underfoot the humans. The one whose skull gets stepped on learns too, but it’s not useful knowledge for more than a few milliseconds.
I don’t see much way for small drones to maim teh kittehs. A few stings or minor cuts just develops their warrior spirit. 
Mama Plant used to tell me, “You could put an eye out!”
When you tell the vet what happened, he will probably fix you.
Helicopters are noisy too, many cats would be scared of them. I think I would recommend a laser pointer (being careful not to shine it in eyes) or one of those “furry thing on a stick” type toys instead.
Just trying to be helpful here, I really do think the strategy of attaching a funny thing to a string on the end of a stick is much better here. It doesn’t make noise, it has zero risk of injury to anyone, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t need batteries. The only downside is that one must exert some physical effort to play with the cat, but come on.
They already have a laser pointer and furry things on sticks. Sometimes, it doesn’t do it for them and I figured it might be a good addition.
How about attach the furry thing on a stick to the drone?
The cat will drag the drone down, and get his eyes chopped out.
You seem to have some ocular fixation; might I suggest a good pair of safety glasses? If you’re worried about liquid effect, too, you can escalate to goggles.
My step daughter’s dog has eye damage, and it bears on my mind as an accident to pets that may occur. We don’t know how it happened, but we are pretty sure that it was not a drone propeller.
Yeah, good luck trying to get a cat to wear safety glasses. 
Oops, I ‘misread’ that; I thought you wanted to buy a cat drone as a toy. :eek: :o
There are drones where the rotors are completely enclosed in a mesh box - like this:
http://www.gearbest.com/rc-quadcopters/pp_623972.html
That won’t stop the cat destroying it, and it won’t completely remove the risk of the cat being injured by the drone, but it ought to help to reduce the worst risks such as eye injury.
Now *that *is cool.
Imagine the fun chasing terrified kids through a city park with something like that. You’d be (in)famous worldwide in mere minutes.
Why yes, I’m neither a parent nor a pet owner. How did you know? 
This week on, “Toonces, the Cat That Could Fly a Drone.”