Accommodating pets with indoor intrusion sensors

Many pet-owners are reluctant to switch their intruder alarm system on as they fear their pet will trigger the sensors. The definition of a pet can be very broad and even if for the purpose of this article, we are focussing on cats and dogs, their size and weight can vary considerably making the notion of pet tolerance not an exact science.

We will, however, mention a few elements and factors to consider when installing an indoor intrusion alarm system in a property with pets.

• Number and size of pets
• Area in the property where the pets can move freely
• Use of technology

Number and size of pets

The size / weight of the pet and the number of them will affect the risk of setting the intruder alarm off. If you only have one pet of a relatively small size such as a cat or small to medium sized dog (a Cocker Spaniel for example), the likelihood of triggering an OPTEX pet-tolerant PIR sensor is very low.

If a group of several pets or a larger dog (such as a Labrador) is moving within the detection area, the motion sensor is more likely to trigger.

Careful planning

It is important for the installer or homeowner to define which rooms or areas the pets will have access to while the alarm system is armed. Are the animals moving freely in all the rooms or could the area be restricted to one or two rooms: such as lounge and kitchen for instance? Restricting the area makes it easier to achieve a pet-tolerant alarm system without compromising the overall security level.

To give an example, if the pet has access to the kitchen and lounge, those two rooms can be considered as a separate zone on the alarm panel and the motion sensor in each room should be set at a lower sensitivity. The other sensors in the property can be set at a higher sensitivity level（the sensitivity setting should be adjusted not just for the presence of an animal but also for other environmental factors such as climate and overall room temperature.）

In the pet friendly area, we would recommend to position a sensor carefully upon considering the activity pattern of the animal. It is important that the detection area of the sensor covers well the potential intrusion points such as doorway, windows while the sensor itself is located well out of reach of the pet (for instance, not on the shelf where your cat loves to sit).

Use of technology

At OPTEX, we provide a number of indoor sensors which feature pet tolerance. Besides our more traditional sensors: the RX-40Qz and RX-40-PI, we can name our newer series

• RXC: RXC-ST, DT, Grade 2 up to 12m
• FMX: FMX-ST, DST and DT, Grade 2 up to 15m
• CDX: CDX-AM, CDX-DAM, CDX-NAM Grade 3 up to 15m or 24m (NAM)

All three series feature Digital QUAD Zone Logic, a way to segment the lens and detection area into a number of focus blocks which define the threshold to generate the alarm. A minimum of four blocks needs to be covered by the moving object to trigger the alarm. Most pets will not be big enough to cover that many blocks given a sufficient distance.

As well as the QUAD Zone Logic, our RXC, FMX and CDX sensors offer three levels of sensitivity settings which allow to accommodate the pet friendly area.

A pet friendly alarm system is not only about using pet tolerant indoor sensors, it is also about having an overall plan for the property to secure and understand the pet’s behaviour.