How can i stop my motion sensor from turning on when my cat walks by?

[LarryEM]

I’m trying to set up a simple motion sensor to turn on my kitchen lights, but it keeps triggering when my cat walks by at night. I’m not sure if I need to adjust the sensitivity, reposition it, or if there’s a better way to set up the automation rules to ignore small animals.

[Grace.G]

I raised the sensor up and pointed it toward the ceiling corner, away from the cat's usual path. It cut a lot of the false triggers, though a cat still sneaks through sometimes.

[Ava16]

I lowered sensitivity a notch and added a rule that the light only turns on if motion is detected twice within 15 seconds. It's not perfect, but the number of false alarms dropped.

[JohnXM]

Maybe the real problem isn't the cat. Could be drafts, warm air from the fridge, or just the sensor picking up tiny, almost invisible motions. I'm not sure.

[Mia_H]

If you can swing it, a model with pet immunity helps, but otherwise I keep the setup simple and live with the occasional night quirk rather than complicate the automation.