You know where you stand with a dog. Dogs either love your with all of their stupid, joyful hearts, or they want to chase you up a tree. But cats are another story. They reveal almost nothing, which – of course – just makes us even more desperate to know what they’re thinking. They’re the animal equivalent of Kate Moss in her no-interviews phase: slinky and enigmatic.

But now, a solution! Enter the Catterbox, a wearable tech cat collar that hears miaows and translates them into human speech.

Developed by creative collective Acne in collaboration with cat treat brand Temptations, the device contains a microphone, speaker, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. It connects to a smartphone app that allows owners to choose their cat’s ‘voice’ from several options – so there’s potential for hours of stupid fun, here. Remember this scene in Up!, where the scary Dobermans suddenly speak in squeaky little helium voices? Imagine that on a snooty cat. Hours. Of. Fun.

“We’re fascinated by cats, so we set out on a mission to get to know them better,” said Temptations global brand director Pete Simmons. “Through research, we learned that an adult cat’s miaow is their way to communicate with humans, and, by investing in this prototype device, we can start to improve understanding between them both – giving cats a voice for the very first time.”

Catterbox launched yesterday in New Zealand and the US as a prototype. Watch the slightly unnerving advert below.

Want to know what your cat is thinking? This collar translates miaows into English