I haven’t quite worked all the details out, but after watching my cats reaction when they “catch” the dot from a laser pointer, I’ve come to the conlusion that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens are experiencing the same thing as my cats. Not that I think that buzzers are showing up, snatching yokels and sticking probes up their asses, mind you, but that they hit something and their brain can’t process it, so it spins the whole abduction story to them.
The funniest thing I ever saw in my life was when we traced out circles with our laser pointer, as our hapless cat pursued it. When we suddenly turn off the light, she tried to walk away nonchalantly…but she was so dizzy from the circling that she wobbled briefly then fell right over on her side like a drunken sailor (or what I would imagine a drunken sailor to fall like; can’t say I’ve ever seen one).
We have tried to repeat the experience but she is too smart. She will still chase laser beams (and chirp in frustration when they vanish) but she will not run in circles after them.
pshaw, i say. try watching a 125-pound german shephard chase that dot.
seriously.
he doesn’t seem to mind - or care - that he’s never going to catch it. it’s all in the chase, i guess. 
I think my cat must be defective. I just brought him home from the animal shelter last week and even though he is 8 months and still technically a kitten he doesn’t go for the laser pointer at all. As a matter of fact, he just isn’t all that playful either. If you swish a feather or something in front of his face he’ll just like of stare at you to say “what are you wasting my time with this for??”
That’s not to say he isn’t an awesome cat because he definitely does seem to be, he’s just much more chill than any other cat I’ve had.
I have a cat that chases it as felines usually do, and one that is deathly afraid of it.
goodness! give the little guy some time. he’s still adjusting to a new environment. it was weeks before the dive master’s rescued kitten even started to notice the kitty feather lure, and she was only a month or so old at the time.
fast forward to friday night as we watch very same kitten tear-assing around on the bed, leaving friction burns on us. :rolleyes:
A friend of mine bought a laser from Edmunds Scientific back when they first showed up in the catalog. Our apartment overlooked a fairly busy streetcorner, and we had loads of fun freaking out pedestrians. (We never pointed it at anyone in a vehicle.)
If alien abductions = laser pointers, do satanic cults = catnip?
Our parrot will slowly track the thing and open his mouth to get it-- I think he sees it as a tasty insect.