Actually it does bring up a dilemma though. I have two rescue sister kitties. One is a relatively svelte gray tiger cat. The other is a very obese white cat.
Anyway, the white one clearly needs exercise. And the laser pointer makes her go wild. Almost too wild, in fact. I’ve used it in the past, without I’ll effects. But I’m afraid she might hurt herself, chasing after the laser point. Also this is going to sound odd. But what if she accidentally looks at the beam? I’m careful to avoid that. But as I said, she does go wild.
Is all the aforementioned risks worth it, for the benefit of giving her much-needed exercise? I should tell you, in my family, animals always have the same rights as humans. By all means, relate your personal experiences too.
She won’t be injured if she looks at the beam. It’s not that strong.
My cats have always loved laser pointers - I suppose there are some who don’t. A few months ago I bought an automatic one and it’s one of the best purchases ever. Particularly when working from home, I can come up to make a cup of tea, pet the cat, then turn the pointer on and let her have fun while I get back to work. It lasts about ten minutes and only points at the floor, where it rests.
She’s under no illusions that it’s anything other than a toy, btw. She will go and sit in front of it, meowing and looking back at me, until I switch it on.
My current cat (spayed female Siamese mix) loves the laser pointer. Her predecessor (neutered male, believed to be Maine Coon mix or similar) couldn’t have cared less about it. He’d just look at the dot, then look at my hand, then give me that furry-teenager “sure, Mom, whatever” look.
Which one did you buy? My kittens were entertained for the first day we had this one, but almost never since. The pattern is way too easy to figure out, which is apparently boring.
I’m genuinely curious here. Doesn’t the cat think the light dot is an insect (or some other prey)? If the animal “catches” the dot, then are you supposed to reward the cat with something?
I guess I could’ve just asked “What’s the research show on cat vs laser?”
My cat is lazy. He’ll pat at the laser pointer dot if it’s near where he’s laying, and on rare occasions walks over to it in order to check it out, but that’s about it.
Cats instinctively like to chase and pounce on moving objects. It’s how they play. Long before laser pointers, people were playing with their cats by dragging pieces of string along the floor for the cat to attack.
I had a G/F who purchased a laser pointer when she first got a cat. He loved it, but she stopped using it after someone told her it was somehow bad for the cat’s mental health, because they were never rewarded by ‘the catch’. I used to sneak it out again when she wasn’t around. That cat and I became great friends.
Our late tabbypoint meezer Vir was too smart for the laser pointer – he figured out that the beam was coming from the thing in the human’s hand and started investigating it. We decided there was too much risk of eye damage if he was deliberately looking at it and not just possibly catching a split-second sweep across the face.
Our current tabbypoint Cocoa and flame point Vash try to chase the dot up the side of their cat wheel. Our cranky middle-aged black cat Dorothy isn’t much interested.
