But this great toy does have some cautions attached; though maybe not the kind we might think.
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The first worry might be that it is, after all, a laser. We certainly aren’t getting any evil scientist action, since our rugs and our drapes are not bursting into flame. We can barely feel it on our skin. But can it hurt our cat’s eyes, or even someone else’s?
According to the ever handy Wikipedia, the kinds of laser pointers sold as toys are the weakest kind, with power measured in less than one mW (milliwatt.) For lasers up to 5 mW, a human would sustain damage after deliberately staring at it for at least ten seconds.
I was reassured.
While cat’s eyes are more sensitive to light than ours, this would still leave quite a margin of safety, especially if we are careful to keep the beam aimed down, where the cat’s gaze would be directed, when the cat is in close quarters with it.
Of course the cat wants to be as close as possible. Part of what drives the cat “crazy with the red dot” is how the cat can never seem to get the upper hand on this wily prey. RJ got tremendously excited one time when the dot darted into one of my empty slippers. We could see he was certain that, this time, there would be no escape for the dot.
But of course he came up empty. That’s where the real danger of the laser toy probably lies: frustration.
We don’t mind watching a movie where the villain keeps getting the better of our main character; as long as our hero or heroine triumphs in the end. If the villain not only escaped, but followed through on their nefarious plans, it would not be the kind of movie we were expecting. In that case, we probably wouldn’t show up for Red Dot II: Play the Fool Again.
But our cat would. They will go for the excitement every time; but afterwards, they could have something still driving them, though they don’t know what. They aren’t going to write a negative review, like we might with a poor film. They might redirect that frustration onto things they shouldn’t play with, or go looking for something that can succumb to their hunting power, whether it wants to or not.
So if we see our cat is still wound up, and maybe gets into trouble after a rousing red dot game, it is especially important for us to conclude our laser games with some kind of triumph for our cats. It is difficult for the cat to get proper satisfaction from catching the dot; in the first place, they can’t, and in the second place, there is no tactile feedback that lets them know they have “won.”
That’s why we conclude our laser session with RJ by switching to another toy for the finish; something he can actually catch, wrestle, and get some closure from. Just putting the laser pointer away in a drawer leaves the cat with a lot of mental energy that hasn’t been expended. It’s as though that unsatisfying movie suddenly stops abruptly with a power failure.
It’s not fair to work the cat up without giving them the satisfaction of a successful hunt. So toss out some sponge balls, switch over to a wand toy, or use a stuffed animal to “attack and give up” as the successful conclusion to a play session.
This is true of any toy, and any play session, but it’s especially true for something as insubstantial as the laser pointer’s red dot. It doesn’t really exist; it’s the speed with which it moves that focuses the cat’s attention.
This is why Mr. Bond quickly decided that the laser pointer was not a toy for him. With one skeptical glance, he gave us his look that says, I’m not falling for this one, and he’s ignored it ever since.
But for cats who can’t, we should remember to Play Responsibly.
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My Byron’s a huge fan (and foe!) of the Dreaded Dot. I’ve never had a problem with him being too wound up after a play session. As a kitten, he’d wear himself out and collapse into sleep. Today, he leaves in a huff, by which I mean that he makes one of his deaf-cat noises, in this case an exhaled “huff!”, meaning “Well, I’m done,” and wanders away. He likes to chase more than he likes to catch.
Killsy is the opposite, more like Mr Bond. She chased the dot like crazy the first time, then when it stopped, she patted it with her paw. She couldn’t feel it, so she ran over to me and sniffed at the pointer. She gave a disdainful look: “That’s not real!” and never chased it again. She stuck to thrown toy mice, as she likes to catch, not chase.
She did the same thing with the TV: she energetically swatted at the screen for many minutes, then stopped, thought about it, walked to the back of the set and investigated for 5 minutes. When she came back, her look said “There’s nothing in there! It’s not real!” and has ignored the TV ever since. Oh, and she figured all of this out when she was 7 weeks old. That’s one of the reasons she’s nicknamed the Einstein Cat.
BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask: Is he named Mr Bond because he’s a tuxedo cat? Because that is absolutely brilliant! Almost nobody gets why my girl’s named Kill Kill!
James Bond got his name because in the space of fifteen minutes, he went from a kitten no one could hold to bonding with me totally.
And he is very handsome, though not a tuxedo cat. Instead of being black and white, he is a “dilute” gray tabby. While he has stripes, they are not clearly defined.
Thank you! I have been thinking about getting a laser toy for my Boo, and I know he would love it, but I also know he’d get wildly frustrated by not ever catching anything. I think we’ll stick with the Kong Wubba, the stuffed toy on a stick, which he loves best of all his toys anyway.
Yes, it’s interesting to play with your cat with laser pointer. But laser pointer may hurt the eyes.
I never thought of the laser like that before. I have never done the laser but have played with some of my cats with a flashlight . Thanks for this good info.
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My cat, Sconser, loooved the laser pointer as a kitten but quickly figured out where the light was coming from. After that, she’d usually just walk over to me and stare at the device in my hand just a few minutes after I’d get it out. But I found that if I used it sparingly, she’d still go for it. Last Christmas, after I had been wrapping presents, I found the pointer in a drawer and waved it around. Sconser went after it for a while, then wandered off, so I put it away. She came back into the living room a few minutes later and suddenly POUNCED! on something on the floor. It was so tiny I couldn’t see what it was, so I walked over … it was a teensy scrap of red tissue paper left behind from the wrapping session. Red dot finally subdued — game won AT LAST!!
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I have a 10 year old cat who is indoors all the time. He’s always been fit and healthy and playful but I’ve hesitated to use laser pointers as toys because I was worried about his eyes, but this is reassuring. I started playing regularly with the laser with him a few weeks ago, and now he actually complains if I don’t use it with him. In addition, he’s become incredibly fast and agile, and his stamina has obviously increased quite a bit. Woe be unto the mouse that shows its head in our house now. After reading these posts, I make sure to congratulate him after a session, and I show him the pointer itself. He doesn’t seem to care whether he can actually touch it or not – he just loves to play. Good idea to give him something tangible afterwords. I’ll try that.
Great article and thanks for your shareing.
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