Are Laser Pointers Mean?

I often use a laser pointer for Clove to chase, since she is a hyperactive 8 month old with way too much energy! She is obsessed with it and will start chattering and meowing as soon as she sees it. However, I always feel bad for her that she’s chasing and chasing and can never catch it. After a while she gets exhausted and just lies on the ground chattering at it and looking confused. Is it mean to make her so frustrated by playing with a toy she can’t ever catch? Actually, I always take out the wand toy afterwards so she can have the triumph of catching something solid, and then give her a treat when playtime is finished. But I still feel bad sometimes! Wondered what others thought.

To me it’s mean as the cat cannot physically catch and hold the laser dot.

Maybe just to entice them out of hiding or as a distraction device to get their attention.

I stopped using it for my boy a long long time ago.

I don't use the laser pointer often because it hurts my thumb to hold it so long and Lelia prefers to play with wand toys, but I figured as long as she got a treat after, it was okay enough? I mean, even if I don't do anything with a laser, the girl tries to catch shadows or a speck of light reflected from the window or a phone screen. Or bugs that are never going to come down to where she can reach them (she has frustratedly meowed at me about bugs that are up on a ceiling light fixture, like "fix this, human") Big cats in the wild certainly do not always catch their prey.

I think if you only played with the laser pointer and never gave treats or something substantial to catch that would be mean, but what you're doing isn't the worst.

I use the laser pointer when Olive is going super crazy and needs some tiring out. What I do is I hide treats around the room, and when I take the laser out after a little while I will have it go to a treat hiding spot. Olive will go there, I turn the laser off and let he rest a treat. Then I repeat with the next one. She never seems too confused, and I also take the wand toy out after. I think it’s a good compromise.

I use a laser pointer sometimes and after 5-10 minutes max the red dot disappears. Then I throw one of his favorite toys, a fur mouse and let him catch that.

So to answer your question: IMO occasional play that ends with your cat catching something should be fine.

I used a laser pointer with Feeby several years ago, but she caught on pretty quick that there was no hope in actually catching it and so she began to look at it and then look at me - like "yeah, right", and proceeded to ignore it. I did feel bad once I realized that she recognized the futility of it all.

Same experience as FeebysOwner . They all caught on by the second time and just lost interest. I don't think it is mean though if the cat does get a treat or new toy to play with, so that the activity does have some payoff.

Play gets the feel-good hunt juices flowing. As long as the hunt has a reward at the end, I think any play your cat is happy to engage in is good play. I also agree that getting a chance to bite down into some toy prey is going to stimulate your cat's murder drive far better than chasing a dot.

I like using the laser with Krista because it usually perks her up for at least a few minutes. This is invaluable when you have as many health challenges as this cat has had in the past year. She doesn't always feel up for a wand but I can usually get her interested in the dot for a few minutes and it doesn't require much effort on either of our part. She usually waits for the dot to come near her to pounce rather than madly chase it like she used to. But she definitely pancakes her body and saucers her eyes as soon as that dot appears like she wasn't just struggling to get comfort or moping two seconds ago. If she gets even temporary distraction and relief from her problems by chasing the dot, then I'll keep bringing it out for her.

Mine understand that the light comes from the pointer in my hand, but they enjoy it anyway. Athena LOVES it and meows for it daily; it gets her running up and down the hall. Ares mostly likes to watch, but he engages sometimes too. He also tries to grab the pointer out of my hand when he gets annoyed with it.

I make sure to either give them treats at the end of play or play with a different toy that they actually can catch.