Can laser pointers harm cats?

ToruPop

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Laser pointers seem to be a common device for cat owners. Obviously they reliably get cats into play mode and it's entertaining for humans to watch them chase. I've found it useful to lure Toru places and get him to stop messing around areas he shouldn't be. I'm always very careful using it to make sure I'm behind him so I can turn it off if he ever turns his head to me, to make sure I don't accidently shine the pointer directly in his eye. This can damage a human eye and certainly I'd imagine it'd be worse for a cat, especially if the cats eyes happen to be dilated when it happens.

I saw an automated robot toy online that has a moving laser which can keep cats occupied and playing if the human is too busy for play. Seems like a nice idea in concept and the toy only had very positive reviews, but there's no way it can take the precautions I do, so I wasn't going to buy it. But am I overthinking this? It actually seems like it could be a potentially common problem with how careless some people are and how quickly cats can pounce into a laser beam trying to catch it. Yet it doesn't get discussed much, and I regularly see laser pointers recommended to cat owners without that proviso to take care to not shine it in cat's eyes. Cats would probably have a fast instinctual reaction like closing or turning away if it happened so maybe they are pretty good at instinctively protecting themselves?
 

neely

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I saw an automated robot toy online that has a moving laser which can keep cats occupied and playing if the human is too busy for play. Seems like a nice idea in concept and the toy only had very positive reviews, but there's no way it can take the precautions I do, so I wasn't going to buy it. But am I overthinking this?
When it comes to our cats I don't think you can overthink anything. You should do what you feel comfortable with and what's best for Toru and you. Here's a thread about laser pointers that you might find helpful with opinions from TCS members:
BAD cat toys
 

Mamanyt1953

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SIGH...my instinct is that if the toy is moving, the chances of a direct hit in a cat's eyes is fairly small, and would be VERY short, but EVEN HAVING SAID THAT, I wouldn't. I always err on the side of caution where my cat is concerned. I'm with you...there are other automatic toys that can engage a cat. You just have to find the right one for your cat.
 

fionasmom

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Was it this one? I practically got it for nothing at a private pet store, marked down from something like $35. It is like a roomba vacuum and my cats could care less about it. I think it is low risk, but once I started it, I became nervous about it so we have not used it. I don't actually use lasers as I think that it frustrates the cat that they eventually catch nothing. This is called Laser Tail by the way.
Laser toy.jpg
 

MoonstoneWolf

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I used it but one of my cats likes to look directly into the beam of light coming from the pointer. The package even claims it can cause eye damage so I put it away and never used since. Treasure has some eye irritation as a result of this from a year ago although no damage his eyes are very sensitive, so I personally would not use.
 
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