- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
- Messages
- 41
- Purraise
- 26
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?
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?