Laser pointers make good toys!

Hey!

I was recently discovered that my cat is fascinated by the laser dot made by one of those red laser 'pointers' that lecturers sometimes use in lecture halls. Moia follows it faithfully all over the place!

Fascinating, cool toy!

Be careful not to shine them in the eyes, though.

Just out of curiousity, Do you also send your kids out into the traffic to play, but tell them to watch out for the cars ????

The Z's

You can pick up laser pointers at Radio Shack, and yes, don't go near the eyes as there is a REAL laser inside.

Actually, a flashlight with a small beam (i.e: a penlight) serves about the same purpose, and without any possibility of eye damage (I think). Even a regular flashlight is okay. I don't know how much a laser pointer costs, but I doubt that it's the few bucks you'll pay for a cheap

:to add extra lenses and focus it on a single point on the retina for everal minutes to cause any sort of long-term damage.

if you want to prove this by trying it on *your* cat, go ahead. as far as my cat is concerned, i'm going to take a very conservative approach. i've caught the beam and i can still see, but it is a very bright light, and who is to say how a cat's eye is going to react? better safe than sorry. : econd, a flashlight does NOT work with most cats. The light cast by :a flashlight beam just doesn't have the look of solidness that tricks :cats into chasing it- a flashlight looks like a sunbeam, a laser ointer looks like a tiny, shiny red bug running around.

and for some cats (lennie), even a laser pointer is no substitute for the real thing. he was interested for about 5 minutes when i first brought home the laser, and since he has ignored it completely. he's just too smart and lazy!

: ure, you won't find one for under $30, but at least this is one cat toy :that when your tabby doesn't care for it, you can use it at the office :or sell it to some other schmuck for close to what you paid.

hey, maybe those other cat toys lennie won't play with would go over really big at the office, too!

Sally goes berserk for the laser pointer! When we're ready to turn it off, we make it 'run' under the bed or somewhere else, so that it seems to go into hiding; it kind of preserves the illusion for her. I don't know if our particular pointer is dangerous to the eyes or not; I assume that it is. But bear in mind that the cat isn't looking at the source of the red dot, being too busy chasing the 'bug.' Caution is in order, but it's not the peril some people seem to think.

[snip]

You're right. As a physicist, I can SAFELY say that there's no possible way that a laser pointer could harm your cat's eyes, unless you plan on shining it in his/her eyes for HOURS AND HOURS.

So I'm saying, just avoid it as much as possible, but if it happens that you catch your cat's eye now and then, don't feel guilty that you've just caused your cat to lose some of its sight. You haven't.

Well, the October Global Computer Supplies catalog has two laser pointers for $29.00. I have also seen them under $30 in other catalogs.

i was at petsmart today cause its angelo's birthday and i wanted to spoil him alittle bit. i came across a laser pointer shaped like a little mouse and bought it. i agree that if you shine in your cats eyes then yes there could be some damage, but just playing with your kitten there is no harm. my roommate and i have kept angelo entertained since we got home. think of it as cardio for your cat haha he chases it EVERYWHERE. climbs walls, runs in circles, slides across the floor, he loves it. the best $4 i've ever spent

as long as you don't direct the ray into the cats eyes and make every effort to avoid this. but... why take the risk?