Showing posts with label laser pointer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laser pointer. Show all posts

Thursday, 25 March 2021

Why do cats love laser pointers?

Well I think everyone knows why domestic cats and even the bigger cats, and every cat in between, love laser pointers (big cats aren't stimulated by them). But for the sake of complete certainty here goes. It is because their brains are hard-wired to respond to the kind of movement laser pointers make: fast and jumpy as the 'prey animal' tries to evade the cat.

Why do cats love laser pointers
Why do cats love laser pointers? Because they elicit the predator response.
Picture: Pixabay.

Laser pointers trigger the predator response which is deep within them. The defect with laser pointers is that they are silent and they can't be caught and killed.

Domestic cats are also very attuned to the sounds that prey animals make, especially mice. They can accurately pinpoint the location of a mouse from the sound the mouse makes.

The fact that cats can't kill laser pointers is bad news because they will eventually become turned off by the device. Perhaps the solution is short bursts. 

Are they unfair on the cat? I think they are. They are very effective but limited and I can't really recommend them. The best toys are homemade and fragile enough to be destroyed by a domestic cat.

Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Cat ignores laser pointer while the kittens go nuts (video)


I think this is a video of a mother cat and her two kittens. She is completely unmoved by the laser pointer which is unusual as laser pointers are almost bound to stimulate the hunting instinct as they are fast moving objects. This sort of movement normally triggers a cat's hunting instinct; the stalk, attack action.



In this instance, two kittes are enjoying the laser pointer's red dot. I think that the kittens are hers. The reason why she is disinterested is possibly one or both of two reasons (1) she has played with the pointer and become tired of it because she is unable to catch it, attack it and kill it. Laser pointers are inherently time-limited in use because they don't adequately simulate real thing i.e. attacking an animal in killing it and (2) she may be tired out because they are her kittens who are running around anyway tiring her out and she has had enough of playing in general, be it with her kittens or the laser pointer. Her disinterest is notable and unusual on the face of it.

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