# Laser pointer addiction



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I got the 5-in-1 laser pointer for Cinderella for Christmas, but I'm having a bit of a problem with it. She would never really play with the "Cricket" laser pointer (just a tiny little dot), so I gave it to Cynthia when she adopted Keesha. But these images are huge - 2 inches to a foot (if you're pointing it in the other room). She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it! But how do you end the game?? I try to make the light land on a toy so she can attack it, but she's too smart for that. 

When we played on Christmas Eve in the bedroom, a while after I stopped she was lying in the corner with her head jerking around looking at the ceiling, the walls, the floor -- waiting for the light to reappear. She looked like a little kitty junkie! 8O 8O 

I tried to distract her and we had some treats and brushes, and then she was at the foot of my bed grooming herself, and I thought it was o.k. Ten minutes later, _kitty junkie _was back in the corner on the floor! So now we don't play in the bedroom, but even in the other rooms, she keeps waiting for it to reappear. Maybe in a while she'll learn it just goes away... 

Anyone else have this problem????


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## sefaleth (Mar 8, 2006)

Awww... that is too cute!

Mac eventually figured out that when we said "All gone" and put the toy away, the game was over. Has she figured out the connection with the laser toy and the light? You can hold it up to her before a game and teach her a word to associate with the 'game'.

One thing you can do it make the light go under a door or into a crevice, then hide a treat in there (beforehand) so that when they reach under they get a 'kill'.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

sefaleth said:


> One thing you can do it make the light go under a door or into a crevice, then hide a treat in there (beforehand) so that when they reach under they get a 'kill'.



Excellent suggestion! :worship


And, yes, she does know I'm doing it. She looks right at the light in my hand.


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

I have the same problem with Thomas, although, he is getting smarter. Lately, he will quickly give up on catching the dot on the wall and go directly after the source, the laser pointer itself. 

Too bad my hand is usually attached! Ow!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## kitkat (Sep 22, 2003)

Good idea with the snack hidden behind something, I'll try that next time. My cats love the laser pointer too but I haven't seen the one that make 2" images. Do you have a link :?:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

The size depends on how far away you point it, of course. If I point it in the next room, it's about a foot high on the wall.  


http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=5223&Nav=1&Ntt=laser&N=30+5678&sku=365637&familyID=100253&

The snack thing didn't work yet, but I'll keep trying. She's so intent on the image, she didn't realize it was sitting on top of food! :roll:


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## doggiejayl (Nov 14, 2006)

I don't know if this will help, but I tell Lucky "game on" when we start playing and "game off" when I am ready to stop. She usually gets the hint.


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## sefaleth (Mar 8, 2006)

marie73 said:


> The snack thing didn't work yet, but I'll keep trying. She's so intent on the image, she didn't realize it was sitting on top of food! :roll:


 :lol: The trick is to make the light go under a door or around a corner and then turn it off as though it's gone into the other room... drives Mac wild because he thinks it's on the other side, but he can't see it, so he attacks anything he can reach from under the door.


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## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

I just bought a laser toy for my cats, and Pepper is just wild for it. However, my husband (who knows nothing about cats, lol ), brought up an interesting point -- he thought the toy might be frustrating for them, since there is nothing for them to catch.

Here is an article from Dr. Jean's website that addresses this very subject:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... =lasertoys

According to the article, laser play should end with another kind of play that allows the cat to catch their "prey" so that the cat doesn't become frustrated. She mentioned that aggression could result due to lack of a caught prey at the end of the "hunt" -- something I have to watch with Pepper because she's easily overstimulated and prone to redirected aggression.

So Marie, that's my long answer to your question, and I stole it from Dr. Jean :lol:


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## DesnBaby (Apr 18, 2004)

Lol, my cat wants to bite the light when I move it in one place :lol: .


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Thanks, Lisa. Frustration was my concern on another thread about the laser pointer. But she doesn't really *play* with anything else, although tonight, she was annoyed with not "catching" it and batted the crap out of one of the many, many ignored mice laying around the house. So that's when I turned it off and the game ended. But I know in a couple hours, she's going to want to play again. :roll:


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