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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

Can confirm, both from experience and consulting with veterinaries. Don’t play with cats with laser pointers. Had one cat who became so obsessed (and we didn’t even play that long) that for years afterwards would react to any light reflection, like the sun bouncing of the phone screen and onto the wall. Thankfully it subsided significantly later in life, but it took a lot of care and vigilance.

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I suspect this is bunk -- the vast majority of feline stalking sessions in nature are unsuccessful, and these are often motivated by hunger, so failure is more meaningful than it would be for a domestic cat. Also, how does one measure feline frustration? Cortisol levels? Brain activity? Is it distinguishable from the stress/excitement of the hunt?

Regardless, my approach has been to start by putting together one of those 3V lithium battery LED assemblies, wrapping it up in clear tape, and hiding it under the dog bed. This takes about 30 seconds of preparation.

Then I run the cats around with the laser pointer for a few minutes, and finally let them watch the dot "hide" under the dog bed, so that they reach in and pull out their prize.

Which they then attack for a few seconds, but lose interest in pretty quickly, because it doesn't run away or smell edible. But their predator success desire is met, I think.

This chase-catch-abandon cycle is their MO for flying bugs and mice as well, FWIW. They seem to enjoy it, although I am not sure it's any easier to measure feline pleasure than feline frustration.

Our vet told us it is far more important that house cats get exercise than any potential frustration caused by a laser pointer.

I’m reporting on the behaviour, which has also been confirmed to me as something which does happen by a veterinarian specialising in feline behaviour, I’m not discussing its reasons on a biological level.

I feel this is just a cat being a cat. Cats are hardwired to chase any small thing moving quickly. Their eyes are great at detecting contrast, and a bright light has a lot of contrast to interest a cat. They chase it because they don't really understand it's not prey and just a reflection. That the cat lost interest as it got older is perhaps it just being old and less exuberant.

Not this cat. It was an obvious behavioural change from before. Additionally, siblings in the same house didn’t exhibit the behaviour. It got better with old age in the sense the cat started giving up sooner after we hid the light, but there was no loss of energy or other changes.

My understanding is this is 100% true for dogs but not for cats, and the reason for the difference in level of obsession is unclear.

We’ve got a rescue dog like that, reflections off watches or whatever (including kitchen baking sheets). It genuinely distresses him. Dog was seven years old when we got him, probably no fixing it now, but we do try to mitigate things as best we can.

In his particular case, his hunting instinct doesn’t help, I’m sure. He’s a pit bull, but that speckled neck and feet tells me that there’s some Spaniel in there somewhere.

This doesn't really make sense to me. Most cats I've known react to such reflections without ever having seen a laser pointer in their life, for the same reason they react to laser pointers.

This cat didn’t.

That’s def not the laser, most cats will play with light reflections if they’ve seen a laser pointer or, i did this as a kid pre laser pointer age. I would say the laser pointer at least works without sunlight.

The cat wasn’t like that with reflections before the play with the laser. And siblings in the same house never cared for reflections.

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