led pointer cat toy = good idea?

[eric twinge]

Edit: The title is meant to have a question mark at the end. Can this be changed?

I picked up one of these at the weekend for Denzo:

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_toys/laser_...

He seemed to like it I thought and followed it around the house.
However after watching his behaviour afterwards and thinking about it, I'm not too sure I think it is a good idea. He is a very active cat, when you let him into the back garden he is chasing flies, bits of fluff floating on the air and making all sorts of noises at any bird that flies within a certain radius of the house. He has already killed a wood pigeon and had a go at a chicken in a coop a few doors down. That is what cats do the kids love watching him stalk around the garden as if he is in the serengeti.
However the led pointer is now striking me as rather cruel as it goes against all cat instincts to me, no noise, no real end to the play, he does seem really confused when the light goes off.
What do others think?

Edited by eric twinge on Wednesday 23 April 10:31

[bexVN]

They are absolutely fine to use but you MUST land the light on a reward at the end of the game so they feel they have successfully 'hunted' something, be it a treat or a favourite catnip toy and not play for too long (5mins) before ending the game on a reward

[MacW]

It will also train yout pets to take a bullet for you in case of a highly charged hostage situation.

[vixen1700]

My cat goes mental for the reflection of my watch against the wall on a sunny day.

Poor little sod, most of the time I don't even know it's flickering around the garden and then he darts up to the wall twitching his head in all directions and waving his paws about.

[MG CHRIS]

My cat just looks at it then looks back at me with the look of "what the fk am I meant to do with this" looks at it again then either goes to sleep or walks off.
My next door neighbours cat which regular pops over for food and a break from the nutty old lady who lives there and he loves the thing but is only just over 1 so got loads of energy to burn off. Mine is 10 this year so rather be left along to sleep don't blame him to be honest.

[ssaf]

eric twinge said:

What do others think?

Great way to give them exercise.

Still remember these two male cats we had once. The younger one was pounding up and down the lounge and kitchen chasing the red dot. The older one was by the sofa, but round the corner.

Eventually the older one got a bit pissed off, and as the younger one came past the sofa for the 50th time, the older cat punched him in the face. Properly punched the other cat in the face. The other cat getting punched in the face kinda went off track somewhat and crashed into the dining room table. At speed.

[SuperDude]

MacW said:

It will also train yout pets to take a bullet for you in case of a highly charged hostage situation.

I LOLed. I actually LOLed.

And read it out for the lads at work.

Good show.

[jmorgan]

Play cat bowling. Set up some non hurting ten pins (cheap plastic shot glasses) and bowl away.....


Not that I have ever done that.


But yes with the reward at the end whatever you do. An d no pointing in the eyes.

[MBBlat]

My kitten goes absolutely crazy for it. She's never had a reward, but seems to enjoy the exercise and even recognises the pointer as indicating the game is about to start.

Mind you I don't think she's worked out what to do with anything once she's caught it. She brought in a live mouse in this evening, dumped it in the bath and was quite happy just chasing it around. She was more than happy with the treats I gave her in return for being able to evict the mouse.

[otolith]

Haven't tried it in a while, but it used to work on the dog too.

[mikeyr]

MacW said:

It will also train yout pets to take a bullet for you in case of a highly charged hostage situation.