Puddy Tats

[IndieSinger]

My cats sometimes get obsessed with some things, like phesant feathers, shoelaces and leather cords. All pretty normal. But they go absolutely mental when I shine a red laser pointer (by accident!) on the floor. What makes them go so crazy over the lazy light and can I carry on doing it, or is it too dangerous?

[Greedyfly]

My cat is totally obsessed with Cardboard, paper and rubber bands - He can't get enough of 'em

[IndieSinger]

I can definitely associate with the rubber bands thing - mine stretches them to buggary and they *ping* off in all sorts of directions (the bands, not the cats) but she'll just go and do it again. She loves playing with the strip of plastic, which seals plastic bottles of milk too.

[skelly]

Yeh, my cats love Mrs skelly's hair bobbles, stretch them then ping them, then dive straight after them. Kinda like elastic bands I suppose. Anyway, I don't suppose the lazer thing will do much harm so long as it doesn't shine in their eyes. I do a similar thing with my watch reflecting the sunshine, it drives my cats wild.

[BadBob]

I would imagine its because a cats eye is pretty basic, it doesnt recognise colours in the same detail we do. Its pretty good but not as good as ours. Therefore big contrasts in light i.e. the watch reflection or laser attract the cats eye better than say a bit of string. Therefore the cat is able to track the laser with greater accuracy. a bit like if somebody is shining a tourch at us its more obvious to the eye and therefore gets a response.

[IndieSinger]

Fantastic answers guys, much appreciated! I'm off to play with my laser pen and cats. :)

[honkytonkman]

As Skelly says, it should be fine to play with them with the laser pointer, as long it's not shone directly into their eyes, which could cause blindness. Have fun playing!! :)