# Laser pointers and pets?



## bolland98 (Feb 13, 2006)

Does anyone know much about the safety of using laser pointers to play with pets? I know many of them are advertised partially for that purpose, but I've also read that animals have better eyesight than humans and the reflected light (the spot) could damage their eyes in some cases. 

I have a cheap little <1mW red laser that I use to play with my cat sometimes and he really loves it, but I am just concerned that it may hurt his eyes. I only use it on carpet with him, but it still makes a pretty bright little spot. Any thoughts?


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## James S (Feb 13, 2006)

the spot reflected from the carpet or on a regular wall or something of that laser wont hurt your cats eyes, you shouldn't shine it in their eyes of course.

I play with my cat with a laser pointer too, she LOVES it. she knows the sound that the little keychain thing thats attached to it makes and as soon as you pick it up she comes running before you even turn it on 

Just keep it out of her eyes, and if she jumps under it for a moment no serious harm done. Thats why these lasers are safe to use, your normal eye reactions of blinking or looking away are more than fast enough to protect you from any damage. Now, if you hold the cat down and shine it in her eyes for longer periods than that there will be damage, even from the cheapest 1mw pointer. So dont do that, plus then we have to send the police out to arrest you for cruelty to animals.

But just letting them chase the dot around wont hurt them any.


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## The_LED_Museum (Feb 13, 2006)

I agree 100% with James here. :thumbsup:
The use of a <1mW laser as a cat toy is absolutely harmless to the cat; even momentary direct eye exposure as James pointed out will not harm the pet's eyes - you would need to hold the pet down and direct the laser into his or her eyes for a significant number of seconds to do any real damage; and you don't sound like the kind of person who would do such a thing.


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## Black Sheep (Feb 13, 2006)

I use to use a 1mw red pointer and my dog would chase it, but she has no interest in my greenie's dot. It's as if she doesn't even see it. Can dogs not see the green dot?


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## bolland98 (Feb 13, 2006)

Ok, well that's reassuring that you don't think it would harm my cat's eyes. I'm still nervous about it, but it is just <1mw and I am pretty careful to always keep it moving on the carpet. Of course I don't put it anywhere near his eyes so it has never even accidentally shined into his eyes for even a split-second. 

He does seem to really love chasing it and he used to get so obsessed with it that he would look for it all over the place when I put it away. Now he is more used to it and he'll get tired of it more quickly until I pull it out the next day. 

I can never figure out if he knows it is just a little light that he is having fun playing with or if he really thinks he can catch it somehow. I guess he doesn't have the brainpower to think it through that much, but I still wonder.


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## SuperNinja (Feb 14, 2006)

I tried to do that with a neighborhood cat.
It looked at the red dot moving around on the ground for a couple seconds, and then just ignored it and rolled over. :sleepy:


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## EVAN_TAD (Feb 15, 2006)

My dog can chase the red laser all day. I call it dog crack.


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## idleprocess (Feb 15, 2006)

Cats have a tendency not to flinch _enough_ whenever exposed to a bright light source like a nutty-bright flashlight or laser. I'm not sure if they're just more tolerant to the exposure or more interested in observing their environment than avoiding visual damage.

Some cats go nuts whenever they see a moving laser dot, others don't care, and some seem to be more interested in the _source_ than the dot. I think that there's either a perception issue (they can't see the red dot too well), or the lack of sound doesn't interest/confuses them...


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## nc987 (Feb 16, 2006)

I use a 40mw greenie with my cat and he loves it. He runs into walls now all the time now though and cant find his food dish anymore. He also keeps running into sliding glass doors but its worth it when I get to see the enjoyment he gets when I turn on all 40 mw's of pure fun and watch him get rabid chasing it and running into everything in his path.


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## nc987 (Feb 16, 2006)

(the above was a joke....)


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## liteglow (Feb 16, 2006)

i got a 70mW green laser...
And I somethimes use it to get the cat away from me 
But i NEVER shine the laser directly to the cat itself...

What I do is to shine the laser UP in the roof  and the cat start to chase it no matter what.... hehe  

And the cat will never be able to get the laser into the eyes as long i just shine it up in the roof  


Another thing that is funny to do is to stand on the roof from 4th floor on a buildning... And then just shine the laser in a cirlce on the ground.. 
Then after doing that maybe 2-5 minutes, you got maybe 10cats there chasing the same DOT  



Last but dont forget:
A cat chase "mouse\other thing" to make he`s owner PROUD, 
and the Cat DO NEED a nice touch with a god hand from the owner so the cat feels that she\him has done a good job  

(so even if you play with the cat with a laser, dont forget to show the cat that you LOVE her after  ) 

cheers..


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## Athoul (Feb 17, 2006)

A 5mW laser is probably not harmful, though I would suggest nothing higher then a 1mW. Keep in mind that a cats eye is about 100 times as powerful as a humans, as far as sight and letting in light goes. Since the eye doesn't have nerves it's not easy to know when damage is being done and the cat might not flintch away in time, also even a reflection of a 20mW or higher laser can easily damage a cats eye.


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## abeland1 (Feb 18, 2006)

For those of you who are concerned about this I do stock 1mW versions of the Atlasnova 635nm and the 532nm APC. I have some International corporations that send these as promotional items into contries that have this power restriction. They are only available in all black. If you want one send a separate email when you order the regular 5mW version.


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## Raccoon (Feb 18, 2006)

My belief is that carnivorous animals can see red better than green, but in practice my results have been inconclusive. Smaller dogs seem to react the most to a laser pointer, and my friend's daschund (weinder dog) goes absolutely neurotic with my 635nm 5mW red-orange pointer. Every animal I've used a 532nm 33mW green around have noticed it, so they can see the light, but I suspect the higher output also helps. Most don't care as much for the green as they do for the red. My cats will chase the red but leave the room with the green.

I find it interesting that books state dogs can't see red light. If that were the case, then they should not see narrow spectrum laser light at 650nm to 635nm. But they do. In fact, they seem to react as if they're chasing a wounded (bloody) prey!


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## CLHC (Feb 18, 2006)

We got a kick out of watching VidPro's dog chase the laser (red and green) around and around at the get togethers. . .Very humorous.


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