Hello, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to study extra about me and meet my 5 hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.
One of many more difficult points of taking care of indoor cats is ensuring they get sufficient train, enrichment, and pleasure of their lives. It’s straightforward sufficient to seize a lead and take the canines out to the seashore or the park, however not all cats are amenable to the harness life-style. One common alternative is the laser pointer, and it’s straightforward to understand why.
With very minimal effort on my half, I’ve bought the cats operating upstairs, downstairs, over the mattress, and off the partitions. Even Cyril, who is legendary for his dedication to a life lived horizontally, can’t resist the flickering attract of that elusive purple dot. However after studying about how lasers can negatively have an effect on canines, I began to turn out to be frightened about my ginger ninja, Alex.
Why Do Cats Love Laser Toys?
Though most of our home cats lately are much less centered on searching creatures and extra curious about creature comforts, they aren’t that far faraway from their wild or free-roaming relations. Buried deep inside that lazy exterior are the searching instincts and prey drive of a lion, simply ready to be triggered by some fast-moving beastie. When our cats see the twitching motion of that laser, instincts take over, they usually quickly discover themselves unable to withstand the chase.
What’s unusual about this specific sport of cat and …dot, is that they by no means get to catch it, so you’ll suppose they’d finally develop bored. Nevertheless, as most cat mother and father (myself included) will inform you, every time the laser is retrieved from its draw, cats look like simply as because the time earlier than, and the handfuls of occasions earlier than that. Zelda, specifically, sheds her regal and poised demeanor and turns right into a playful, energetic kitten if she a lot as hears the telltale sound of the laser being taken from its hiding place. Are they hoping that this time they are going to lastly catch their prey? Or do they merely benefit from the chase?
Sadly, that is one thing solely a cat can inform us, so for now, we should use what we all know to resolve if laser toys are simply an interesting technique to encourage our cats to play and burn energy, or if they’re a possible supply of frustration, nervousness, and unhealthy obsession.
A Observe on Laser Security:
By no means level a laser instantly on the face or into the eyes. This is applicable to cats and all different animal species, together with people. For extra info on laser pointer security, click here.
When the Recreation Turns into Obsession
‘Laser Pointer Syndrome’ is an obsessive-compulsive dysfunction that has been acknowledged in our canine associates, with canines turning into so fixated by the speedy motion of laser toys that they’re unable to chill out. Their incapacity to finish the chase leaves them on edge, continuously on alert for ‘the one which bought away’. This has at all times been one thing that didn’t precisely fear me, however it did make me surprise, after I was taking part in with my cats. It wasn’t till Alex joined our fellowship of cats that I began to turn out to be involved.
To start with, similar to all the opposite cats, Alex liked the fast-paced sport of chasing the laser pointer, darting frantically round the home, following it up and down the steps, and over the cat tree. Then I began to note him turning into fixated on something with a reflective floor that sparkled on a wall or door – watches, cutlery, even the reflection from our steel door deal with. Each evening, Alex sits poised exterior our bed room, ready for the second that the sunshine from the lavatory hits our door deal with excellent, sending a shimmer throughout the wall of the touchdown. This flash of sunshine lasts moments, one or two seconds at most, however he waits for it, each evening. That’s after I began to get frightened.
How Do I Repair It?
The apparent resolution was to simply throw the laser away, give it up chilly turkey, which is precisely what I did. Nevertheless, this didn’t cease Alex’s gentle chasing conduct; he was simply as obsessive about flickering lights and glossy surfaces as ever earlier than. I had opened Pandora’s glowing field and now I didn’t know tips on how to shut it.
Don’t get me flawed, Alex was okay. He wasn’t harassed or completely locked in a state of tense anticipation, however it did fear me that he was spending at the least an hour or two each evening simply ready for a fleeting glimpse of a quarry he would by no means catch; a hunt that couldn’t ever finish within the satisfaction of seize. Or might it?
A plan started to take form in my thoughts, and I got here up with a potential technique to carry closure to Alex’s unfinished enterprise. I didn’t know if it could work, however it was value a strive.
Step 1 – Purchase a brand new laser toy
It may appear a bit like shopping for booze for an alcoholic, however seeing as chilly turkey hadn’t labored, I needed to strive weaning him off.
Step 2 – Introduce a brand new toy that he can really play with
Apparently sufficient, the laser toy I purchased got here with a bonus feathery mouse!
Step 3 – Begin with the laser, finish with the toy
My plan was to finish the sport with a bodily reward, so that each one the hassle of chasing concluded with Alex capturing one thing he might really grasp, kick, and chew.
I needed to get the timing proper, ensuring that I switched off the laser in the intervening time he grabs the toy, however I felt as much as the problem! However would it not work?
The Re-education of Grasp Alex
Generally it’s about trial and error, and it turned out that Alex wasn’t as excited in regards to the new toy as I’d hoped! His finest buddy Cyril, alternatively, was very . It turned out that Alex was extra food-motivated, so as an alternative of a toy, I directed the laser in the direction of a small pile of his favorite treats, and voila! His consideration instantly zeroed in on the meals, and the laser was rapidly forgotten.
I used to be fairly happy to see that in each cases, Alex and Cyril, as soon as they have been focussed on the deal with on the finish of the laser sport, didn’t begin trying round for the elusive little dot, whereas usually, they’d stay on excessive alert, ready for it to maneuver once more. I don’t anticipate that it will fully eradicate Alex’s fascination with all things shiny, however the first try went higher than I assumed, so I’m optimistic that we will change how he views the laser.
Are Laser Toys a Dangerous Concept?
Not essentially, and in lots of instances, they’ll really be among the best methods to show a sedentary cat into a quick & livid feline by offering an outlet for his or her seldom-used searching instincts. However I believe that, in the identical approach some people can’t drink, gamble, or store with out turning into addicted, sure cats are predisposed to laser pointer syndrome, one thing that researchers have began to discover. In a suggestion just like my technique, others have advised combining laser play with clicker training, giving cats a tangible reward on the finish of the sport.
Early surveys recommend that laser toy obsession is extra more likely to happen in cats underneath two years previous, which inserts with Alex’s scenario. Clearly, I want I had recognized about this potential hazard after I first launched him to the laser 4 years in the past, however at the same time as a vet, I’m continuously studying.
And hopefully, my expertise with Alex may help a few of you keep away from the identical challenge. When you’re going to introduce your cat to the fun of chasing a laser, just be sure you may give that chase a satisfying conclusion.
