[Scott]

Laser pointers can also wreak havoc with a cat’s emotional/attentional regulation systems. People warned me not to use a laser with my dog, saying that it would be too much for my reactive dog. It was great advice. However, I thought that the cat’s reaction to the laser was cute, at least the first couple of times I used it. It was scary to see the behavioral changes in my cat around the laser. When I saw her behavior just in response to me walking into the room holding the laser pointer in my hand–extreme agitation, crying, calling out, running around frantically–I never used the laser again. A month or two after that, I picked the laser pointer up again to see if the cat would remember. Same agitated response. Use lasers around dogs and cats with extreme caution.