Laser thingies for cats - is this normal?

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

Just bought a laser pointer thing for my cat. She loves toy mice and chasing balls, bits of string etc. Her energy is relentless and often wakes me up in the middle of the night with a ball in her mouth which she drops on my face. Anyway, heard it was a good way to play/engage tire out the lovable bugger so tried it out tonight.

Except...she just looks at the red dot then at my hand with a look of seriously? How stupid do you think I am?

What a waste of a fiver

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

We have one. Dcat2 would follow that red dot off a cliff Dcat1 looks at me like I'm something she stood in and leaves the room.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

You have to tease her with it,like you would a feather toy- move it slowly,wiggle it a bit.

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

Dame - yep, done that. She chases it a bit then looks at my hand, seems to figure it out and gives me the "look"

[cozietoesie]

I had the same reaction from Seniorboy to a Flying Frenzy. His gaze travelled up the string, up the rod, along my arm and to my face - and then he put out a paw indulgently. As if to say '4/10 for effort, I suppose'.

OK - he's very bright and very experienced but it was still demoralising.

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

Cozie that's exactly what she does! Haha

[chalky3]

One cat and two dogs in our house. The cat (age 13) and one of the dogs really go for this sort of thing, the other dog is just meh about it, he looks totally bemused by the other two carrying on like juveniles!

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

At least yours indulges you. Mine just punched my ankle as if to say "now that's for the crap toy"

[hollinhurst84]

Mine hates all toys except a bit of ribbon tied to a rod
This is his OMG RIBBON face

[CharminglyGawky]

That ribbon face is priceless!

My grandparents used to have a windy staircase, and a cat. I tried to dangle string down the stairs so that it was in front of the cat but I was round the bend, so for the cat it would just be magic flying string. I saw cat's gaze travel travel up the string to where it met the stairs, and my hand. Then I had to individually pluck the cat's claws out of my hand... Didn't try that one again!

[hollinhurst84]

He visibly quivers when he sees ribbon. Crouches down, bum wiggling and head shaking side to side

[chalky3]

They all have a weakness onesie, you just need to find it!

[cozietoesie]

Out of interest, is it any old ribbon or does it have to be a particular texture/material/colour etc ?

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

Now that's a look of excitement!

YY chalkie. Currently the only real weakness I have found is for tinned tuna and raspberries on her belly. Now that's another thing! Is it normal for cats to like raspberries blown on their bellies?

[DamsonGinIsMyThing]

My cat used to stare at the red dot and figure out I was holding the pointer, so id turn it off so I didn't blind her. Which would piss her off to high heaven obviously, so she would claw at my hand instead.

[torthecatlady]

Dcat2 knows I am holding the laser-pen yet still goes apeshit for it, regardless. He also looks for it when it's turned off.
Dcat1 cares absolutely 0%.

[torthecatlady]

I forgot to mention how amazing ribbonface is!

[hollinhurst84]

cozie - any ribbon. Or shoelaces
He does a bum wiggle when I get in from work and take my boots off
Anything that sort of shape that he can chase

[hollinhurst84]

And yet more ribbon face
Hours of entertainment for me

[OnesieTheQueensSelfie]

The second one is genius!

[hollinhurst84]

He's not the most normal cat
Currently holding my hand with his paw while he sleeps. Keeps flexing his claws around my finger to check I'm still here
I tried all different toys and nothing got a reaction except ribbon!

[hagsrus0]

"tinned tuna and raspberries on her belly"

Well, every cat to her taste, but it sounds a strange flavour combination, not to mention messy!

[Wombat87]

There is an app you can use on the iPad they may like OP. They have to tap it on the screen for it to move again. And it knows when hoomins are cheating...

[frikadela01]

My cat is the same... in fact he looks at any proper cat toys with utter disgust on his face.

His current "toys" are the little table thing that is in the middle of takeaway pizzas and the plastic thing that covers the prongs on new plugs. Last week he spent several hours chasing a kit kat wrapper around the house....hes a weirdo.

[OlennasWimple]

What's the app Wombat?

Neither of mine like toys, but an empty paper bag gets sat on, crawled in, pounced on....

They don't care much for Dreamies either

[RubbishMantra]

OMG, I love ribbon-face!

Please start a thread called "Ollie's ribbon face of the day." And we can all take a vote, and the best 12 go into a calendar.