Pirate's terrified of laser...

On Friday I bought a laser pointer at Petsmart for the kitties (especially fatty Mia to burn off the calories ), and that afternoon/evening I opened it and started playing with them with it. Pirate was absolutely great with it- LOVED chasing it around, loved it when it went up the wall, just loved it lol. Well, yesterday I went to use it and he just got so scared when he saw it go anywhere near him, he literally jumped straight up with the hair on his back sticking up, backed up, then ran and hid. Totally unlike him, he's usually a laid-back playful little dude. I didn't press the issue at all yesterday with him, I only used it when he was not around for Mia, as she really likes it. Now this morning I went to just pick it up out of the basket on the table and he freaked. It's really not in his character to be terrified of something like this. And the odd part is that I've used it with him maybe 3-5x max thus far. And everytime I made sure that the laser did not get in his eyes, and I avoided his whole body altogether so I don't see a reason for fear. He's always been fearless- if anyone would be scared of it I would assume it to be Mama Mia, not him.

Does anyone else have this issue? I want him to enjoy it, not fear it.

Nope, a couple of my cats act like it's not there but no one's scared of it.

Mine all love the laser, however I have one boy who is terrified of bubbles - he runs under the bed which is very unlike him.

I just put him into another room with a toy he does like, while we play with bubbles with the rest of the cats.

Originally Posted by missymotus

Mine all love the laser, however I have one boy who is terrified of bubbles - he runs under the bed which is very unlike him.

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That made me laugh. Not that your cat is scared of bubbles (though that is a little funny) but the way you wrote it cracked me up!

Okay, so we've got an update: Pirate is no longer afraid of the laser! He's such a little pinhead- what a big baby. It makes me happy that he now enjoys, but then it makes me kinda angry that he was weird enough to be afraid of such a little harmless thing when all of a sudden he loves it again. Oh well, as long as he's happy, right? That's what matters. That little freak!

It could have been as simple as him chasing after the laser and bumping his nose. Animals tend to avoid anything that has caused them pain in the past.

Originally Posted by missymotus

Mine all love the laser, however I have one boy who is terrified of bubbles - he runs under the bed which is very unlike him.

I just put him into another room with a toy he does like, while we play with bubbles with the rest of the cats.

Click to expand...

Yeah, bubbles is a great game with cats. Our little girl LOVES them. she will actually climb onto SO's desk in order to launch a "flying sneak attack" on a passing bubble

She absolutely hates my slippers though, which are shaped like little patchy dogs. Whenever she sees them, she runs away or tries to whack them!