Red dot

After hearing time and time again about the hours of innocent fun (and
exercise) afforded to the furry masters by the red laser dot I want to
get one- they've got every other cat toy going so I might as well have
the complete set!

Does anyone know where to get them in the UK? And what brand? Or what
voltage? Obviously I don't want to zap the Furballs (although thinking
of that trail of wreckage last night....)

William Hamblen...

Lecturers use them to point to screens. Try shops that sell office
supplies.

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

jmcquown...

You can't "zap" a cat with a laser pointer, just don't shine the light into
a cats' eyes. They use those little titanium round batteries. Check eBay

Rhonda...

What concerns me is if the cat turns and looks into it. You can't tell
them "don't look..." like you would a human.

Won't it burn their retinas?

Takayuki...

I once took a laser safety course, a zillion years ago, when I used to
design systems based on them. What I remember is that lasers are
separated into safety classifications. A class IIa laser, for
example, is quite safe - you would have to stare into one for 1000
seconds without blinking before it would damage your retina. A class

Micha...

This figures are based on human eyes?

IV laser, on the other hand, you might be able to use as a death ray
to take out enemy satellites.

If you can find a class II laser pointer, that what I would get for a
cat. It's been a long time since I looked at what they're selling for
laser pointers, but they practically all used to be class II. Class
III started becoming more popular later on, because you can see the
dot from a hundred feet away in a brightly lit room against an

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

I don't know about this... something that's halfway between a cat
toy and and a death ray? :)

jmcquown...

And if cats like Abby (of the opposable thumb) got their paws on it... could
be a CATastrophe! ;)

illuminated screen. Way overkill for a cat toy, those are.

Micha...

Just my concern: eyes of a cat are very different from human eyes. The
reflection effect you can see in the night is caused by the cat eyes'
ability to collect light and focus it on the retina. That is why a cat
can see with very little ambient light. So I am concerned, that this
collection effect may be multiplying the laser light reaching the
cat's retina and so may cause damage there where it will not by a
human.

Takayuki...

I agree - the classes are based on human blink reflex time, human eye
sensitivity, etc. But my instinct would be not to worry as much about
the optical differences. Since it's a laser, the beam is collimated,
and the eye's optics aren't going to multiply or focus it any more
than it already is. Also, since humans have better distance vision
than cats, and far away light rays we're accustomed to focusing are
more parallel, like a laser, then close light sources, humans might
actually be more likely to get retina damage from a laser than a cat.

Squarely Yours
Michael

UK; they have a few listed. The set I got came with a couple of different
tips - one shines a "mouse shape" rather than a dot.

Lesley...

Where did you get that? It would be perfect for them! (Are my furry
owners spoilt? What do you think?)

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

The only thing I don't like about the laser pointer is my finger gets tired
of holding down the *on* button before Persia gets tired of chasing it!
You'd think they'd make one that had a regular on/off switch but the one I
have you have to hold down constantly.