Just watched my cat spend 30 minutes chasing a laser pointer I didn't turn off

I dropped the laser pointer on the rug this morning and it landed button-side down, so my cat spent half an hour stalking a little red dot that didn't move at all. I thought she was just staring at the floor acting weird until I bent down and saw the light still on. Has anyone else's pet fallen for a long-running gadget glitch like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_carter24d agoTop Commenter

My old roommate's Roomba did this once. Got stuck under the couch but kept running, spent a whole night bumping into the same leg over and over. Woke up to this weird rhythmic thumping sound. The battery was almost dead by morning. Cats are funny about lasers though. My cat figured out the laser pointer after a while. She'd stare at my hand holding it and ignore the dot. Smart little jerk. But a stationary red dot? That's just confusing for them. Probably makes them think they broke the laws of physics or something.

sandraflores24d ago

That bit about "makes them think they broke the laws of physics" really got me thinking, @faith_carter. Did your roommate's cat ever try to "fix" the stuck Roomba or just let it keep bumping?

the_oscar22d ago

What gets me is the energy conservation thing-cats are actually super efficient hunters, so watching one chase a laser is like seeing a Ferrari stuck in traffic. They know something's off but their wiring overrides logic every time. Must be weird to live in a world where lights move but never smell like anything.