Does playing with the laser pointer hurt the cat’s psychology?

I imagine it is frustrating for the cat to finally find a high power laser pointer. Toys such as these are designed to exercise prey drive. Prey drive is the most powerful instinct possessed by cats. Once they are capable, they will instinctively track, chase and catch (or swoop). Kittens honed this skill on their litter kittens.

They learn time and speed and their relationship to distance. Their survival in the wild depends on it. Their mother only needs to teach them to use this instinct for things other than play, namely killing and eating. The thing about laser pointers is that they only engage with the tracking and chasing components of the prey drive.

3000mw Laser Pointer Mini Flashlight Shaped

The capture phase is an essential element in the cycle. It is not completed. As you can imagine, it may make the cat feel frustrated and confused. With green laser, there is no tactile reward, and there is no satisfaction of swooping at the target and sandwiching it between paws. The prey drive will never reach its natural end, an indispensable part will never be realized.

My cat used to like to chase lasers. They get excited as soon as I pick it up. They know what it is; they also know that I succeeded, but they don’t care. They would spend an hour chasing it in the corridor, or wait in ambush around the corner. Before they did this, I was tired of it.

But in the end, they were bored with it. Now they will watch it move around the room. If it happens to pass by them at a convenient angle blue laser pointer, they will reach for it. I think they can’t help themselves. But this is a half-hearted effort at best. They rarely use their previous enthusiasm to chase or pounce on it. The lack of tracking, chasing, and capturing the last component of the triad may ultimately cause losses.