Zack and the Laser
For Christmas this year, Kathy bought the cats a laser pointer. On the package from the pet store it said, “Drives Cats and Dogs Crazy.”
Pbbbbbt. Yeah, right, I thought.
When I took it out of the package and aimed it near Adobe, she watched my hand instead of the laser point, and then quickly let it be known that I was wasting my time if I thought she was going to chase around a red dot.
Zack, however... Zack will chase the laser beam until she’s got herself — and me — whipped into a blooming, buzzing lather. She’ll chase it in endless circles, and then across the room, and then watch with whimpering baited kitty-breath as it goes up the wall and across the ceiling. She’s ready before it even hits the floor again.
Truth be told, I don’t know how long she’ll chase it; I always have to stop because I’m laughing too hard to breathe.
Manning the laser point only takes one hand, so I tried filming it with the other using my new Canon PowerShot A70 camera (thanks, Dad and Karen). Here’s a short clip of the result: Zack and the Laser. [280K] Hopefully this won’t be so big it gets my hosting account suspended.
Imagine this going on and on, as Zack becomes increasingly determined to catch the dot. ...Enjoy.
UPDATE 12/30/03: Paul Hsieh points out (see comments below) that there’s honestly a patent for using a laser pointer as a method of exercising a cat. From the patent: “Cats are not characteristically disposed toward voluntary aerobic exercise. It becomes the burden of the cat owner to create situations of sufficient interest to the feline to induce even short-lived and modest exertion for the health and well-being of the pet.” Er, yeah, that’s all I was trying to do! Does this mean I get a patent for using a laser pointer with a cat as a method of causing a human being to laugh hysterically?
Hilarious video! You might have also seen the US Patent application for a “Method of Exercising a Cat” using a laser pointer. It’s listed as US Patent number 544306, and can be found at the US Patent website.
I remember a techno freak friend of mine, Michael Basiljetitsj (forgive my spelling) telling me how he exercised a cat using this method already back in 1987, so the 1995 patent referenced above surely can’t be valid!