This is why some businesses use pointer sticks.
Cattos hunt many animals, like birbs, cheese bois, blub blub doggos, and the elusive dot.
Cats are known for their innate ability to chase after a dot. There's just something about it, on how it shines, and how it's all over the place and—wait, it's over there, and now it's over there, oh my precious, get back here...*ahem* so where were we?
Research indicates that when a cat spots a red dot, it activates their natural hunting instincts, causing them to pursue and capture it, just like they would with their prey. Although it's true and undeniable that our feline friends enjoy these laser pointer games, it's important to be aware that the laser light can cause significant harm to their eyesight, just as it can for humans. So, it's crucial to handle it with caution!
But it doesn't have to be limited to cats. Sometimes it can have an effect on other creatures, like their big cat cousins, or even Catlike Dragons. Heck, it can even be used on Cat Folk. In fact, laser pointers can be used to lure people/beasts into a trap, or keep them distracted.
This is a variant of Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! and Furry Reminder, and a subtrope of Smart Animal, Inconvenient Instincts.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Energizer Bunny: One commercial has the Energizer Bunny playing with two laser pointers; one powered by Energizer Ultimate Lithium and the other powered by Supervolt. As he shines them in front of a pair of cats who chase after the red dots, the Supervolt-powered laser pointer goes out after 19 hours of continuous use, while the Energizer-powered one manages to last for 27 hours.
Comic Books
- In Power Girl issue #12, Power Girl uses her heat vision to make a pair of dots for her cat Stinky to play with.
Comic Strips
- Garfield:
- An exploited example in the April 29, 2012 strip
, where Garfield chases a red dot caused by a laser pointer until he goes splat off a table, and the strip ends with the culprit being a spider exacting payback on the cat.
Spider: Revenge is mine!! - In the February 23, 2019 strip, Garfield watches a movie called Attack of the 50-Foot Cat, where the military uses a 100-foot laser pointer to distract said cat.
- An exploited example in the April 29, 2012 strip
- Mutts: Sourpuss hosts a news segment in which Mooch plays, and reviews, various cat toys. One of them includes Mooch playing with a laser pointer.
- Phoebe and Her Unicorn: Marigold the unicorn sees the glowing red dot and starts pursuing it until she gets dizzy and stumbles. Phoebe steps into view and remarks that laser pointers also affect unicorns. Marigold counters that she'd mistaken the glowing dot for a fairy that owes her money.
Fan Works
- Death Battle Arena: Strider Hiryu's Friendship consists of him using a laser pointer to distract his Option C Drone — which is, need we remind you, a robotic big cat.
- This Transformers fancomic has Megatron shine a laser pointer near the cat minicon Ravage, only for Soundwave to point out that Ravage isn't interested in them. Megatron replies that he's aware of that, but Deadlock (who looks nothing like a cat save for some earlike Robot Antennae) is; cue Deadlock pouncing on the red dot and startling Ravage.
Films — Animation
- Free Birds: In need of a distraction for the dogs, Reggie uses the laser pointer function in a remote from the presidents house which causes the dogs, even Jake to chase it.
- How to Train Your Dragon: Being Catlike Dragons (mostly Toothless), they love chasing the light that can shine from any object, particularly shields.
- The LEGO Ninjago Movie: The Ultimate Weapon emits a laser that summons Meowthra to Ninjago and the giant cat follows the laser wherever it goes. Lord Garmadon uses it to his advantage by pointing the laser at the Secret Ninja Force's vehicles and making Meowthra destroy them.
- Lightyear: Sox, the robot cat, accidentally activates a red laser, which he promptly attempts to catch.
- The Monkey King: When a young Monkey King shoots his laser eyes in the heavens, it catches the attention of the Jade Emperor's cat.
- Puss in Boots (2011): Just as Puss is about to leave, Kitty stops him by shining a light, causing his instincts to take over.
- The Secret Life of Pets: Just as Chloe was having fun with the dogs by using Max's ball, Sweetpea uses a laser pointer on Chloe.
- The Secret Life of Pets 2: When Bridget is cornered by a giant cat who has Max's favorite ball; Busy bee, she called upon Norman to use a laser pointer. Surrounded by feisty felines, they go to plan B, where Norman makes it look like Bridget caught the red dot, fooling them into believing that she is the chosen one.
- Soul: When Joe is in a cat, and 22 is in Joe's body, and they escape the hospital through the elevator, 22 looks at Joe's glasses, doing so shines a light in which Joe chases.
- Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!: The trap the gang set up for the Cat man, involved using a machine and Daphne's mirror, to create a makeshift laser pointer, to distract said monster.
Films — Live-Action
- Dolittle: Cornered by Barry the tiger, Dolittle tries to distract him by shining a light at him, showing that even the fiercest of big cats is still a cat. Unfortunately, Barry gets wise to him.
- The Marvels: Showing another thing that flerkens have in common with cats, Carol is seen entertaining Goose with a green laser pointer in her spaceship.
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb: When Larry gets attacked by some lion statues in the climax, he uses the light of his flashlight to distract them. This actually was foreshadowed earlier in the film when there's a video of a cat chasing after a laser pointer.
- The Smurfs 2: The Naughties lure Azrael, the cat, into being beaten up by them by using a green laser pointer.
Literature
- The Hunger Games: In Mockingjay, the Everdeens' cat Buttercup practically becomes a celebrity in District 13 because people love watching him play Crazy Cat, which consists of Katniss wiggling a flashlight beam around and watching him try to chase after it. She's even issued extra batteries specifically for playing Crazy Cat, despite resources in District 13 being tightly controlled, because its people are that starved for entertainment.
Live-Action TV
- Henry Danger: In "Theranos Boot", Henry, Jasper, and Schwoz visit an Alternate Universe where everyone acts like cats to replace the titular boot Ray got. To distract them, Jasper uses a lighted keychain which attracts their cat selves to it, allowing them to escape with the boot safely.
- Red Dwarf: Being a race who evolved from the housecat, Felis sapiens have inherited their weakness to laser pointers, and this becomes effective during "The Promised Land" when Rimmer uses his new diamond light powers to emulate a laser pointer at Rodon and his lackeys. The result is that in their desperate attempts to get the light, there is no one at the helm, and Rodon's ship is destroyed in a massive explosion.
- Supergirl (2015): In one episode, the Superfriends have to take down a giant magical cat from the Fifth Dimension. Supergirl ends up distracting it by using her heat vision as a giant laser pointer while Brainy traps it in a Coluan planet bottle.
Music
- Songdrops: In "The Cat Song", one lyric is "Cats; they chase lasers."
Tabletop Games
- Exploding Kittens: One of the Defuse cards, which prevent you from losing the game because you drew an exploding kitten cards, is called "Via Laser Pointer" and flavorwise protects you by distracting the killer kitten to a different location from you.
Video Games
- Crossy Road has the character Laser Cat, who will stop to try and catch a laser dot if left idle.
- ‘Haywire Hospital: A version of this. The Dot Destroyer patient is a tom cat who can’t stop tapping an iPad and turning off the red notification dots.
- HuniePop: One of the special gifts you can give to Momo is a laser pointer.
- There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension: Level 5 references this trope with a laser pointer being activated by slotting the name My Cat into the fake credits.
- The Sims 4: In the DLC, "Dogs & Cats", your sims can play with the laser pointer with their cats to entertain them. It is great fun for both the sim and the cat and an easy way to fill up a sim's Fun need fast. The laser pointer even comes in different colors varying with the sim's emotion!
Web Animation
- RWBY: In Volume 2, Yang is able to get the attention of an overworked Blake (a cat faunus) with a laser pointer. Blake notably tries to ignore this, but ultimately chases it out of sheer frustration and distraction due to her exhaustion.
Webcomics
- This Danby Draws comic parodies the laser table scene from Goldfinger, but with an ordinary laser beam instead of a cutting laser. Bond doesn't see why this is supposed to be dangerous until the villain's cat notices the red dot on his face, at which point it leaps on him and starts clawing his skin off.
- Girl Genius: "Devil dogs", despite the nickname, are huge feline clanks that hunt down intruders in Castle Heterodyne. In order to save Tarvek from one, Agatha rigs up a laser pointer to distract and lure it.
- Litterbox Comics: Apparently applies to anthropomorphic cats, or at least the young ones. Joel gives Fran a laser pointer for Mother's Day so she can get their kittens off her back.
- The Oatmeal has a dog react to a laser pointer by asking if it is food. When told it is not, he is all "that's cool man" and proposes sprinting around in circles until they throw up. In contrast, four cats go completely out of their minds trying to kill the red dot. As one puts it:
Holy mother fuckity shit
What is this optical phenomenon
of light and confusion
I must stab it - Toonhole has a strip that deals with a cat's resulting PTSD from a former life's encounter with the red dot
- xkcd 729 has a cat dreaming of catching and eating the red dot and then firing the laser back at the wielder.
Web Video
- Kittisaurus naturally has 'Cats vs Laser', where the cats pursue a laser pointer, to varying degrees of enthusiasm.
- There is an entire barrage of YouTube videos of cats chasing laser pointers.
Western Animation
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Procrastinators", Gumball was procrastinating when a moving red dot caught his attention, making him act like a real cat. He started chasing the dot all over the house. It turns out that the confused Darwin was trying to figure out how it worked before giving up and throwing it away.
- In an ad for CartoonNetwork's 20th anniversary, Gumball can't resist chasing after a red dot in the alley.
- Ben 10: Omniverse: Exploited by Rook when Ben, stuck as Rath, is under the cat-controlling villain Nyancy Chan's charm. Rath's attempts to catch the light start playful but quickly become enraged, and Rook dupes Rath into smacking the Omnitrix symbol on his chest to turn himself back into Ben.
Rath: LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN', LITTLE RED DOT WHICH IS CURIOUSLY DEVOID OF MASS OR VOLUME!
- Bluey: In "Double Babysitter", the Heeler sisters, Rad, and Frisky play a game called "Torch Mouse", in which the girls shine an electric torch and the adults chase it on all fours, meowing like cats.
- Bob's Burgers:
- Parodied in "Tweentrepreneurs," where Louise borrows Tina's laser pointer to play with Gene. Linda scolds her, saying "Your brother's not a cat," though Gene is quite eager to chase the dot around the kitchen.
- In "Mother Author Laser Pointer," Mr. Frond's cat gets stuck in a tree so Frond enlists the kids to help get him down without anybody else noticing. Watching his teacher use a laser pointer to highlight specific constellations triggers an "Eureka!" Moment for Gene, and the kids use a laser pointer to guide the cat down from the tree.
- The Casagrandes: Exploited in "This Bird Has Flown", in which Ronnie Anne has Sergio, a parrot who sleeps in her room, follow a laser pointer to tire him out, so that he won't wake up in the night and then wake her up.
- Doc McStuffins: In "Smitten With a Kitten", Doc was going to use her otoscope to look in Mittens' ear, Mittens sees a red dot, and chases it, it's so fun even Stuffy joins in.
- Family Guy: Parodied in a cutaway from "Whistle While Your Wife Works", in which Brian entertains himself by teasing his girlfriend Jillian with a flashlight.
- The Looney Tunes Show: In "Point, Laser Point", Tweety uses the pen's laser function to shine a red dot to keep Sylvester at bay, what with him being a cat and all.
- Mighty Magiswords has the Laser Pointer Sword, that either attracts cats or distracts other creatures.
- The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XXVIII": Despite him trying to act intelligent, Lisa shines a flashlight at Snowball, unleashing his instincts.
- Wander over Yonder: Parodied in "The Prisoner", Peepers has Wander cornered against the wall with his laser gun, but Wander gets attracted to the laser's light pointer like a cat, following it everywhere it points. Peepers uses this to his advantage to lure Wander into a jail cell so he can lock him up.
- We Bare Bears: In "The Kitty", the bears download a Laser-Pointer app (yes, you read that right) and successfully use it to lure three cougars out of their cave (yes, you read that right too).
- We Lost Our Human: Close to the end of a Ham route depending on the choices the watcher makes, they save Pud from high-speed volcanic rocks with a laser pointer to get Pud to move out of the way.
