Help with dogs and cats around lasers

Ok thanks for the help

I don't know if there are any documented studies on laser light vs animals. Though as others said 5mW probably isn't a big deal because 5mW is not all that much. I'd assume the power density of the sun and or reflections of the sun would be a much greater hazard for your animals. It would probably be safe to say that 5mW of less is okay for your pets. Just try not to hit them in the eyes.

Laser glow on the other hand is a VERY good company and they do test their lasers. I would say that whatever paperwork they gave to you is absolutely correct and if they gave you a power chart then it is entirely correct as well.

Thank you Jeffreythe00!

I don't think there are any blue 5mW lasers. Even violet lasers don't seem to come that low.

Red lasers (2mW, etc.) seem the best for cats and dogs, and I think both animals can see that wavelength pretty well. My cats never liked, or just couldn't see, the 5mW green I have and so I never bothered again.

Unless you bought a high quality green laser, it won't be < 5mW. Rarely they are. Sometimes they're 10mW or maybe 30mW. It actually costs more to ensure they'll stay below that threshold.

^^ but I just got a Lyra from laserglow so I'm pretty sure it's going to be exact mW

^^^Right, and you paid five times as much for the Lyra as you could have for some cheap chinese pen that is likely to be in the 10-30mW range.

That Lyra might be fine then. Still, they're bright enough to be irritating to our eyes, so it's probably better to find something that doesn't seem so bright.

I don't want a 10mw or 30mw. I just wanted a regular 5mw laser that I do not need goggles for. I'm soon going to start upgrading to higher power. But for now just a 5mw is fine.

I volunteer for a couple no-kill animal shelters with a few hundred free roaming cats, and laser pointers are a necessity for excercise. Some cats ignore pointers and prefer tactile things like strings and rope while others will pursue the magic dot until they physically fall over from exhaustion.

Power is another issue. I've found greens in to the 20-40mw range get the most attention while my 445s regardless of power are somewhat ignored. Reds in the 100-200mw range work about as well as the greens. Your typical gas station 5mw red won't keep our cats interested for more than a few seconds. After they chase a higher powered green or red they seem no longer interested in key chain type pointers. Over all though greens seem to work the best, and a 5mw green is strongly preferred over a 5mw red all things being equal. To a cat's visual cortex bright green likely appears as white.

The automatic laser toys like the 'Bolt' work pretty good, and are brighter than 5mw, but aren't nearly as pursued as a hand held green.

Are you shining those outdoors in the sun or something? Because no cat I've ever encountered has not responded to even 2mW red laser pointers. Using 20-40mW, let alone 100-200mW is way too much around animals unless you want to injure them. If they're not responding to the lower-powered dot, a higher powered laser should not be used; just move to a darker area where they can see it more easily.

100-200mw lasers are not dangerous around animals unless you're some idiot who enjoys shining it in their eyes. Last time I checked human being were also animals as well. You're just looking for a reason to make lasers sound more extrodinary than they are which is a chronic issue here. A bic lighter burns more and hurts more than the burn from a 200mw red. However, the red laser is meant to sound more ominous than it is because it's a 'laser' (scary drum roll).

If you guys seriously put goggles on when playing with any laser beyond 5mw you must put lead suits on when going out doors because the radiant energy of the sun is a few million times higher than a 200mw laser toy. If you aren't smart enough or don't have the tactile skills to avoid shining a laser in another animals eyes perhaps you should avoid holding a fork as well. You might accidentally fall on it.

I own a spectrometer, and even with first order reflections off a shiny surface I can only pick up trivial amounts of energy from a laser spot. This amount of energy, even from a big one like my 1watt 445 is again orders of magnitude less energy than sunlight.

Radiant sunlight in terms of ergs per square inch > 200mw laser.

So, please save the fear factor because I've been chasing pets around since the mid 80's with >10mw gas lasers, and not one has developed any health issues. Our resident vets also get tired of urban myths like this because it distorts real animal issues when cats and dogs are typically unhealthy due to lack of activity. Unless you can supply a Veterinary degree there's not much arguement here. We're not crowd scanning with a 10watt argon.

The 'Bolt' automatic laser toy also tested much higher than 5mw when I pulled one apart. Cats love this thing. Last, I have one of those starfield laser projectors with the 100mw red / 30mw green, and the cats love the thing chasing around all the dots like a swarm of bees. I have it slaved to our web cam to go off on a regular basis and it's great for generating activity. Of course, the comments here would indicate it's unsafe for animals because it can burn through walls and other nonsense.

well atleast you made some friend here,
well this is a 1000mw 445nm, nearly the same will happen with 100mw.
http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html

blasterman said:

Radiant sunlight in terms of ergs per square inch > 200mw laser..

Click to expand...

I am surprised nobody has corrected this.

The 200mW laser's dot size is unknown, and hence it is completely possible for it to have higher energy per unit area than sunlight. In fact, if you assume 1kW/sqm, as long as the laser's dot is smaller than 2 square centimeters (almost always true for most focused to infinity lasers), it will have higher energy output per unit area than sunlight.
In fact, if your 1W blue had energy/area "orders of magnitude below" that of sunlight, how does it manage to burn things?

I do not see anyone addressing one harmful effect that any color laser can have on 'SOME' dogs.

In , fortunetly few cases, dogs can quickly become OCD about the laser dot- so much so that their fixation on finding it can not only be a very bad thing but also very hard to fix.

There IMO is NOTHING funny about a dog obsessed with laser- they are not 'happy' and this can be a very serious condtion that is not easy to correct.

Once obsessed any light, such as a reflection can start the dog to go and try to find it. There is a good episode on the 'Dog Whisperer' that shows how bad this can be. I have seen this firsthand in a few dogs belonging to friends and it is far from being funny.

Cats on the other hand do not become obsessed and those that do like to chase the spot seem to have no problems when the laser is turned off.
I visit a friend with 6 dachhounds- on occasion- 5 of them either have no interest or at least no obsession with the laser- One however is extremely obsessed even tho she has not seen a laser in a very long time. I wear my reading glasses around my neck and when I visit if I forget to put them away eventually a reflection from the over head lights will shine on the floor- Once the dog sees this she goes ito a state of 'find the spot' she is not happy doing this and its a very sad thing for me to see.

And even if I stay for hours she never stops trying to find the dot. She whines a lot- and is obviously not happy. So my advice regarding dogs and lasers is... I do not recommend doing this at all. for fun and exercise a tennis ball is much better and although some do become obsessed with finding the ball it seems to be a better choice.
I have been training and re-habbing dogs for 30 years- I have experience with training many other kinds of animals once having a good friend who did animal training for movies. So what is fine for one dog can be very bad for another. I am a huge fan of Caesar Milan who knows more on this subject than everybody in this forum
and myself combined. If you asked him I am sure he would agree with what I have posted here.

I think if you see a very keen interest in a dog seeing a laser spot that would be a sign to you to stop at once & find other ways to entertain both your dog and yourself.



So far no amount of rehabbing has been helpful to my friends dog and its a very sad thing to see. We should have seen this coming as she is the same way about a lot of things-

especially suffering greatly from seperation anxiety- my friend MUST( or so he thinks) take her everywhere he goes wth no exception- he actually cannot even close the bathroom door and must allow her to be in the bathroom with him- She is uncontollable if he should leave the house with her inside- even just to walk to the mailbox, she freaks out.

He owns and operates an ice cream truck and she MUST go with him every time he works- If he leaves her in the vehicle when going into a store she makes such a fuss that on several occasions someone has called the police to report a dog freaking out is a parked car-- so she may be an exceptionally easy dog to become obsessed with the laser but to some degree- any dog can become obsessed.

I pray that this post has been helpful ( for the dogs)

hak

Hak, Having read all of that ^^^ all I can say is....


I must spread some rep on some others before I can +rep again :beer:
Well said.

- D.