Pets and safty

[Joed]

Let me preface this by thanking all the good people here who promote safety with lasers. I gathered a lot of useful information about things I had no idea were problems and how to avoid damage to mine and people around me eyes.

Ok, I am new to these higher power lasers and have one of these coming in the 200mW verity.

PL 532nm 100-700

I am concerned about toying with this thing in the house with a cat around. We all know the attraction of lasers to cats. I'm not planning on using this as a cat toy and I am aware of the power of the beam but what if a cat or dog gets hit with a reflection off a wall? I am guessing it will cause similar damage to an animal as it will to a human. Will it cause damage if a pet looks at the spot on a wall if it is not reflected towards the pet? What about people for that matter?

As for myself I went with these safety glasses because I am not sure about the IR emissions from this laser and just want to play it safe.

Eagle Pair® 190-540nm & 800-1700nm OD5 Laser Safety Goggles

How safe is it to look at the spot of a beam on a wall or other things such as a sofa or rugs and what not? I am aware of the dangers of reflections back into my eyes and feel like the glasses will work for me but I am also curious about when it might be safe to not wear them. Assuming I am cautious. It seems most people do look at the beam from time to time and I am fairly certain that can't be seen with goggles.

I've spent hours reading these forums but I don't see much on when goggles are not needed. I don't see anything about precautions when pets are present.

Thoughts?

I guess you can't edit titles, I don't know how that got past me

 

[NightExplorer96]

I would recommend keeping all pets in another room whenever you use the laser. 200mW would easily damage your cats eyes in a very, very short amount of time(same for humans).

Looking at the reflection of 200mW off a rug/couch is fine as long as you aren't too close

 

[LarryDFW]

Animal safety is a valid concern with any hi-power lasers.

Animals can quickly jump into harms way, from curiosity.

Because of their night vision, they can gather significantly more power of the beam.

LarryDFW
Petowner

 

[hakzaw1]

IMHO cats at unlikely to become obsessed with a laser dot, whereas SOME dogs become very obsessed very quickly and many dog owners regret EVER showing any laser to them. Ceasar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) has a show on this and anyone who thinks thier dog enjoys being obsessive about lasers is a fool.

as there is NO Pain from taking a laser shot to the eyes ,... so your pet will NOT react - which has nothing whatsoever to do with any damage done..

Cats seem to not become obsessed--
and not all dogs become obsessive- but finding out can be a big mistake--
what if the dog developes an obsession? This is NOT and easy fix- get a tennis ball and get up off your ass- playing 'find the dot' is a lazy persons solution to dog exercise.
For some dogs this never seems to go away no matter how long it has been since they saw a laser dot-My friends dashound is very obsessed even tho the owner has kept all lasers away from his dog for more than year- any bright reflection sets his dog off & all I see its a very unhappy dog searching for the dot endlessly-

Cats move on-- dogs do not..

hope this has been helpful-
BTW..
this has NOTHING to do with color or power of the laser a 1mW red 'cat-toy' is bright enough to make a dog CRAZY!!

 

[KapHn8d]

You sound like you have a sound head on your shoulders and some common sense, so just treat the warnings on the site directed at the human users as if they were directed towards animals. Please just lock your pets in another room or lock yourself in another room when using your lasers. It's better to be safe than sorry… And it's not worth the impact of their quality of life because of a split-second mistake.

Ironically, it is because of my pets that I got into this hobby. I had a dollar store laser for years that my cats loved and eventually it died. In my search for finding a replacement, I found this site as well as others and a lot of information about laser colors and powers. My curiosity led me to understand the differences between milliwatt power ranges and impact to visual health. We only get one set of seeing balls and so do our pets.

I ended up buying a 1 mW 650 nm laser for the pets, but it gets rarely used after understanding the hazards despite the low power. And owning lasers from <1mW all the way up to about 3500 mW, I always use them in a secluded room and keep safety in mind at all times.

Good luck and be safe... and remember to have fun!

/c

 

[hakzaw1]

Racoons-stray cats etc will just sit there and look directly back at a green pointer- guess that proves there are no pain sensors in eyes -- I saw a big gackle flying around in a big food court (HEB Super Store) and it had already shit on another table- only funny until it flew and perched above me- had a Ti B 150mW and shooed it away with just a quick flask
N/P

for about a minute when he came back-
repeat -
and later he is back again and then he had NO FEAR and was not bothered even when getting a short direct eye shot- I moved to aother booth-

fyi a 'Gackle' is a Blackbird & extremely common- and is a bird that can be considered to be a pest.. lately the tree where I park (in my driveway) has become a roost at night- not sure what birds they are (yet) but I can say there are eating VERY well.

Time to clean out the carport-- where the sparrows now like nest--(cant win)

come spring I will just not let them build nests there- n/p