If you have a cat, you likely experience the terrifying few moments when your little heathen wants to play but you don't have access to a toy. My cat, Colby Jack, commits crimes every morning with a fervor unseen in times of peace. He pounces, claws out, and attacks my every moving limb, rendering any morning hope of calm completely useless.
I've tried plenty of tools to combat his vitriol, from Feliway sprays(opens in a new tab) and wall plugs(opens in a new tab) to spending part of my morning routine playing with him with toys. These methods worked well enough, but nothing fully eclipsed his taste for blood. So I tried out the PetSafe Bolt Laser Cat Toy(opens in a new tab), an automatic laser meant to keep a playful cat occupied.
My take? It depends on the nature of your cat, but for Colby Jack, it was a godsend and fits the criteria for what I think makes a good automatic cat toy: It works reliably, solves a problem, turns off automatically, and is virtually hassle free.
How it works
You're going to need your own batteries for the PetSafe Bolt Laser Cat Toy. The unboxing experience is simple from there: The four AA batteries are the only setup you need.
The Bolt Laser is shaped like one of those fancy pepper grinders or an immersion blender. My apartment is small, and my kitchen is mere inches away from my living room, where I keep Colby Jack's toys, so I'm hyper-aware of how much space my animal takes up not only on his own physically, but also aesthetically. I want guests to have the illusion that two human beings live in this house before the one single cat that runs our lives.
There are two play settings for the $21.95 Bolt Laser(opens in a new tab): automatic mode, in which you click a button and a laser shoots out at random for 15 minutes, and a manual mode, which you can find by pressing and holding that same button for a few seconds. The manual mode is used when you want to be in control of the laser. There's a mirror inside the toy that will adjust the angle of the laser, so you can aim the random patterns at the floor or a wall or any other surface you'd like your cat to be focused on. I'd recommend making sure you clear around any surface you're going to let the laser run free on, though, because cats notoriously do not care about breaking your things.
The laser vs. the device itself
It took Colby Jack and his beautifully soft walnut brain a few days to realize what he was supposed to do with the floating light. For the first day, any time I turned on the automatic laser toy, he would stare exclusively at the toy itself, completely ignoring the laser it projected across the room. But, after getting used to the device, he got comfortable enough to play with the actual laser. My friend's cat, Frankie, had a similar experience with the toy: uninterested in the laser at first, but encapsulated by the machine itself. After a few plays, though, both cats came around, trying to catch the red dot. If you end up trying out the automatic laser toy, give your cat a few tries to get accustomed to it.
Since you can change the positioning of the device by moving it onto a table or sliding it down onto the floor, you've got a pretty large range of motion. But I found that you don't want to put it up too high. When I tested out putting the toy on top of my refrigerator, the laser wasn't quite bright enough for Colby Jack to hunt.
Is it worth it?
The biggest downside for me is that it is a bit loud. You can hear it running the entire time it's on, which sounds like a low hum. I don't have any problem with low-level white noise, but it's definitely something to consider.
At just over $20, which is about $15 more than your classic toy on a string, I think it's absolutely worth the price if your cat actually wants to play with it. The toy keeps Colby entertained for the full 15 minutes, but some reviewers note that their pets become disinterested around the 10-minute mark.
It depends on your individual cat, but for me and Colby Jack, this toy is absolutely worth it.
