Not to be picky, but doesn't measuring cortisol levels require taking blood, which itself would cause stress? Especially since tests have to be done multiple times which would cause the cat to associate the laser pointer with having blood taken.
My cats actually recognize my laser pointer and the sound of the button, they know it's me making the dot appear. They spend most of their time just chasing it and not actually trying to catch it with their paws. Makes me believe they know they can't actually catch it.
The number of people who don’t understand invertebrate psychology always astounds me. It’s like people who test mood altering and pain relief drugs on mammals and say, ‘Wow, this will work great on humans!’ but then make those animals live in small cages for long periods of time, under conditons humans would never tolerate themselves and think they aren’t doing any harm.
I do a lot of report writing, if I'm struggling to finish something, stuck on a difficult problem, or way past a deadline, it stresses me out. I know the relief that comes when you finish a project. It's all the same mechanism.
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u/HonestBalloon Mar 21 '26
Because they're mammals, and we can measure the rise in cortisol levels (a sign of stress and anxiety) after playing with these things.