Feline Behaviour24 August 20264 min read
Why Your Cat Sits On Your Laptop (A Formal Investigation)
It is warm, it is yours, and it is the exact size of a cat. The case practically writes itself.
You have deadlines. Your cat has a warm rectangle. Only one of you is behaving rationally, and it is not the one with a calendar invite.
The three great motives
- Heat. A laptop runs at roughly the temperature of a sunbeam that never sets. Your cat has done the maths.
- Attention. Your hands were moving, your eyes were fixed, and none of it involved him. Intolerable.
- Ownership. You touch it constantly, so it smells of you. Sitting on it is less theft than co-signing.
What to do about it
Nothing that involves arguing. Place a folded blanket beside your desk, ideally somewhere slightly higher than the laptop, and let him choose the throne over the keyboard. Cats rarely surrender a spot; they simply upgrade.
A cat does not interrupt your work. A cat reminds you that the work was always optional.
And if he insists on the keyboard anyway, consider it a portrait sitting. He has already assumed the pose of a creature who expects to be painted.