In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death, taxes, and your cat sitting on something immediately after you start using it. If you’ve ever owned a cat, you’ll be familiar with this: want to use your laptop? Sorry, there is now a cat on the keyboard. Packing a bag? Cat is in bag now.
Anyway, it turns out that it’s not just your cat’s attempt to really annoy you: there are actually some pretty reasonable explanations for it.
And the first is...actually pretty cute. According to HelloGiggles, many cats sit on your stuff because it smells like you and makes them feel “safe and happy” – cats have a really strong sense of smell, so they can pick up your scent on anything you’ve touched.
That’s is why decoy keyboards and books don’t tend to work – your cat wants the thing you’ve been holding most recently because it smells more strongly of you.
In less cute news: it’s also because they’re territorial. You generally think of dogs as being the more territorial pet, but apparently not – cats are rubbing themselves on your stuff because they’re marking their territory. They’re trying to put their scent on your stuff to mark that they own it. Bit rude tbh.
And finally (and maybe most obviously): they’re doing it so you pay attention to them. Looking at a book, packing a suitcase or typing on a computer means that you are wasting valuable time that would be better spent playing with them.
Bloody attention seekers.
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