If you're a writer (and I'm assuming that you are if you're reading this), and if you have one or more cats in your home, then you know what's probably going to happen next. It's a situation that I was hoping to avoid by feeding them and filling their water dish before I sat down to write. Yes, you know what I'm talking about. In a few minutes or less, one or both of them will pounce on my keyboard and then proceed to walk across the keys, or sit there and look at me as if pondering why in the world would I be doing something as silly as typing away on the keyboard when I could be doing something much more constructive like, say, scratching her back or rubbing her belly. At one time I actually thought that I was the only one afflicted with cats that felt divinely endowed with the right to interrupt my writing, but I soon found out that many cat-owning writers were under a similar siege from their feline friends.
"Cats are narcissistic. Their needs come before ours. They don't understand the word "No." They carry themselves with that aloof, arrogant sense of perpetual entitlement, they will jump up and insinuate themselves wherever they please--on your lap, on your newspaper, on your computer keyboard--and they really couldn't care less how their behavior affects the people in their lives."
- Caroline Knapp
Does Caroline's assessment match up with your experience? The cats here in my home still haven't moved, so maybe they're enjoying my discomfort or maybe they just haven't made up their minds... geez, there's a horror story in this somewhere. Cats, as you may well know, are curious, intelligent, and territorial. So you pounding away at your keyboard as you wend your way through your most recent work-in-progress, may set off one or more of your cat's natural attributes. They may jump up on your keyboard because they're simply curious about what it is that you're doing. Their inherent intelligence may also prompt them to see how what you're doing correlates to their own lives and quality of existence (am I reaching here?). Your cat(s) may also be wondering why your keyboard, a usually inanimate actor in their territory, warrants more attention than he/she does at the moment. I mean, really, who knows? I could go on at length but must stop myself short before I find myself anthropomorphisizing these wonderful creatures further and thus relegating them to the realm of cartoons. Let's hear (or read) from another cat-owning writer:
"Recently, Japanese website My Navi examined this issue that has confronted cat owners as long as there's been computer keyboards. Cats, My Navi pointed out, love warm places, and computers offer just that. In fact, cats like temperatures as hot as 126 degrees Fahrenheit! This is why cats are always lounging in the sun, and this might be due to the animals' desert ancestors.
What's more, cats love things that move and make noises. Computers are a hive of activity, with things happening onscreen as well as blinking LED lights on monitors, computers, and keyboards. The cursor, in particular, is of great interest to our feline friends, My Navi notes. Its movement probably reminds cats of insects.
Keyboards are somewhat pliant in that they "give" when they cats walk across the keys, pressing them down. Cats love soft things, and this probably also helps your keyboard seem like a cool kitten place to hang out and punch out a few paw strokes.
And finally, cats want attention. They want your attention! And if you are spending too much time at the computer, a stroll across your keyboard is your cat's way to say, hey, look at me. But since the area is warm, active, and tactile, it makes the computer a place your feline friend likes just as much as you do."
-Brian Ashcraft
So there you have it. I hope that this post has helped solve why cats are so darn attracted to your keyboard, especially while you're using it. The two cats here seemed to have gotten bored and wandered away, giving me the rare opportunity to get some writing done uninterrupted and unimpeded... Or maybe they're just plotting their next move.
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