Power.
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The power isn’t magnetism or a spell cast to keep us from our work; only the simple pull of curiosity. There must be something fun to this, the cats think, because my human finds it so fascinating.
Their focus is on what we are doing with our hands. While I’ve had cats poke at the keys, and there’s a favorite picture in the rotating header of wee Olwyn pretending to be me at my laptop, most cats settle for the attention they get from such close proximity.
What? Some people ignore cats on their keyboard? Right. Since that so rarely happens, we keep reinforcing the whole keyboard/proximity/attention alliance.
The best we can do is shield both of us from when the attention is detrimental. Here’s some safety tips:
Don’t leave our cats opportunities. If our system has a separate keyboard, it can wind up in our lap… and then somewhere else when our lap goes into the kitchen for coffee.
Make the somewhere else a spot where all of the keyboard is supported. Leaving a hanging ledge off the side of our chair is asking for the cat to try to land on it and flip it over.
Likewise, if we are leaving a laptop for a minute, close the lid. It’s what it’s for.
Lock them out. Using the search term “keyboard lock” can let us find programs to “lock” our keyboard. I used to have one; I pressed a quick key combination which stopped all keyboard input. Now, working on a laptop, I just close it up when I step away.
The problem is not just our cat’s editorial contributions. It’s simple to come back and delete the line of “2890jsl’02js” that appeared in the middle of our deathless prose. But that’s not all cats do.
They are famous for their ability to find amazing combinations that will scatter their keypresses all over the document, resize the browser, and find previously unknown portals into other dimensions. I’ve had them crash programs and reboot the computer.
The finest example of such computer safeguards is the program for the PC called PawSense. It analyzes the input from a cat’s paws, detects the unique patterns, and then locks the keyboard from further input.
Keep our tasty beverages out of range. I’ve repaired dozens of malfunctioning computer keyboards after soda, coffee, or even water spilled into them. Most people do all the wrong things when a spill occurs. The right way to handle it is:
Computers are part of our lives. When cats are too, we need to take some simple precautions, so everyone gets along.
For more cat/computer safety tips, see Cat Proof the Computer.
Cats behave the same way with books and magazines; see Cats and the Printed Page.
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There’s more to raising and training a cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my CAT TRAINING TIPS.
My cat Marmalade has better knowledge of computer than me and he is constantly sitting at the keyboard.
The worst damage to a keyboard I’ve had that was cat-related was when the late great Boris tried to jump into my lap and failed, which made me laugh so hard I accidentally sprayed the keyboard with milk.
That still counts as the cat’s fault, right?