Do cats really sit on laptops to copy the owners?

It's no secret that cats like to sit on laptops. But why do they do it, it still remains a mystery.

Cats are famous lovers to sleep on laptops of their owners. Similar photos and videos are regularly found on the Internet, there are even separate Pagesdedicated to domestic pets that prevent their owners from working. And in October 2020, users Twitter And Tiktok They stated that they even found an explanation of this behavior of pets. In their photos and videos, they argued that so cats are trying to copy their owners: in this way, animals are trying to be closer to the owner.

The idea liked the idea so much that they began to give out old or cardboard laptops to their pets and distributed a video in which their cats sat behind a neighboring laptop, without touching the hosts:

“I read on the Internet that cats climb on your laptop because they copy you, and if you give them your laptop, they will leave you alone - and look at this businessman!”

Although the experiment was successful in the video distributed, not everyone managed to repeat it: for example, a journalist of an American edition Slate I tried to crank up such a trick with my cat, and it did not work out. Her friends who tried to deceive their cats did not succeed either. Although animals were at first interested in the subject, they did not eventually sit on it.

Factsing portal Snopes I tried to check the hypothesis that originated on the Internet, and contacted Christine Vital, an expert in the behavior of animals from Laboratories of human and animal interaction Oregon University. According to her, the research can neither confirm nor refute that cats are sitting on laptops in an attempt to copy their owners. Although copying is one of the possible explanations, evidence that cats are sitting on a laptop to be like us is not enough.

Moreover, says Vital, different cats may have different motivations for sitting on a computer.

“Some cats can sit on a laptop to be closer to their owner, while others can simply like the heat emanating from the device, or they can sit there for other reasons,” explains Vitale. “Each cat is individual, and we cannot proceed from the prerequisite that all cats behave so for one reason.”

Nevertheless, Vital adds, it is likely that in this way the cat is trying to spend time with its master and attract his attention. And a good way to do this is to be where the human view is focused.

Although people often believe that cats are not particularly social animals, this is not so. Research ShowThat cats are optionally social, that is, they can both exist alone and enter into complexly organized social ties, including people. Like dogs, they can form attachment to the owner. IN Some research It even turned out that some cats can prefer social interaction with a person to other possible awards. Therefore, the attention of the owner can really make up an important part of the cat's life.

“If a cat does not enter into a sufficient number of interactions with the owner, it can begin to behave in such a way as to attract his attention: for example, meow or approach a person and spend time next to him,” explains Vital. “If the owner works for a laptop all day, it is logical that a cat can approach this place in an attempt to attract the attention of the owner.”

This is not for sure

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. https://www.snopes.com/Fact-check/cats-ess-on-laptops/
2. Vitale K. R., Udell M. U.R. The Quality of Being Sociable: The Influence of Human Attendation State, Population, and Human Familiary Cat SociaBility
3. Vitale K. R., Behnke A. C., Udell M. U.r. Attachment Bonds Between Domestic Cats and Humans