The Great Furry Anti-Reading Conspiracy

[specsavage]

It is a conspiracy.

I didn’t used to think so. It started so slowly, you see.

Sitting there, just reading the morning newspaper (dating myself, now), minding my own business. Suddenly…foom! A furry butt has landed in the center of my reading material, messing all the creases my butler has so thoughtfully ironed in. Okay, the butler thing is a lie, but still. Or it might be a studied slump onto my comic book, or a tail flicking thoughtlessly across the pages of my book—followed by a hiss when I quite naturally used it for a bookmark, or seeing fluttered pages as an invitation to attack. These scenes had filled my life.

Then, I got an e-reader. I thought I was home free—no more furry interference. That is, until this morning, when the current furry resident got caught doing an all-claws-out tapdance on my Kindle.

A conspiracy, I tell you! Cats are out to keep us less well-read! [P&R comment deleted by moderator.] Right?

[crich70]

So did the fur fly when you saw kitty trying to figure out how to use the Kindle? lol.

[taustin]

I had a roommate whose cat would do that. Until the day he was reading a newspaper on the dining room table. You see, we were hosting a dinner party that evening, and the table needed to be expanded with the leaf in the middle. It had been pulled apart, but the leaf wasn't in yet. Kitty headed right for the middle of the paper, and dropped right through. Landed on his feet, with his best "I meant to do that" look, but he never went looking for attention that way again.

[Yolina]

My resident furballs mastered the page turn buttons on the K3 pretty much as soon as I got it ("Oooh what's that you're holding? Oooh it's new...quick Must.Rub.Head.Against.It") and I've also received feline assistance when reading on the PW. Lost count of the number of time my e-readers have been walked or slept on...

[elemenoP]

This thread is worthless without pics.

eP

[treadlightly]

Reading Chair Occupation is a commonly employed tactic around these parts. If the reader gets up to make tea, further reading will be prevented by denying the reader the use of the seat.

[crich70]

I don't have any feline assistance.

[soulfuldog]

Further proof (as if any was needed in light of the mass murder all cats seem to indulge in, mainly for fun), that cats are evil. Never mind terrorists/extremists, it's the cats who are out to take over the world!

[sharphamster]

Back in the day, I actually thought that the cats went for the newspaper while I read it on the floor because they like the crunchy sound it made under their feet. So wrong.

Now I know better - they LOVE inserting themselves between me and the screen of my laptop or my reader almost as much as they love chasing the laser pointer light.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by sharphamster

Now I know better - they LOVE inserting themselves between me and the screen of my laptop or my reader almost as much as they love chasing the laser pointer light.

Luckily, the only technology Lexie is interested is in is the motion sensor my father installed on the hall light last week. She walks into the hallway and light switches on, then she sits still for a couple of minutes until the light goes off and then she moves again to have it switch on again. However, she does like to rub her chin on the corner of my Oberon case when I'm reading.

Nikita quickly learned that sitting in front of my laptop screen would bring out a cat that hissed and snarled back at her when she did the same (webcam) and didn't do it anymore.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by sharphamster

Back in the day, I actually thought that the cats went for the newspaper while I read it on the floor because they like the crunchy sound it made under their feet. So wrong.

Now I know better - they LOVE inserting themselves between me and the screen of my laptop or my reader almost as much as they love chasing the laser pointer light.

My husband bought a laser light for my cat. He is no longer allowed to use it because it takes a minimum of 2 days for my poor cat to recover from trying to find that damn light. He will sit in the room for hours at a time and whip his head back and forth all over the place looking for it. He's absolutely obsessed! Any light that reflects off the walls or even the ceiling has him running for it. He's tried numerous times to jump at the ceiling using my head as leverage

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by sharphamster

Now I know better - they LOVE inserting themselves between me and the screen of my laptop or my reader almost as much as they love chasing the laser pointer light.

Lucky for you that patent 5443036 expired in 2007 for failure to pay maintenance fees.

http://www.google.com/patents/US5443036

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_exercising_a_cat

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

My husband bought a laser light for my cat. He is no longer allowed to use it because it takes a minimum of 2 days for my poor cat to recover from trying to find that damn light. He will sit in the room for hours at a time and whip his head back and forth all over the place looking for it. He's absolutely obsessed! Any light that reflects off the walls or even the ceiling has him running for it. He's tried numerous times to jump at the ceiling using my head as leverage

Poor kitty. I can just imagine how frantic he is.

[troll05]

My tomcat found either out how to read or he just operates the touchscreen to make me angry.Yesterday I came home and my current book was on the last page, today the same.
Maybe I schould learn to switch it off and close it.

BTW, sitting on a sofa reading is the best way to learn all about the a..hole of the furry a..hole that owns you.

Dogs have masters, cats have servants!

[poohbear_nc]

All of my ereaders are in covers with a hand strap - so I can securely attach the reader to one hand, preventing those "accidental" pushes and falls from innocent cat feet, and freeing the other hand to deliver uninterrupted head pats to the most important beings in my life. It costs more, but the peace is worth it!