Why do animals like sitting on things? (eg newspaper, wrapping paper, fabric)
Moll Flanders
Posts: 1,392 Forum Member
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Why is it that if you have a whole room for your pet to sit in, it will choose the one spot where there is a magazine left open, or some brown paper for a parcel you're wrapping?
When I was a child and my mum made our own clothes, and laid out the fabric on the floor, PLONK! - our dog would come and park her big backside in the middle of the cloth.
Later, when I had rats, if I was wrapping parcels up for Ebay, and had a piece of brown paper ready on the floor, here the rats came, ready to prance around on the paper.
And now I have a cat, if I'm lying on the bed reading a juicy story in the newspaper, in he comes, and where does he sit? - right in the middle of the story I'm trying to read.
I can understand why animals like sitting on nice soft fabric, eg a jumper you've left lying around, but why do other materials attract them so much? Is it just the novelty factor? Is there a term for liking sitting on things?
Just interested, really!
Moll
x
When I was a child and my mum made our own clothes, and laid out the fabric on the floor, PLONK! - our dog would come and park her big backside in the middle of the cloth.
Later, when I had rats, if I was wrapping parcels up for Ebay, and had a piece of brown paper ready on the floor, here the rats came, ready to prance around on the paper.
And now I have a cat, if I'm lying on the bed reading a juicy story in the newspaper, in he comes, and where does he sit? - right in the middle of the story I'm trying to read.
I can understand why animals like sitting on nice soft fabric, eg a jumper you've left lying around, but why do other materials attract them so much? Is it just the novelty factor? Is there a term for liking sitting on things?
Just interested, really!
Moll
x
0
Comments
I know our bunnies like moving their mats about so they can lie on the cold metal underneath them & the doggy likes soft blankets & beds to lie on until he gets too hot then he goes & lies on the kitchen floor because it's wood.
She does have an obsession with being 'up' on things though - boulders, walls, high banks, rocks - anything she can be 'on'. She almost did herself a mischief once trying to walk along a privet hedge. Stupid dog. Not sure whether it's small dog syndrome or she thinks she's still in the Highlands.
She doesn't do this as much now, but she used to stand on the arm of the sofa where I was sitting and reverse back until her backside was parked on my shoulder. Would sit for ages like a parrot on my shoulder.
haha bless her.
Yeah, my cat used to do this too, she'd have a whole sofa to curl up on and she would choose the part with my papers lying on it. She loved sitting in suitcases as well. I actually gave her a box once and sat her in it thinking she'd love boxes as other cats do but nope. She was always more of a bag puss.
Someone should do an experiment in a football pitch with a piece of A4 paper and a bunch of cats let in one at a time and see what happens
I've no idea why they sit on paperwork, laptops, iPads etc. Even if the area isn't a platform as such, my cat will beeline for it. I think it's a possession thing. "I'm claiming this spot."
I've no idea why they sit on paperwork, laptops, iPads etc. Even if the area isn't a platform as such, my cat will beeline for it. I think it's a possession thing. "I'm claiming this spot as MINE."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q54lVO7elt0
"Boys from the Dwarf"
My cat is a mixture of crazy and weird. He has sat on top of all sorts of things , sat in all sorts of containers and lay in all types of weird positions.
He had a habit recently of going to sleep on top of the bath towels in the cupboard. He also loves stealing my fiance's computer chair whenever he gets up which cracks me up. He knows what's happening and literally races to the seat.
He mainly prefers either his pillow or blankie. He is in heaven when lying on soft things , purring away and he goes straight to sleep.
Oh i love it
It wasn't do funny when she pee'd on a pile of free newspapers that had been left outside a shop ready to be delivered.
My own pets - the rabbits, especially my doe, loves lying on cardboard or paper, and my dog 'helps me' when I'm sewing - I spread my patterns out on the floor and he rolls all over them. The wee git
My cat does it all the time. I tend to read the newspaper and it can end up on the floor and you can guarantee the cat will come into the room and sit on the newspaper.
Daughter tends to have school work out on the rug and he will sit on her books. Last week she left a large map open on the rug and when she came back cat was curled up in a ball on it fast asleep.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i123/dollymarie/48e6c5297e443cfbd25a546c00add2d4_zps5d87ba59.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i123/dollymarie/0d32e4ef26b899023d702425db1a67f8_zps1ac59823.jpg
Aww! :kitty:
http://oi60.tinypic.com/2wp1q20.jpg
Which of course I always do, encouraging the same behaviour even though I know I shouldn't