I have encountered a slight hitch.
I cannot blog in the same room as the two new kitty arrivals.
What is it: the sound of the keys? The faint hum of the hard drive? The dancing light on the screen?
Whatever it is, within 60 seconds of the Mac laptop firing up, there is a kitten sitting on the keyboard. They are the heavy mob; they do not hover above, but make their presence felt. Tweeting, flipping through blogs, messing with my sound and lighting, posting random messages.
Does anyone have any advice?
Kate Shrewsday 
Go to the room, play with them until they are exhausted. Once asleep you an get on with other stuff
It’s the ‘until they get exhausted’ bit that’s a bit tricky, Sidey…
Hehe, they are banies still. Babies do become exhausted
We too had this problem, but over time it reduced. They are rather beautiful, Kate.
Great big ears, Pseu 🙂
indeed
Ahhh, perhaps a keyboard of their own is in order? 🙂
I never thought of that. I might try putting a dummy one elsewhere. Thanks, Karen.
cute kittens clutter | keyboard, claws clicking clacking | Kate’s catastrophe
Hint: they’re looking for the absent mouse…
Ha! Of course they are, Chris. Great haiku!
We have decided that Monty is the one with Cattitude, Kate.
Dad (n Mum)
Millie has her far share of pushy behaviour too, Dad ! But Monty gets results.
my old cat miss pickle once managed to delete an entire essay that I had to hand in the next day.
trouble is they want to be where you are and they really dont understand what could possibly be more interesting than they are, so they put themselves in front of you (that and the fact that kittens are little furry bastards, they grow up to be big furry bastards). you could try locking them out of the room when you’re working, but apart from the fact tha they’ll probably scratch and howl at the door, you will feel like the world’s worst cad.
playing with them is probably the best suggestion, as long as you’re aware that you’ll tire yourself out first. try throwing a scrunched up ball of paper over to the other side of the room for them to chase.
DO NOT put the printer on – there are mice inside and the mice will have to die. Branston has repeatedly disassembled our printer. we had to buy a new one when he finally killled it a bit too much.
I always think the best thing about kittens is that they grow up to be cats, and cats sleep most of the time
Agreed! I love them when they are kittens but my life returns to normal when they grow up (and then I miss all their antics)!
I’m looking forward especially to seeing Monty all grown up. A most angular ginger Tom he will be, and maybe maturity will guide him away from my keyboard, Kate.
I can hope.
Branston. What a fantastic name for a cat.
I love your Little Furry Bastards hypothesis. I think it’s spot-on.
They are beyond cute! I just want to scoop them up in my arms. You might have to turn to voice-activated typing from now on. 🙂
Now there’s a lateral idea. Trust a medic novelist to come up with the ultimate solution.
Get Maddie and Felix to take them somewhere else or lock yourself in the toilet!!!
The best advice yet, Rosemary. We have just had our toilet done and it’s every bit as posh as an office. I may trial this solution.
Get a robotic mouse and turn it loose so they can chase and play to their little hearts content.
You know, Lou, that sounds as if it just might work! Thanks!
I have never had a cat who didn’t want to be on the keyboard… that’s where the action is and what you are paying attention to. My 18-year-old who just passed away FINALLY got to the point where he would sleep between the keyboard and the monitor (although he still liked to take a stroll across the keyboard) but that doesn’t help with a laptop… so that is a thought, get rid of the laptop and buy a desktop computer! I now have a new cat and guess where he wants to be!!!!! (Cute kitties, though!)
Hi RMW! We lost an 18 year old tortoiseshell a couple of years ago: companions for almost two decades. Being a tortoiseshell she was gloriously obstreperous and obstructive to the end, but keyboards were never her bag. A desktop. Genius. Off to browse.
I’ve never quite managed to solve this particular problem. There’s a natural affinity between cats and keyboards that will not be denied. Unfortunately, adulthood does not guarantee a loss of interest.
Aw, nuts.
Totally agree PiedType; we have Felix, an adult rescue cat who over the five or so years he has been with us absolutely refuses point blank to sit on us. One night in bed, I started up the laptop, having never done so before and hey presto! In seconds he was there, laid out on his back covering the keyboard on my lap so no good trying to do anything more.
Ha! Louise, what a fabulous story. Laptops trump laps, obviously!
They are heat seeking. For your kittens the keyboard is like a heating pad. I would advise setting an actually heating pad next to you for them to lay on.
This sounds most promising, Kevin. I could see this working. How clever.
This too shall pass . . . and you shall miss their constant curiosity and companionship with the keyboard.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
You think they’ll grow out of it? Time will tell, I suppose….Clive kept all his pushiest habits. But that was Clive.
They are attracted to the mouse (computer). My two cats also were initially fascinated by our computer. Now, they’re content to sleep near me in the same room.
Your cats are gorgeous, Kate.
Thanks, Judy. A most encouraging comment.
I’ve heard that boxes, like shoeboxes, next to the computer, work wonders. Cats love boxes and they will settle in them. And if they are near arms reach, you can pet them and scratch them until they fall asleep or wonder off to fetch the Sergeant Major. 😀
Rafael, that’s genius. Schrödinger must have known cats very well, mustn’t he?
Clearly they would like to write their own post! Once they have done one, they should settle down :).
I shall let them post, and see what happens…
Given time….a new Shakespeare:)
Good. He can earn his keep.
I can’t advise about how to keep them off the keyboard, but I was advised by the nice chap at Apple to always leave the lod of the laptop slightly open so the cat doesn’t sleep on it. It’s weight can drive the imprint of the keys into the screen.
Ooh, that’s a sound piece of advice, Isobel, thank you!
My friend Kenneth posted a photo of Star Wars mice toys today…………surely Darth Vader could mesmerize them……..
Andra, I saw them on Google plus, what star toys. Darth might be just what they are looking for; though R2D2 would be just perfect.
I think Andra needs a kitten. Or two. 🙂
They are the bloggers of the future. Encourage them. Teach them the craft. Once they take over, they may allow you to post now and again. Or, at least, kindly allow you to do the research for them!
Pay Mac with his favorite treat to stand guard 🙂
Today is the day we broker introductions, Hope. Hoping for an entente cordial.
I can relate but I don’t have any advice. Molly always wants to help me work!
I remember Clive scrabbling up my back and sitting on my head before attempting to abseil down my face, Tandy. I suppose I’m getting off lightly.
No, but I have a smile now. Want it back? 🙂
I have plenty. Hope yours lasts a long time 🙂
Adorable!
Tomcat Fightback loves the keyboard Kate and has revealed a myriad of alt/stroll/shift combos that even Microsoft do not know exists. That aside – just shoo them off
What cute kittens you have! My girl cast Princess makes it a habit of getting on top of my laptop and sitting there (whether it is open or not) to let me know that she is hungry and I need to stop whatever I am doing and feed her immediately. She has been doing this since she came home with us over 2 years ago. Thankfully she has not written anything or deleted anything yet- knock on wood!
1.My advice: give up computing now; that’s a battle you’re not going to win so save yourself the heartache.
Or
2. Get rid of the cats.
It was nice knowing you 😉
How cute they are! You may need to use your speech to text feature! 🙂
Write about nothing else but cat-astrophes!!!
A bit of catnip on the carpet, perhaps? Love the photos – too cute.
They are adorable! I wish I had some advice, but no. Our cats like to tangle around our legs but they don’t lay on keyboards. Well, catnip is often served to be a good distraction. Good luck!
I completely agree with Redneck Garage. Cats are heat seekers, but maybe if you placed a heating pad in a shoe box (two heating pads and two shoe boxes in your case) you can broker a deal with Monty and Millie. Or maybe they just want to grab your attention and they know the best way to do this is to hover on or near your Mac Kate. Maybe this calls for some action from the Mac with four legs. Lots of maybes here …
So adorable! I would never get anything done and would just snuggle with her.
Ohmygoodness, I have been away too long. They are gorgeous. I suggest a full stop on activities which don’t involve their fabulous, enormous ears.
You know you’ll just need to buy them both their own laptops, they’d probably like Macbooks because they get nice and warm!
I had a similar issue with my Meret. I eventually dedicated a cat shelf to her from where she could watch my every keystroke without getting in the way. Darn, I miss that cat.