Why does my cat attack my book or phone when I read?
Cats target reading material because stationary objects and attention directed away from them trigger a demand for interaction. This behavior ranges from sitting directly on phones to knocking books out of hands, preventing owners from reading in peace.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Talking to the cat and giving them attention until they wander off
- 2Switching to reading on a phone or tablet
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My cat will, without fail, come up to me and either sit on my phone, or sit between my face and the phone (if I’m lying down while reading).”source ↗
Timely-Cry-8366 · r/cats · 1 upvotes
“Goes out of her way to throw it over, even if I’m not using it. She knocks it out of my hands if I’m using it, then lays on top of it.”source ↗
Dragonfly0011 · r/cats · 1 upvotes