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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Talking to the cat and giving them attention until they wander offDid this help you?
- 2Switching to reading on a phone or tabletDid this help you?
- 3try treat bribing to keep her offDid this help you?
- 4have a play sesh before you start working on the puzzle againDid this help you?
- 5Keep cats in another room or a dedicated cat room while sleepingDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m nearing completion with my jigsaw and my cat can’t seem to keep off it.”source ↗
“While I think it’s very adorable, it’s greatly disrupted my sleep.”source ↗
“She also will walk all over me, almost like her goal is just to keep me awake so I can keep petting her.”source ↗
“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 ↗
“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 ↗