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Published on March 1, 2008

The machine hums away, and she curls up next to it, chirping happily as a printed page appears.

One reader reports that his cat actually lifts the page out with a dainty claw and hands it to him. Angel doesn't go that far; she's simply content to enjoy the moment.

Now my entire cat herd has been brightened up by the addition of a new machine, a laptop, which has replaced my old PC. At first, I thought that the cats would miss the aged piece of high-tech. Its CPU served as a tummy warmer for Malee in cool weather; its terminal as a perch for my big boy Pan-Pan.

Instead, the cats instantly took to the laptop. The extra space on the table can now accommodate three cats - four, if one of them settles down on the laptop's keyboard.

Although I can still type - I've connected a "normal" keyboard to the laptop - the cat on the keyboard blocks the screen.

I'm not too happy about the cats' direct contact with the machine for another reason.

There's nothing like cat hairs working their way inside to reduce the machine's effectiveness.

Some pet-owners tell me that they have banned their animals from their work area. There's just too much havoc a pet can wreak on a delicate machine. Because of the way my house is set up, I could never keep the animals away from me while I work. About once a week, I run the vacuum cleaner lightly over both keyboards, just to remove surface detritus.

I also hope for the best. Pan tried only once to sit on top of the open laptop. As soon as he raised his huge bulk to the upper edge of the screen, the laptop toppled over. No, it didn't crash to the floor. It was plugged in to the electrical source, and the wires held it inches above the tiled flooring. The cat stared briefly at the helpless machine and then turned to me, as in "What's going on here?"

Wan-Wan the poodle pup hasn't had much opportunity to meet the laptop. She does have opinions about its sound system, growling when I open an e-mail with a musical attachment and barking hysterically whenever she hears, "You've got mail."

Nevertheless, she also presents a problem. Since she enjoys pulling at things like tablecloths and the dangling straps of my handbag, I'm extremely careful to keep the laptop's wires out of her reach.

Yet nothing's foolproof. When I return home after a short trip, I'm met with a strange sight. There's Angel on the table, trying to push the laptop on to the floor. Malee is just as industriously trying to pull the wires out of its side. So far, they haven't been able to coordinate their efforts, but neither one is stupid. Eventually, they'll figure out how to work together.

It's a lot of work staying one step ahead of them.

Questions about your pets?

e-mail laurie@nationgroup.com.

By Laurie rosenthal  

The Nation