Why do cats lie on our books? Way of Cats blog
Why do cats like to lie on what we are reading?
Because cats like to be the focus of our attention.
They are also trying to be helpful. Here we are, staring intently at something that is not moving, not crackling, not staring back with beady little eyes; something that is not doing anything! We must be bored out of our tiny-eared skulls.
Cat will help.
There, isn’t that better? Stare at meeeeeee. I will stare back at you. I will pull that yarn-decorated bookmark out of the book and kill it. I will show you my belly. This is much more fun, isn’t it?
Cats know they spend a lot of time staring at things, but those things have interest to them. The cat doesn’t hang themselves over the front of the TV set, do they? (Well, sometimes, to get a better view.) They can understand why we stare at the television. It moves. It has sounds coming out of it. Not anything interesting to them, unless we are watching nature documentaries on birds and bugs, but it’s something they can understand.
Staring at printed pages and occasionally turning them is something the cat cannot comprehend. However, the cat does know we like it, and thus, it is worthy of their study. This is why they like to lie on books, pull the bookmarks out, and even mimic our behavior at times by placing their paws on open books we might have around. They want to understand why we are so fascinated with these objects.
By acting towards these objects as we do, they might figure it out.
Cats will probably never achieve literacy, but this behavior is evidence of both empathy and intellect. They are able to imitate us. They do. Even though there isn’t any instinct or impulse native to the cat that lets them make any sense of our reading behaviors.
They do it because they love us, and want to share interests.
Like any friend who goes along with something just to keep us company, it is a true expression of companionship.