What Is It With Cats & Printers? Vet-Verified Facts

If you’ve ever lived with a feline companion, there’s a good chance you’ve wondered why cats love printers so much. Cats are notorious for sitting and napping on them, indiscriminately hitting buttons (sending paper flying), sitting in the paper trays (causing paper jams), and batting at the paper as it leaves the printer (creating chaos).

Cats are frequently attracted to computers and laptops and often sit on keyboards to help their owners when they’re working. Printers are nice and warm and located on top of desks, making them cozy lookout spots. They make fun noises that cats can respond to and randomly produce paper for them to bat at. Felines often enjoy being part of activities that appear to really interest their humans.

The 4 Reasons Why Cats Like Printers

1. Printers Are Warm

Cats generally love to hang out in warm places. They prefer to relax in temperatures far warmer than most people find comfortable; it’s one of the reasons they relax in comfy cat beds in cozy, sunlit locations. It’s also part of why they love to snuggle and sit on or near their favorite people!

When printers have just been used, they’re usually warm, making them just right for cat naps! Even if your printer hasn’t been running, your cat knows it will heat up as soon as it starts going, making it a pretty good place to relax.

2. Printers Are Often Great High Perches

Printers are placed on top of desks, which is an ideal location for cats to survey their territory. Cats have strong preferences for relaxing in spots that give them great views of what’s going on.

Indoor cats love to hang out in high places with great views where they can watch birds fly by. Printers placed in front of windows are perfect for that.

3. Printers Make Great Toys

Cats love to play with objects that are slightly unpredictable; it taps into their hunting instincts, as mice and insects often make quick random movements when trying to escape. Printers are kind of like toys for cats in that they suddenly start, stop, beep, and spit things out at different speeds.

Between the noises and the flying paper, printers pretty much hit all the high notes regarding entertainment. The sounds printers make right before they kick out pages let cats know it’s time to get set for action.

4. Printers Are Interesting to You

Cats love their people and enjoy hanging out and spending time with them. Many become attached to their humans and form bonds like those between children and the people who care for them. Cats frequently show interest in what their owners are doing and are happy to be involved in whatever they’re up to.

They know that people often settle in for the long haul when working on computers. Pets who like to spend time close to their humans find ways to get comfortable in the vicinity of where their person is working, which sometimes involves hanging out on printers.

Conclusion

Printers are the perfect cat toys; they’re warm, make great places to nap, and provide fun activities. There are beeps to investigate and paper to chase, and they’re nice and warm. Printers are also located on top of desks, giving cats high places to kick back with a view and keep an eye on their surroundings.

Cats enjoy participating in activities with their humans and are happy to help out when their favorite people are working on the computer.

Featured Image Credit: Apolonia, Shutterstock