This morning while I was trying to get myself organized to start work, Sally came around looking for some attention.  Which of course meant that I had to stop whatever I was trying to start doing and give him some.  I scratched his chin a bit and when he was walking away, I grabbed the end of his tail and shook it.

There was something about the way the morning light was coming in from the windows that lit up all the dust that came flying out of his fluffy tail.  It was like shaking out a feather duster!  Of course, my first thought was bath time!  But I also realized that I hadn’t really thought about how much dust these kitties must pick up as they go through their days waving their fluffy tails around the house.

Mr. Man and I tend to only think about the messes that the cats make – cat hair on everything, cat food all over the floor by their bowls, the little bits of cardboard that they rip out of their cardboard cat scratchers…we never think about what they do to help clean up around here. I decided that today I would give the kitties credit for all the ways they help keep things clean.

Aside from their fluffy, feather duster-like tails, they also have very fluffy tummies that make excellent dry mops as they slide and roll around on the wood floors. You would think that they wouldn’t like chasing their toys around on the wood floors, where it is harder to get a grip. But the slipping and sliding is part of the fun.  Anabel has some moves when she is chasing after her ballerina mouse where she starts to slide, then sprawls out and spins around.  She winds up facing the opposite direction.  Sally prefers the belly-flop slide when he is playing catch with Mr. Man.  He chases after the toy mouse, sliding in to capture it.  Then he picks up his prize and returns it to his playmate.  Mr. Man can get the whole floor dusted just by varying where he throws the mouse!

Anabel and Sally also have that well-documented cat quality of not tolerating cluttered surfaces.  When we leave something laying around where it shouldn’t be, we aren’t surprised when we find it on the floor.  Many times, we find it because we step on it (ouch!). One of these days the cats will finally train us to put things back where they belong in the first place.

And perhaps one of the most under-appreciated ways that they help out with keeping things cleaned up around here is their paper-shredding talents.  Anabel is particularly concerned with potential identity theft and will regularly shred any papers she finds sitting out.  She was quite fanatical about it when she was a kitten; I have the scraps of book covers to prove it.  As she’s matured, she has become more selective about what she feels needs to be shredded, although she continues to have a big hang up about post-it notes.

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One great thing about working from home is that I do have my kittens at work with me.  Every day is take your cat to work day in my life.  And they are very good helpers.  They both have their spots and when I settle in to start working on my writing, they go to their designated places nearby and get hard to work on their mid-day sleeping.  It actually makes me feel like I need to stay at my computer and be productive because they are making a point of keeping me company after all.

Many years ago, the gal that I worked with suggested that we get an office cat.  It was just the two of us and we were both cat lovers; it was an intriguing idea.  The only problem was what were we going to do on weekends and holidays?  Both of us already had cats at home who were not likely to appreciate company, even if it was only part time.  Around that time, Mr. Man gave me a pair of kitty stuffed animals who sufficed as our office cats.

Here are a few of the great benefits of having your cat help out at work (that I just made up):

• They make a great paperweight.
• Cats are good at filing (if you use the floor as your filing system).
• Free notary and paper shredding service.
• The heat generated by your computer doesn’t go to waste.
• I once had an office in an old building that had mice – that wouldn’t be a problem if I had an office cat.
• Cats are a good judge of character, they could help with interviews and client meetings.
• Prevents you from having to meet with people who think they are allergic to cats.
• Getting up to pet the cat ensures that breaks are taken.  Petting cats is also proven to relieve stress and can help to generate great ideas.
• Reduces absenteeism – workers would miss seeing the cat more than they would want to miss work.

Places that are open 24-7 (or at least every day) like police stations, firehouses, and hotels are good venues for live-in workplace cats.  Other workplaces like shops and offices would probably require a commuter cat – one who is brought to work in the morning and taken home at night, like when my friend took her cat to her office.

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