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How to Harness Your Cat’s Demonstrable Contentment for Personal Productivity [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-04

My cat and I have perfected a symbiotic relationship. Right now I’m lying flat on my back in bed staring at the ceiling, which throughout my life has opened my mind up to ideas and planning.

Ever since being gone for a week last summer, my 30-pound cat has altered his habits to best keep me from leaving him. And to that end, he’s taken up the notion of parking his hind quarters in my right armpit. It’s a pretty effective tactic.

So at this moment, I have my right hand across his vast expanse with my fingers gently lying on his left flank.

And I play his tail like a trumpet. Just a tiny bit of movement and his tail swings with predictable force and timing, depending on the frequency of my little blips of input. I have to be careful not to overstimulate him though so my inputs are sometimes sparse.

Whack. Thwack thwack. As I contemplate, I get it on my arm, throat, or chin if he’s properly positioned. It’s not a bushy tail so it’s not as intrusive as it could’ve been with previous cats.

I plan. I think. Whack. Mentally I scratch my chin. Thwack whack. Physically he hits it. WHACK. I adjust the amplitude. Contact is between one and four seconds generally.

With an exceedingly gentle yet steady pace of prodding, his tail flails metronomIcally. I stop momentarily. The tail stills. Then WHACK. His unconscious mind is demanding continuance. I comply. Back to the sparse but steady input and output. Ideas germinate.

And perhaps before I’m ready, the session is over. He readjusts, lays his head down for nap time, and his tail is no longer in play.

Same time tomorrow?

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