by at 4:50 AM • • In the indelible words of the late Joan Rivers, “Can we talk?” I ask this because the other day I shared a picture of Kizmet sitting in my office chair after he stole it from me when I got up for a brief second to get a glass of water. I marveled at not only how quickly the act had transpired, but also at how quickly he fell soundly asleep considering I was literally only gone a minute at best. Recognizing an opportunity to encourage some cat talk, I posted his picture on Facebook with the brief question, “Can anyone relate?” Being that my target audience is cat lovers like me, naturally I got an overwhelming response, that yes, everyone could relate and that got me to thinking further about cats and chairs and just what a great topic of cat conversation it is. So, can we talk? Can anyone tell me what the correct answer is to this scenario – You walk into your office to sit down at your chair to do some computer work and you see your cat (or cats as the case might be) already sound asleep on your chair.
(a) Sit yourself down precariously at the edge of your chair so as not to disturb your cat and type uncomfortably from that position until your neck starts to cramp in pain, forcing you to get up, (b) Leave the cat on the chair so as not to wake him/her and get a different chair for yourself, or (c) Come back later, in about 12 hours when the cat is done napping and has vacated your chair? The answer, of course, is any or all of them and when it doubt, remember that the comfort of your cat ALWAYS overrides yours and that way there is never any confusion. In this particular instance with Kizmet, I chose (b). Ironically, once I sat in a different chair, Kizmet woke from his nap to get up and sit with me. However, rather than sitting on my lap, he chose to sit BEHIND me, wedging his large body between my back and the back of the chair. Yes, I’m sure that was comfortable for both of us… The other interesting thing about cats and chairs is that their rules ALWAYS trump ours.
If you are sitting in a chair, for example, in your dining room and you randomly decide to pick up your cat up who is walking past you because you want to snuggle with them, chances are good your cat will look at you in horror, wondering how you could possibly dare pick them up and then he/she will contort and twist their body into some weird pretzel shape, struggling to get away from your loving and harmless arms, to then run off in a panicked huff. That same cat, however, will be the cat that will jump on your lap while you are sitting in aforementioned dining room chair at the most inopportune moment, like when you really need to go to the bathroom. If you will recall, however, being that the cat’s comfort always takes precedence over yours, you will just have to suffer and hold it in. Sorry, that’s just how it is. Another interesting cat/chair point is the cat color to chair color ratio. In other words, if your cat has light-colored fur that will be the cat that chooses to nap on any chair you might happen to have with a darker upholstered fabric so that the fur that sticks to the cushion is glaringly obvious (and vice verse for a cat with dark fur).
I don’t know why this phenomenon occurs but it is a fact that has withstood the test of time, and again, being that you cannot disturb a napping cat; you will either have to leave the fur on the cushion, pretending you don’t see it or do a lot of vacuuming after they wake up from their nap. In my case, I tend to ignore it for as long as possible, or until we have company… The last cat/chair topic is one I call “camouflage cats” meaning that your cat will pick a chair to nap on and somehow morph into looking like it is part of the furniture, causing you to accidentally sit on them because you did not see them. Being that it was completely innocent on your part, all you can really do since you clearly have disturbed your cat by squashing them with your body weight is to spend the rest of the day making it up to them with extra treats. There really is no other way around it. So there you have it – some cat conversation courtesy of the catch phrase of Joan Rivers. How about your cats – do you have any cat/chair stories you can share – some idiosyncrasies that I did not mention?
I’d love to hear them! Side note: While this post was not about Joan Rivers per se, I still would like to pay my respects to a woman I greatly admired and who I will miss dearly. She had been in the background of my life since I was in my 20’s and I loved her honest and raw humor. I had the pleasure of seeing her perform years ago with Don Rickles (yes, it was as crazy as you might think it would be) and I also have a few pieces of jewelry from the line she sold on QVC. I loved watching her on QVC – even off the cuff she was quick-witted and she always made me laugh. I also loved the fact that she would bring her dog, Spike, on the show with her and it was always so funny watching him wander around the set! You could see that she adored that dog and finding out that he helped her through a rough spot in her life caused me to love and respect Joan even more. RIP Joan – the world was made a better place with you in it and you will be missed… that might be of interest to you if you care to drop by and read it!
I discuss how having a cat nowadays seems so much more complicated than it did years ago when we weren’t inundated with so many rules, opinions, options, and guidelines to follow when raising a cat. I would really love your feedback on this one and for those of you close to my age; I think you will especially relate to this compelling article! Please click here to read.There have been many ergonomics studies done and it has been shown that a supportive office chair increases productivity and maximizes the efficiency of the person sitting in it. A bad office chair, on the other hand, can lead to back strain, leg problems, and carpal tunnel, all of which cause lost time at work and send turn send productivity spiraling. Most of us spend more time in our office chair than we do sleeping in our beds, lounging on the sofa — heck more time than most of us spend with our significant others and/or family! Yet the decision about what office chair to buy often ends up being far too easy a decision.
We head into the office supply or furniture store (note: Walmart is NOT a furniture store), buy whatever looks good — or whatever’s the cheapest, then spend the rest of that particular chair’s life regretting that uneducated purchase. Though it’s sad to say it, we spend a large portion of our life in that office chair. Most wouldn’t dare buy a crappy bed — we know how important sleep quality is. The office chair, on the other hand, just doesn’t get the love it deserves. At least not until a person has numerous back, neck, wrist, shoulder, hip and/or knee problems from sitting in a piece of junk chair all day long for years on end. If you’re in the market for a chair right now, or you’re sick of heading to the chiropractor twice a week ($$$), here’s the features you need to look for when making that next purchase: *Note: If you’re an employer, don’t think you can just skip over this advice. Cheaping out on a chair, or forcing an under-paid, under-appreciated employee to buy their own chair isn’t doing you any favors.
Absenteeism due to illness or injury isn’t making your company any money. A good office chair supports the lower lumbar region of the back, to keep it in its natural curve while seated for long periods. Some of the better ones will even have an adjustable lumbar support that allows the user to fit the chair to their lower back’s unique curve. The back strain caused by poor lumbar support can lead to a debilitating condition known as sciatica. Obviously, you’ll want the standard chair and armrest height adjustments. However, this usually isn’t enough flexibility to ensure all-day comfort. Look for chairs with multiple adjustment options including tilt adjustments, swivel lock, neck rest height, lumbar cushion adjustment, and even seat firmness adjustment. Such options are available as you creep past the cheap $100 or less chairs and move up into the big boy ranks. Most adjustments will be dial controlled, while lumbar and seat cushion adjustments will be controlled by a hand pump similar to that found on a traditional blood pressure measuring device.
A wider wheel base equals more stability, which leads to more comfort. Go for a narrow wheel base and you simply cannot move around as comfortably without worry of tipping, nor can you lean back and recline the chair as needed. Last, most people fail to account for the surface they’ll be seated on when buying a chair. Most common office chairs are designed for hard surfaces, while a great many offices have carpeted flooring. You can actually buy a chair, and/or replacement wheels for a chair, that are designed specifically for carpets. The harder you have to push yourself around while seated, the more potential for knee, hip and even shoulder strain. An office chair without a swivel will literally break your back if you have to reach for anything that isn’t located directly in front of you. Unnatural twisting will wreck the back, no matter how great the lumbar support and can also lead to neck, arm and shoulder strain. However, a swivel base with swivel lock is a nice feature if you’re the fidgety type, as the ability to lock the swivel from moving helps reduce fatigue in your core muscles.