Social media often portrays cats as standoffish creatures. But we all know that isn’t true for all felines; some of them can be extra clingy, too!
This 10-year-old fur-ball named Ziggy is the perfect example. Whenever she needs to lie down, the first place that comes to mind is her absolute favorite napping spot – his owner’s lap!
Courtesy of Rebecca May
Rebecca May and her husband, Alex, adopted Ziggy and her sister Harley three years ago from a shelter in London.
Ziggy was a shy cat at first, but as time went on, she became more comfortable with her new parents.
In fact, she has adjusted so well that invading her mom and dad’s personal space has become her daily habit.
Speaking with The Dodo, Rebecca said: “When she bonds with someone it’s just really intense. She absolutely has to be sat on you.”
Courtesy of Rebecca May
For Ziggy, an available lap is a target – when she sees one, she has to sit on one!
“Her ears go flat and her eyes go black when she thinks you’re about to sit,” Rebecca says of her cat’s adorable habit.
“It’s almost like your lap is a target and she is straight on there whether you’re ready or not.”
But if there is no lap to sit on, Ziggy will surely find a way to be as close as possible to her parents.
She would sit on their backs or balance on their arms or shoulders – the cat would do anything to be on them, and the couple usually won’t mind.
Courtesy of Rebecca May
However, when they started working from home more, the situation got a little tricky. Of course, this was all good news to Ziggy; it meant that she could spend more time with her favorite people.
But to Rebecca and Alex, having their cat climbing all over their desk and computer keyboard is not ideal, especially when they’re in the middle of a work call.
Rebecca placed a cat bed on her desk for Ziggy to lay on, but it didn’t seem to satisfy her. That’s when Alex came up with a crazy idea – creating a decoy lap.
Courtesy of Rebecca May
He took an old pair of trousers and stuffed it with a duvet cover, a towel, and a heating pad.
To make it look more realistic, Alex added tennis shoes and a pillow as a stomach. Amazingly, his invention worked!
Ziggy quickly found her way onto the fake lap and settled there comfortably for four hours.
The couple didn’t expect that their cat would fall for it, but having it at bay has helped them a lot during work hours.
“He thought that creating a decoy would be funny, but I don’t think he expected it to actually work,” Rebecca said. “Harley was totally uninterested, but Ziggy loved it.”
She posted a photo of Ziggy lounging on the decoy lap on Reddit, and other cat owners on the platform couldn’t help but admire their ingenious improvisation.
While it has worked like a charm, Rebecca thinks it’s too scary to keep up all the time, so they only use it when they have a busy day of calls. After all, nothing beats the real warmth and comfort that Ziggy would only get from a real human.
Are your cats as clingy as Ziggy?