Lap cat problem?

I love Swanie to death, I love to cuddle with him, but when he's on my lap I can't do anything else. He's a big guy and sprawls out and stretches and I end up having to hold him on half the time so he doesn't fall off. The problem? I can't sit down without him jumping on my lap. I really want to get back into my crocheting, but every time I sit down - couch, chair, floor, whatever, there he is. He can be sound alseep on another floor, I sit down, and there he is. I don't want to discourage him, I just want to figure out a way to sit in a comfortable location and do something other than hold him on once in a while. He has even been getting on my lap when I'm at the computer if I don't put the chair in close enough so that he doesn't have room.

Any ideas how I can decide when it's okay for him to get on without discouraging him forever?

My three are exactly the same Some of the members here will really envy you, because a lot don't have lap cats and would love them

The only thing i can think of is to push your chair in closer like you already do?

Cats are so funny like that. I have 3 cats and they are all very affectionate but none seem to want to stay on my lap. The funny thing is Manny always sits on my adult son's lap only. In fact he insists if he is on the computer. My son will sometimes put him down and he jumps right back up 2 seconds later. I can't figure out why he won't sit on mine as our laps are similar lol. Manny and I are very bonded in other ways....he'll sleep next to me etc. Bru is very affectionate on his own terms like cuddling in bed but if I put him on my lap he'll struggle to get down. Brady likes to be petted and I can pick him up if I'm standing only. He's the most independent of the 3. Cats just seem to have a mind of their own

Simple. Don't hold him on. He'll slide off, and sit somewhere else!

SO many people wish they had a lap kitty, till they have one! I would put a chair next to you with a kitty curl up blanket or bed on it. This way he can be close to you but not on you.

I would describe Zane as an intermittent lapcat.

One of my cats always likes to lay on my lap when I'm on my laptop ironically lol.

He is actually on my lap right now as I type! Sometimes its funny because he will stretch out his paws and put them on the keyboard. No matter how many times I take him off my lap and put him next to me, he always gets right back on.

Originally Posted by cheylink

SO many people wish they had a lap kitty, till they have one! I would put a chair next to you with a kitty curl up blanket or bed on it. This way he can be close to you but not on you.

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Don't get me wrong, I love having a lap kitty and love him sitting on my lap. It's just that sometimes I would like to do something that requires a little more room to maneuver. When I sit on the couch, he has the opportunity to be next to me, and chooses my lap instead.

It's a fairly new development that he will jump on my lap whenver I sit down, so maybe it's just a passing phase and I should enjoy it while I can and forget about everything else

Originally Posted by mrblanche

Simple. Don't hold him on. He'll slide off, and sit somewhere else!

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Actually, when he slides off, he looks at me as if to say "how could you throw me off??!" Then he jumps back on.

Mine are both lap cats, and yes, sometimes it is frustrating, because on one hand, I want to snuggle them both always, but on the other hand, I have work to do, and sometimes it is not convenient for them to be mauling me.
I push them down when I am really busy, and they try again almost immediately, and I push them off, and then usually they go away for a while. This has never discouraged them. In fact, I do think it has trained them to 'ask' first, in a sense. Either of them will sit next to my chair and 'cry' at me until I invite them up. If I say no they will settle down nearby instead. Same with sharing the bed, or the couch, or wherever.
It's a privelidge, not a right, and it works both ways. I never force either of them to cuddle if they don't want to, they come of their own free will. I do invite them sometimes, but they choose whether they are in the mood or not. And that's fine, because sometimes I am not in the mood either, you know?

When Hennessy's being annoyingly cuddly I pick him up and HUG, love, and generally over-fawn on him and he gets annoyed and leaves me alone...

for a while.

I too have a lap cat--and I mean that to its fullest extent. Don't get me wrong at times I absolutely love it--because Jack has never really been a lapcat.

I have read a lot on here about how we sometimes forget how much our cats understand us. So when Harley is invading my personal space so to speak, I politely tell him "mommy loves you but really isn't in the mood for kitty loving, can she have some time alone to do ____________, then later we'll have kitty love time" and I often have to gently push him from my space. He seems to understand and let me be for a while. I'm always sure to allow him time later just as I said we would for kitty love time.

He always comes back for more so I don't think he's been offended yet!

Leslie

Moose does this four-legged kneading thing and would probably do it 400 times a day if I let him. I used to walk around with a pillow and placed it on my lap when I sat down, and that turned him off and he's now content with one "knead" session per day, and I no longer need the pillow.

Ginger will only snuggle next to me, she hates being picked up & will not sit in anyone's lap...pepe on the other hand wants so much attention you would think she was abandoned & homeless!

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've had to ask Allen to move his great furry behind to an alternate location so I could do something besides hold onto him - like your cat, he's too big to stay sprawled in my lap without assistance - and he's never been insulted enough that he didn't come back and try again in an hour or so.

Ask your kitty to leave off the cuddles when you need some space. Respect is a two-way street.

Both Spooky and Mulder are 'lap' cats. They constantly want to be on top of me - it is not uncommon for me to have one on my lap and one on my shoulder. At 14.5 lbs Spooky also frequently has to be held on and you really can't get anything done.

I have mentioned in the past that I talk to my cats (I live alone, who else to talk to?) about whatever I'm doing. If they are on me and I need to go get something done I just tell them I need to get up, and gently put them somewhere else comfortable. Usually now when I tell them they just get up and either follow me to to wherever it is I'm going to watch and try to 'help' or they go lay down somewhere else until I invite them back again.

Neither of them really seems to get offended by this.

Anastasia is my lap cat, every time I sit down there she is. If I really don't want her there I just put her on the floor and say, not now Anabelle. She turns around and yells at me, but does leave for a little while

Originally Posted by Misty8723

I love Swanie to death, I love to cuddle with him, but when he's on my lap I can't do anything else. He's a big guy and sprawls out and stretches and I end up having to hold him on half the time so he doesn't fall off. The problem? I can't sit down without him jumping on my lap. I really want to get back into my crocheting, but every time I sit down - couch, chair, floor, whatever, there he is.

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gee, 'wish I had Your dilemma. I guess You could always do tidings In an off Limits Or Closed Off area Like a bathroom?

In the room I spend most of my time I have two chairs. One is my lapcat chair and the other is my other things chair. When I sit in the lap chair they always jump up on my lap. In the other chair I don't let them.

All I had to do is hold my hand open in front of their faces when I saw them getting ready to jump up and quietly said "No." It only took a few times. The first few times was probably a bit louder though.

I figured that was better than possibly sending mixed signals about whether it was OK to sit on my lap or not. I don't spend enough time sitting in the other chairs in my house to know what they would do.

I was actually going to post a similar question, or at least some of the responses on here have been similar to what we're experiencing with our cat Peaches... She's very sweet but the ONLY time she'll voluntarily get up in our laps is when my wife or I sit down in the chair in our office... She will not have anything to do with us all day and bam the second my butt hits that chair she's on my lap... And then when I get down and go to the couch it's as if I never existed. She obviously has some comfort with that chair but neither of us can figure it out.