Workplace Pets

Pets seen as regular guests, residents, or "mascots":

Pets brought in for off-work days:

Any others?

(And "get that fish out of my ready-room!")

http://www.smalldog.com/ are by far the most loyal-to-their-pets company I've seen. And given that they are a 'serious' company it is even more surprising.

Please remember that Bettas are not happy and do not do as well in tea-cup sized containers, no matter what pet shops would have you believe.

I used to work for a start-up where the founder and his wife (who was also an employee) had a dog who would make regular appearances - maybe three times a week. We had a lot of space in back, so she could sniff around and chase her tail whenever she got bored with us petting her and calling her a good doggy. Even though she wasn't mine, I considered it a perk.

At my next job, we worked out of the president's apartment. He had two little kittens who had the run of the place; we had to put portfolios over the computer keyboard when we got up so that they wouldn't try to improve our code.

See http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/ for a more high-tech solution to that problem.

If you think those little koosh gizmos are good at relieving stress, you should try a purring kitten some time. And they could be very entertaining, especially once we acquired a laser pointer - the president claimed they viewed it as "the biggest, juiciest red bug ever", and he was probably right: they'd slide into walls tearing after it. -- GeorgePaci

What a great idea! Maybe you should patent it ... uh too late .. US5443036: Method of exercising a cat:

Rats. I guess he'll have to switch to using a laser pointer that you have to click twice...

It's okay to exercise your cat, you just can't sell your laser pointer as a cat exerciser.

Maximum cat/laser entertainment (for you, not the cat) may be had by shining your laser pointer onto one of the cat's forepaws. Be careful not to get the beam into the critters eyes. The animal's tiny psychotic predator mind will indeed interpret the spot as a small creature ideal for battering to death for the fun of it then not eating. Many cats respond to this situation by clamping both paws together. The laser spot is now on top of the resulting lump of paws. A really smart cat will then go into a frenzy, placing one paw upon the other, trying to catch that glittery little creature that seems to manage to jump on top again. Cats aren't used to dealing with anything faster than themselves, and even the smartest cat isn't so smart as all that. -- KeithBraithwaite

I have often infringed on US Patent 5443036. Sunlight and a wristwatch (provided it has a flat reflective surface) works just as well. Even a maglite (brand of pocket flashlight) will work on unsophisticated felines (my own are spoiled--they'll accept only a laser).

Once I encountered a real bug (actually a paw-sized spider). I pointed out the arachnid to the cats--with a laser pointer. The cat's reaction was predictable, up to the point where the cat realized that, contrary to previous experience, this time the "big, juicy red bug" was real. The cat jumped backwards almost an entire foot, then hid under the table for a while. -- ZygoBlaxell

Ferrets are faster than cats. Watching our cat try and whack one of our ferrets with her paw, and the ferret casually tilting its head out of the way was positively Matrix-like

I fondly remember one weekend morning during a death march when a coworker's golden retriever met me at the door, with tail wagging. It lightened my spirits during a bleak period. -- DaveSmith

I've been to at least two computer supply stores which have had at least one workplace cat. -- NickBensema

Powell's Technical Books in Portland, OR (which is universally regarded as one of the best tech bookstores anyplace) has a cat named Fup who entertains the customers and graces the banner on their newsletter. I think he might be more accurately named Fup II or even Fup III by now. -- RobertChurch

Cats seem to be the pet of choice for bookstores. There's a really nice one at Small World Books in Venice Beach, CA (http://www.smallworldbooks.com/), or there was the last time I was there (1999).

This would be really cool if not for the existence of allergies. What if someone with allergies starts working there? -- NickBensema

I guess that's something that always comes up in any job interviews...

Allergies usually aren't as much of a problem for workplace pets, because of the open-space nature of modern office environments. Also, if the pet doesn't live there (and is instead brought in occasionally), there's no build-up of allergens in the environment. Those with allergies may not want to sit down next to the animal for a few hours, but simply bringing it into the building won't cause noticeable reactions for the vast majority of allergy sufferers. (Though note that those with really severe allergies can seize up if you only have pet hair on your clothes.) -- BrentNewhall

I saw a huge elephant as a pet in a Philadelphia bookstore, once. When I was there, it was sleeping out near the front, where there were chairs for people to read in. -- DanielKnapp

There's a second-hand book shop in Seattle, just off Capitol Hill, can't remember the name, that has a great many cats and aerial walkways between the book cases for their convenience. -- KeithBraithwaite

[That would be Twice Sold Tales (http://www.twicesoldtales.com/tstframes.html), home of many fine books and finer cats - WillParker?]

The bookstore cat is an institution, and its origins are eminently practical. Books bound in calf or kid, with hide glue, were attractive to mice and other vermin; if you didn't want chewed merchandise and mouse turds, you acquired at least one cat. This rationale may no longer apply, but the psychological benefits endure. Take, for example, Mr. Bear, the twenty-pound ex-feral Maine-Coon-sort-of-cat who serves as my office famulus. He is vastly better at RubberDucking than any conceivable rubber duck; what he comprehends is debatable, but he does listen -- intently. And he is enough of a skeptic to be good in that role.

He had a couple little kittens who had the run of the place; we had to put portfolios over the computer keyboard when we got up so that they wouldn't try to improve our code...

There's software that will detect when keypresses are causes by paws rather than fingers and lock the keyboard for you automatically.

He had a couple little kittens who had the run of the place; we had to put portfolios over the computer keyboard when we got up so that they wouldn't try to improve our code...

It can be very useful having a cat in a software development shop.

You know those obnoxious shrinkwrap licenses that proclaim "by opening this package you have agreed to sacrifice your firstborn [etc]"? Well don't do it! Just get the cat to tear the package to pieces by putting a juicy spider or something on it.

You know those obnoxious dialog boxes that say "Click OK if you agree to exchange a pound of your flesh for the right to run this program"? Well don't do it! A small piece of fish on the ENTER key will be enough to entice the cat to do it for you.

This is what automatic screen locks are for. Mine is set to 90 seconds of inactivity, and all those keys on the keyboard that I never use (and which also happen to be around the edges of the keyboard, so they're the first keys a walking feline will hit) are configured to trigger the lock immediately. A password is required before any further keyboard or mouse input is accepted. I don't tell the cats the password.

I carry this habit from home to the workplace. I frequently explicitly lock my workstation when I'm not using it, even if I've merely turned away from the screen to answer the phone. Those co-workers who don't have cats of their own think I'm paranoid. --ZygoBlaxell

Paranoid? I've never worked in a place that allowed pets in, and I still have a terminal lock set up - my coworkers are the reason.....

I wouldn't have the heart to set up a passive password screen http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2469928627183918026

My cats really liked the fishtank / sharks and dolphins screensavers on the Irix workstations.

Not exactly a workplace pet, but whenever I'm coding my homeworks at my place, my little black cat is the best companion I can have. Cool, calm, chill, cuddly and cute. ^^

2012 update: Old cat Zorbas died, but now we have a fluffy little female cat called Pinkililinky. She looks fat but she's actually skinny, she's just so fluffy she looks twice her size.

Then there's always the DilBert strip where the programmers are getting paid for finding and fixing bugs, so DilBert gets RatBert? to do a little rat dance on his keyboard... RatBert? authors a web browser!

I keep wanting to bring my Old English Sheepdog into work. He has so many good attributes that I often find lacking in my CowOrkers:

;->

At one place I worked in around 2000-2001 we had one of those Sony Aibo robot dogs. During the day we generally left it on and it would wander around the office exploring under people's desks. It was kind of cute to feel something bumping your shoe, look down and see a small robot dog sitting there making musical bleeps at you. I think they've made a couple of new generations of the thing since then, though, so perhaps these days it would be a little more interesting.

Oh, and I'm surprised nobody on this page had a Pet Rock on their desk.... -- EarleMartin

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