Cat Walks Across Computer Keyboard — And Wins Something Special
"I discovered that she'd pressed 'submit' ... I had a minor panic attack."
A curious cat named Mochi has prying paws and an obsession with flashy computer and TV screens — and the combination ended up causing a very happy accident for her human, Jessica Schleider.
Mochi has loved putting herself in between Schleider and her work from the very beginning.
The cat was found as a stray living inside a UPS truck with two of her kittens and was adopted by Schleider and her partner when the couple was still in graduate school.
"She was enthralled with my laptop from the start," Schleider told The Dodo. "I think she visited multiple websites over the course of this particular nap."
Now that Schleider is an assistant professor of psychology at Stony Brook University, where she devotes herself to research on mental health, much of her work involves applying for funding to make sure she can do the research she needs to do.
And that's just what Schleider was doing recently when she decided to take a break. The grant she was applying for was particularly important — it was worth $100,000 — so she wanted to make sure she'd dotted all the proverbial 'i's before submitting the application.
"I was working from home and decided to go outside to walk our dog, Penny, before 'taking the plunge,'" she said.
It so happened that Mochi, while Schleider was out, decided to insert herself into Schleider's work in a whole new way.
When Schleider came back, she looked at the screen and realized something had happened.
"I discovered that she'd pressed 'submit' on [the] grant application," she said. "I had a minor panic attack."
But there was nothing Schleider could do except wait for the results of the application.
Mochi seemed largely unconcerned — and as it would turn out, the cat was right not to worry.
"This week I learned that I got the grant," Schleider said. "Her screen obsession finally paid off!"