Not all of us are work-at-home parents to human kids; many are cat lovers and parents to furry babies who are essential family members.
As life (hopefully) starts going back to normal in the months ahead, we might have a lesser need for pet-proofing. Yet, they may not be completely gone. Some employers might continue to enable more remote jobs after seeing just how efficient their groups were from their home offices. If your company has adjusted this strategy, you might wish to think about making a pet-friendly home office.
You and your pets might be enjoying being with each other while you work. However, that doesn't imply your office is safe for your cats. Keep your actual boss (your cat) happy by creating a feline-friendly home office with the help of these practical office setup ideas:
Think about protecting your keyboard
Felines love to make use of keyboards as their treadmills and nap mats. This is fun for them, but not for you when you notice that your cat's paws have crafted and sent a ridiculous message to your manager or deleted an important document in the cloud. You can prevent these mishaps by buying an acrylic keyboard protector.
There are also software programs that identify nonsense things that are keyed in on your keyboard. Upon detection, the software program will disable keyboard commands to safeguard your computer. Some of them will even play an aggravating noise to deter pet cats from lying down on the keyboard.
Raise your CPU off the flooring
If you're sharing a home office space with a cat or a dog, it means that you're also sharing your office with your pet's hair. Elevating your CPU will certainly safeguard its fans from the hair and prevent your cat from using it as their scratch post.
Keep your cat out for phone conferences
Taking an essential telephone call? Avoid embarrassing circumstances by offering your pets some yard time while you get on the phone. Your colleagues and clients will appreciate it.
Contain wires and cables
Pets are sure to get tangled up in messy cables and cords powering up your office electronic devices. Keep cables tucked to avoid the threat of electrocution or strangulation. You can use zip ties, cable clamps, or a cable administration system in your home office.
Keep tabs on the choking hazards
Have small items--like paper clips, pins, staples, and push pins--in boxes with covers or drawers that close and lock. When these items drop on the floor, they present a choking hazard to our beloved pets.
Establish an area just for your pets
If your pet cat is a hider, consider leaving a rack on a bookcase or a cubby empty. Your feline can have the opportunity to climb up right into it as well as "hide" from you while still hanging out in your workplace. If you have a cuddly cat that wants to be around you, you can additionally treat them with a cat cave, or you can set up a bed near or under your work desk, like this one from our shop.
You can also convert a drawer or cupboard in your work desk right into a room for your pet.
Secure poisonous workplace supplies
In the same way that you must have tiny office products that could cause your pet to choke, keep harmful workplace materials--like toner cartridges, ink, and also adhesive--in a protected location within your office.
Take an excursion of your home office from your pet's perspective
Take a cue from new parents baby-proofing their houses for their human babies in building pet-friendly offices. Secure your fur babies by seeing your home office from their viewpoint. This may seem silly, but I recommend you get down on all fours and observer any potential office danger. Cover electrical outlets, screw hefty shelving to the wall, and lock closet doors that cause products that could harm your pets.
Do you allow your cats in your home office? How do you make it work for the both of you?
