let’s see your animal coworkers

by Alison Green on March 26, 2020

With so much stressful content lately, we need more animal photos.

Since so many people are working at home right now, we need to see photos of your animal colleagues — your cat on your keyboard, your dog in your desk chair, your ferret on a conference call.

Submit your pets-working-at-home photos to pets@askamanager.org and I’ll compile them into a post. I’ve received 400+ so submissions are now closed!

Captions are not required but are welcome (one to two sentences; see previous post for examples). If you write something in the body of the email, I’ll assume that’s your caption; let me know if I shouldn’t use it that way.

Make sure your office set-up is visible too, not just your pet! These are work photos.

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  2. Analytical Tree Hugger*

    Make sure your office set-up is visible too, not just your pet! These are work photos.

    I read this in the same voice the Chesire Cat used as they grinned and faded from view.

    …or of the pirate cat in “The Last Unicorn”, as he talks about how he can’t give a straight answer because he’s a cat.

    1. Nervous Nellie*

      I did TOO!!! What a giggle. It also called to mind the article that floated around a few years ago about preparing a performance review for your cat.

      I have no pets, and am so looking forward to seeing our furry AAM pals.

  3. Amber Rose*

    I won’t have any of these until next week, when I might be working from home. Some of my other coworkers are sharing theirs on LinkedIn, which I appreciate.

    I also greatly appreciate every single person who has bought their pet a suit or tie to work in. We should all be keeping to professional standards even during these tough times, and that includes the dress code. ;)

    1. ThursdaysGeek*

      How much more upscale can you get than a fur coat?! Although, I can’t get them to hang it up, instead they just lay around, wrapped up in it. Slackers.

        1. old curmudgeon*

          Yup, one of mine does, too. The other two are a bit more rakish-looking (and acting), but the old fellow is very formal in his attire.

      2. sharrbe*

        Don’t worry. I’m sure Allison can block out any nsfw parts if you send in a picture.

    3. Third or Nothing!*

      Oh no. My coworker (AKA my dog) has been coming into the office naked. Probably should contact HR about that.

  4. C Average*

    You realize this post is going to crash the internet, yes?

    I am SO here for the pet pictures. Unfortunately my cat is a jerk about posing for photographs, so all my attempted shots of her are a patched tabby blur.

    1. DarthVelma*

      My cat isn’t bad about taking photos, but she refuses to do a lick of work. She just lays in her bed or on a blanket by my feet and taunts me with her napping.

      1. LunaLena*

        Mine is worse, if I make too much noise she gives me dirty looks. Like “how am I supposed to get my sleeping duties done when you’re making all this noise” kind of looks. She is definitely neglecting her furry companion duties (although she is very competent in eating and sleeping duties) even though I’ve explained that this is an essential job function to her many times. I may have to put her on a PIP.

        1. Cat Herder*

          My cat HATES speakerphone and has bitten my mobile when I’ve been using it. Zoom is driving him bananas.

      2. MayLou*

        It could be worse. My colleague made his feelings very loudly known during a work call today. Unfortunately his input which was about the presence of a CAT in the GARDEN, was entirely irrelevant to the call, which was about finances.

      3. sharrbe*

        Yep. I’m pretty much at my laptop for 8 hours, and my cats – they literally do nothing all day. All. Day. I was kinda hoping that they’d be interested in my new office set up, but no. They nap and ignore me. Where can I apply for their job????????

    2. SDSmith82*

      My cat glares at me in all the photos. “WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!?!? GO AWAY AND LEAVE THE HOUSE ALREADY. AND TAKE THE DOG WITH YOU.”

      1. Chylleh*

        I don’t think my cat has forgiven me for working from home and sheltering in place. I can only imagine she had all of these wild cat parties while I was gone, barely managing to clean it by the time I got home, and then appeared to be innocently sleeping on her cat tower when I walked in. Probably.

        1. Marion Ravenwood*

          I’m pretty sure my housemate’s cats feel the same – we were a novelty at first (‘more people to give us attention, yay!’) and now it’s wearing off and I think they’re resenting us getting in the way of all the fun/naughty cat stuff they’d be doing if we weren’t here…

    3. Amanda*

      I have a 3 month old puppy. Not only is she adorable, since we started WFH she’s insistng on working with my husband or me, often on top of the table! <3

      1. Red Reader the Adulting Fairy*

        I brought the Junior Ambassador home at 8 weeks and I’ve been WFH her whole life — be aware that what you let her do now, she will continue to do in the future. I had to replace my desk chair with a giant armchair after she hit 40 pounds, because as far as she was concerned, I couldn’t operate without her in my lap, and as far as I was concerned, I couldn’t reach my keyboard around her anymore. :) So if you don’t want her on the table as an adult, don’t let her be on the table as a baby, no matter how cute I’m sure it is!!

      2. Seeking Second Childhood*

        (eep…. teach her now to behave how you want her to behave when she’s fully grown. I guess if she’s a yorkie it’s not so bad for her to be on a table but if she’s half sneaky neighbor dog, be aware that sometimes the adoption facility guesses wrong and the dog’s larger than expected.)

    4. LPUK*

      My sisters dog has tail fatigue! He’s used to having the entire house to himself and now all his four humans are spread out in different rooms, which means he needs to go into the excited dog greetings he usually does when they come homeEveryTimeHEEnters ADifferentRoom
      Poor thing is apparently exhausted.

      1. LunaLena*

        I heard somewhere that there has been an increase in vet visits for dogs because they’re wagging their tails so much they’re spraining them. Apparently the joy of having hoomans home constantly is just too much!

  7. The Man, Becky Lynch*

    My fur-beast would never allow this but I’m so excited to see this post! I can only send in old pics of my beloved work cats we had years ago if I wanted to participate but don’t think that’s fare, LOL

    Thank you, Alison.

    Also, if you have a ferret, it’s already the law that we must be best friends.

  8. ZSD*

    Alas, I don’t have photos ready, but my new co-worker jumps in my lap to participate in Zoom meetings, even though she knows she’s not allowed on the dining room furniture.

    My new co-worker demands lots of attention and then bites me.

    My new co-worker needs help with the most basic tasks, like opening cans.

  9. Hello*

    You phrased this much better then our exec assistant. She just asked us to send in pics for the cutest coworker contest (with no other context). My husband works at the same company so ….

  10. Respectfully, Pumat Sol*

    Yay! Sent mine in. Unfortunately only 2 of 3 cats get cameos, because one of them is just too respectful to bother me during work.

  11. Roz*

    As someone who LOVES pets but can’t have any – I am SOOOOO excited for this post. Thank you everyone!

  12. Colorado*

    My 9 year old and I learned yesterday that donkey’s like Peeps! hahaha! We gave our donkey Sherman one and he gobbled it right up :D just one though

    4. Retail not Retail*

      Donkeys!!!! What is the secret!!!! We have 2 miniature ones and jolene dominates peggy sue. So if peggy sue is interested in some pats, jolene will run up and smack her!

      I’m dressed like the food bringers. I smell like the zoo, if not food. and sometimes I cut your food! Nothing.

      The low point? I’d spent like five minutes begging for attention and gave up. Crowds come in, kids, blah blah blah. Look over and jolene is letting a kid in a sparkly sequined shirt love on her! What is the secret!

  13. Anon for this*

    suggestion: be sure to blur out any work that’s visible in the picture before you submit it!

    1. Seeking Second Childhood*

      Good point. I cringe every time I see someone post images that show letters addressed to them, medicine bottles, etc…

  14. Box of Kittens*

    Sent mine in! Both cats hang out with us when we work from home but only one “helps.”

  15. Mattieflap*

    There is someone I follow on Twitter who is taking submissions of pet coworker pictures and assigning them jobs at her fictional company. It’s been going on for a week now. It’s hilarious, has threads of backstory, and is giving me life as we all survive this.

    2. MsMaryMary*

      My brother says my dog is the Chief Morale Officer. I’m a little peeved the dog has a C-suite title when he’s only been on the job for two weeks.

    3. Nervous Nellie*

      I love this! Maybe Alison could ask participants to add a job title for each critter? Can’t wait to meet Fluffy, the Purchasing Manager!

  16. Lena Clare*

    Oops, I am a dunce.
    I didn’t read the “make sure your office is visible” bit.
    I will retry tomorrow :D

    1. DataGirl*

      Yeah, I missed that too. The one I sent in is of my cat on a conference call with me, no ‘office’ equipment is visible. Oh well, just ignore it Allison.

      1. Lena Clare*

        Oh similar, my kitty is in the office but on the windowsill and none of the office equipment is showing. The other one’s just asleep downstairs on the sofa, as per. Ah well!

    2. The Man, Becky Lynch*

      I missed that part too.

      Considering my “office” will be my couch, I don’t think that it’ll count much even if my cat wants to hangout, LOL. No, I don’t even have a standard table, it’s a coffee table, oop living the bacholorette life to the fullest.

  17. Sneaky Ninja for this one*

    oh blargh! I work downstairs, and my dog, who is the best dog EVER doesn’t come downstairs. He can, he just won’t. he’s a weirdo. The cats just snooze in my bed all day. They’re cats, it’s what they do.

    1. Mockingjay*

      I think that makes him a remote worker?

      Or the Boss in the C-Suite overlooking the factory floor?

  18. MsMaryMary*

    Alison, did you mean to leave your usual auto-response on? May I suggest a special auto-response for this?

    Thanks for your email! This is an auto-reply with some additional info for you.

    Your pet is adorable. I wish I could post every pet picture I receive! The volume of pictures I receive means that I can’t post everything, but if I don’t post a picture of your pet it doesn’t mean they’re not a good boy/girl.

  19. TootsNYC*

    we have a “catscatscats” channel on Slack. That’s kind of nourishing–except that my kitty died in January, so it makes me miss her. And miss having a cat in general.

    and there’s a “dogsdogsdogs” one too

    1. Marion Ravenwood*

      We have ‘Cats of [company]’ and ‘Dogs of [company]’ groups on our Workplace channels (like the business equivalent of Facebook). It’s been lovely seeing everyone’s pets home working alongside them! Though there is an awful lot of sleeping on the job…

    2. The answer is (probably) 42*

      OMG that’s an amazing idea! My company uses Teams but I’m going to suggest it up the chain of command and see if we can get a group going!

      I’m sorry about your kitty :(

  20. WantonSeedStitch*

    Oh heck, I just sent off an adorable picture of my cats but hadn’t read the last sentence that requires the picture to show a work setup too! Darn.

  21. OtterB*

    The “You may also like” suggestions include the one about the employee sending nude Snapchats to his coworkers using animal filters.

    To be clear, this is not the kind of animal colleagues Alison wants pictures of.

  22. Mbarr*

    TMI story coming up… One of my cats suddenly decided to become a food grazer a few months ago. This means cat #2 keeps stealing the leftover food. To combat it, I bought one of those fancy RFID feeders (they scan your cat’s microchip and only open the food bowl for that cat and that cat alone.) I got it yesterday.
    Me: Tee hee, I am so smart, outwitting Cat #2!
    Cat #2: Screw you.
    Moments later is when I found out that Cat #2 puked on my bed… I found out by laying in it.

    1. Toothless*

      I feel so much sympathy for you! I found a puddle of cat pee that way once and I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone

  25. Retail not Retail*

    I would participate but “these are wild animals, not pets.”

    Let me just tell you! The gazelles, the ostrich, the bongos, the hens – verrrrrrry interested in what we were doing yesterday. And the giraffes were inside but apparently your hat is not safe around them!

    All the animals are lonely, they want your attention. How can they ignore your adulation if you’re not there?

    1. LunaLena*

      I think you should submit them anyways! My local zoo has started doing what other zoos and aquariums around the country has been doing – allowing animals to walk around different parts of the zoo/aquarium, so they can get some exercise and prevent them from getting too bored. Just this morning the morning news crew filmed an African porcupine being accompanied into the visitors’ area of the primate house, much to the interest and amusement of the gorillas.

      1. Retail not Retail*

        As i am on the grounds crew every space within and quite a few spaces without the park are my workplace

      2. Retail not Retail*

        I did not submit these as I was not on the clock so was it “work” per se? But this morning I got in early (pokemon go) and walked around a bit and it’s warm so certain animals were out… like the giraffes. And more stuck their knobby little heads out.

        The job pays little, it’s not on my career path, but I got to see the lambs again today. (Under the fiction of “what parts of the farm need mowing better check every inch”)

        1. The answer is (probably) 42*

          Hey, you play PoGo! Based on what you described I’m assuming you can’t work from home exactly, but how are people in your local PoGo community handling restrictions on leaving home?

          (I’m level 40 so I may or may not have submitted a slightly questionable Pokestop nomination that I can reach from home, there’s a Judaica art/literature store right under my apartment so we’ll see how that goes)

          1. Retail not Retail*

            I don’t know! The local friends still send me gifts and our stay at home order is pretty darn toothless so it’s not hard to walk around a park at an acceptable distance.

            This week has been so nice and while we’re closed we’re within a public park and I still see plenty of people out with their dogs.

            The big downside? When i take over a gym within the park it stays taken over until someone spoofs in!

  26. Awoooooowowowowooo*

    I wish I could somehow convey in a picture the bizarre and increasingly loud sounds my husky-mix puppy has been making while I’m on calls.

  27. EddieSherbert*

    Awww, I forgot I still had a foster puppy the last time you did one of those posts <3 He's the little brown and white guy on the bed with dog bones on it.

    (that's literally the only time I've fostered puppies! Haha)

  29. Seeking Second Childhood*

    Alas my camera isn’t able to catch the hawks outside my window. (Nor yet have the hawks caught the squirrels ALSO outside my window.)

  30. Kristin*

    Mine don’t get up on my table while I work, so probably no pics with office setup from me. No, what my coworkers do is stand behind my chair and yell for 15 minutes straight, or lick my feet, or yowl from upstairs. Thankfully they haven’t started doing it when I’m actually *speaking* on a telecon…

    1. Kyrielle*

      Alas, I can’t get pictures of mine with my setup either, so none from me (but I have been sharing pet pictures with friends, they’re just not with my office setup).

      Looking forward to other people’s!

  31. I'm just here for the cats*

    Yay! I can’t wait to see all these guys! I have 3 cats and I just sent some pics

  32. SageMercurius*

    *looks at Tenancy Agreement that says pets aren’t allowed*

    *sighs*

    Imagine I send a picture of a lovely colourful parrot or something ^_^

  33. DiscoCat*

    Can’t wait to see the results:-D On Instagram there was a dog account asking for comments about what their dogs are up to but to phrase it as if it were a coworker…. very funny imagery: “My coworker keeps yelling at me to let him out and then yells at me again to let him in. Also, he slobbers”.

    1. Caroline Bowman*

      ”My coworker sleeps all the time, with no pretence at doing any work, wants literally anything that I’m eating and follows me to the bathroom. Should I contact HR?”

      1. old curmudgeon*

        My coworker insists on chewing on the pen I brought home from the office – he’s damaging company property by leaving tooth-marks in it. Can you please reprimand him? He’s sure not listening to anything I have to say.

  34. Marion Ravenwood*

    My housemate’s cats are exactly the same! I think we were a novelty at first (more people to give them attention, yay!), but as the situation goes on it’s starting to wear off and they’re resenting us interfering with all the fun/naughty cat stuff they do when we’re not here…

  35. Mongrel*

    Having just had a rummage through the suitable photos and a word of caution;

    Check the picture for information you don’t want to share or that could identify you or your work.

    Modern phone cameras are capable of very high resolution and what looks unreadable on your phone screen can be magnified to legibility just by viewing the picture at it’s native size. You can check yourself if you’re on Windows just by opening it in Paint (and also use the fill tool to block off items)

  36. Destroyer of Worlds, Empress of Awesome*

    My cats have told me to tell y’all to tell your cats that I am not WFH, I am having to go into the office, and if y’alls cats wanna come here, they host parties every day.

    They also have regular meetings about overthrowing their biped overlords and would welcome more members. The current agenda (I sneaked a peek at it last night) involves how to kill their biped overlords while they sleep. I didn’t get much sleep last night.

  37. Caroline Bowman*

    My sausage dog has always been extremely diligent about work because I always work from home. He makes himself comfortable next to my desk and sleeps, but with one eye open just in case I need to go to the bathroom so the he can follow me and make sure I am not alone for even 1 moment of any day.

    His other duties include; shrieking abuse at any passing postman, person walking past, delivery guy. He can go from sound asleep to bellowing and hurling himself at the gate in less than 3 seconds, so he’s definitely on top of things.

    Sadly, and I’m trying hard not to think of this, he has what the vet believes is a growth on a cerebral nerve (not exactly a brain tumour, but something like that), and it cannot be fixed. He’s fine and comfortable now, and hopefully will remain so for a while to come, but these things are unpredictable, so my days with my faithful colleague are numbered.

  38. No Tribble At All*

    I love the auto-reply as if I’d written in with a normal work question. “Dear Alison, my coworker follows me into the bathroom,” “Dear Alison, my coworker tries to slap me every time I walk by her desk,” “Dear Alison, my coworker sits on my keyboard and shoves her butt towards my face!” (Can you tell I have cats?)

    1. old curmudgeon*

      Dear Alison, my coworker climbs my back like a tree so he can perch on my shoulder and complain in my ear, should I talk to HR?

  39. The answer is (probably) 42*

    Oh nooooo I have four cats and they keep me company at my desk a lot, but my desk is a horrifying mess right now (working on it!) so my best “cat is my coworker” photos are when they’re hanging out on my bed a few feet away. Maybe this will be the motivation I need to get my space cleaned up in time for Sunday…

    1. The answer is (probably) 42*

      Although they do like to perch atop the bookshelf to my right, and that does have some of the art supplies I use in my Etsy side business… does that count? It’s my hobby job not my main job.

  40. Phil*

    I’ve no photos to share, but on the topic of animal-related distractions: There was a wonderful little story about an office pet that got shared on reddit a few days ago. Search for “This isn’t a dog daycare at all.” :)

  41. JediSquirrel*

    I love the hissing cockroaches in the last photo! (They are amazing creatures, BTW.)

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