5 ms·

Ask HN: Startups that allow cats?

23 points by MyDumbQuestions 10y ago

Many tech companies allow employees to bring dogs to work, but are there any that allow cats?

jonobird1 10y ago
No, because cats < dogs.
- jonobird1 10y ago
  Guess sassy humour doesn't go far here.
  - J_Darnley 10y ago
    No. This place hates humour, hates fun, and hates anything that distracts from the serious discussion that happens. I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way.
    - justratsinacoat 10y ago
      As much as I cheerfully upvote snarky jabs at HN's pretension to highfallutin', superior-quality commentry, consistently downvoting effortless one-liner comments is a great way to ensure that they generally don't happen.
    - jonobird1 10y ago
      Worth it.
    - blackflame7000 10y ago
      Lost 8 karma first time I found that out.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  That's a pre-order.
x1798DE 10y ago
How would that even work? Cats don't follow you around and obey your commands, they just kinda wander about. In my experience, they also hate being transported. Maybe you have an unusual cat, but my guess is that there are not many startups who have an explicit "cat" policy because it would be such an uncommon request.
- twunde 10y ago
  Additionally, a significant portion of the population has cat allergies
  - AdamJacobMuller 10y ago
    This is true. My allergies to cats are so severe that it would literally be a deal-breaker for me. I couldn't accept a job in an office with cats and I would have to quit if someone started bringing one to work. Obviously proximity is a factor, but, my (cat) allergies are pretty bad and basically completely debilitating when triggered.
mmagin 10y ago
I think this is usually not "a thing" because cats don't cope with sudden changes of surroundings well, nor do they tend to coexist well with other cats that they didn't grow up around. The only case where I've seen cats in a workplace, it was a cat that lived at a small bookstore.
grkvlt 10y ago
Anecdotally, yes, at least one; Cloudsoft, in Edinburgh in the UK! I brought my cat Biggles to work once, but it was underwhelming. He ignored me completely, and went to sleep under a colleague's desk. 2/5 would not bring cat to work again. Also, the building has since put down rat-poison to sort out a rodent problem, so it probably wouldn't be safe for him, sadly. If you _really_ want to work with your cat, may I suggest remote working from home as the way to go?
romaster 10y ago
Works just fine at bodegas in New York, often with more than one. Just don't expect them to come over when your colleagues want to see them.
chuckhoupt 10y ago
MacPaw is one tech company that has cats and a special cat room: http://blog.macpaw.com/post/109471340953/welcome-to-the-dream-office http://blog.macpaw.com/post/109471340953/welcome-to-the-drea... http://officefetish.co/core/macpaw/ http://officefetish.co/core/macpaw/
- wingerlang 10y ago
  Off topic, but MacPaw has got really nice software. Amazing design. It is nice to see that their office also looks as "sleek" as their apps.
  - atomical 10y ago
    They sell a "Mac cleaner" product? Aren't those scams?
    - wingerlang 10y ago
      Honestly, that was my impression at first. But the difference (in hindsight I've never really looked into other apps) is that they actually list ALL files they flag for removal (In Gemini 2 as well) so you do have the option to double check what the app does. You could even let it run in trial (500MB deletion limit) and then plainly look at the list and go delete it manually. The apps are also not "mass produced", they have really nice animations and you can definitely feel that there has been a lot of effort put into them. They also make some music player and encryption apps so they're not all cleaning apps.
- ruraljuror 10y ago
  Fixel and Hoover are beautiful cats and I am very impressed to see an example. Personally I would be very surprised if this worked considering how territorial cats are.
percept 10y ago
All these years, and we're finally getting around to the important questions. I don't have a cat (or a workplace), but cat cafes seem to be purring right along. Digging a bit, it seems that one in seven kids has cat allergies, which is twice as much as the rate with kids and dogs. Either way, that's a fair number of people, so if there's any sort of discrimination involved, I'm sure cat lawyers will pounce.
vskarine 10y ago
robinhood.io is so obsessed with cats that they have a huge cat mural: https://vimeo.com/115955748 https://vimeo.com/115955748
yoloswagins 10y ago
I've never heard of any company allow cats in the San Francisco bay area. Why would you want to subject your cat to being moved around so much?
freestockoption 10y ago
Why do some companies allow dogs? Some people are allergic to them, don't want to get licked by them, bitten, or want to step on dog poo. I've seen all that happen to other people in the company. Don't get me wrong, I love animals and I have my own. But where do we draw the line between personal and professional? How do we tell John that his dog is OK, but Bob that his dog needs to stay home?
- shaftway 10y ago
  At Google there's a one-strike policy. If your dog defecates indoors, bites someone, is overly friendly, or any number of things like that, you can (and generally are) asked to not bring them back. It's also considered common courtesy to ask people that you will be in close proximity to before you bring a dog in, in case of allergies. Cat-related allergies are much more common than dog ones. Generally dogs are also better trained than cats and behave more predictably.
danm07 10y ago
Such a strange job criteria :D
drakonka 10y ago
My partner's startup in game dev allows dogs and cats. Though nobody has brought a cat in yet, he does look forward to the day I show up with our cat in his cat stroller...
rotemyakir 10y ago
https://i.guggy.com/dGCaMn.gif https://i.guggy.com/dGCaMn.gif
gadders 10y ago
All of the big offices I have worked in for Investment Banks in London have had a mouse problem. Bringing cats to work should be encouraged.
camhenlin 10y ago
I work 100% remote and hang out with my cat (and dog!) all day. As do my other coworkers. Why not try that out?

Many tech companies allow employees to bring dogs to work, but are there any that allow cats?

jonobird1 10y ago

No, because cats < dogs.

jonobird1 10y ago
Guess sassy humour doesn't go far here.
- J_Darnley 10y ago
  No. This place hates humour, hates fun, and hates anything that distracts from the serious discussion that happens. I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way.
  - justratsinacoat 10y ago
    As much as I cheerfully upvote snarky jabs at HN's pretension to highfallutin', superior-quality commentry, consistently downvoting effortless one-liner comments is a great way to ensure that they generally don't happen.
  - jonobird1 10y ago
    Worth it.
  - blackflame7000 10y ago
    Lost 8 karma first time I found that out.
bbcbasic 10y ago
That's a pre-order.

x1798DE 10y ago

How would that even work? Cats don't follow you around and obey your commands, they just kinda wander about. In my experience, they also hate being transported. Maybe you have an unusual cat, but my guess is that there are not many startups who have an explicit "cat" policy because it would be such an uncommon request.

twunde 10y ago
Additionally, a significant portion of the population has cat allergies
- AdamJacobMuller 10y ago
  This is true. My allergies to cats are so severe that it would literally be a deal-breaker for me. I couldn't accept a job in an office with cats and I would have to quit if someone started bringing one to work. Obviously proximity is a factor, but, my (cat) allergies are pretty bad and basically completely debilitating when triggered.

mmagin 10y ago

I think this is usually not "a thing" because cats don't cope with sudden changes of surroundings well, nor do they tend to coexist well with other cats that they didn't grow up around. The only case where I've seen cats in a workplace, it was a cat that lived at a small bookstore.

grkvlt 10y ago

Anecdotally, yes, at least one; Cloudsoft, in Edinburgh in the UK! I brought my cat Biggles to work once, but it was underwhelming. He ignored me completely, and went to sleep under a colleague's desk. 2/5 would not bring cat to work again. Also, the building has since put down rat-poison to sort out a rodent problem, so it probably wouldn't be safe for him, sadly. If you _really_ want to work with your cat, may I suggest remote working from home as the way to go?

romaster 10y ago

Works just fine at bodegas in New York, often with more than one. Just don't expect them to come over when your colleagues want to see them.

chuckhoupt 10y ago

MacPaw is one tech company that has cats and a special cat room: http://blog.macpaw.com/post/109471340953/welcome-to-the-dream-office http://blog.macpaw.com/post/109471340953/welcome-to-the-drea... http://officefetish.co/core/macpaw/ http://officefetish.co/core/macpaw/

wingerlang 10y ago
Off topic, but MacPaw has got really nice software. Amazing design. It is nice to see that their office also looks as "sleek" as their apps.
- atomical 10y ago
  They sell a "Mac cleaner" product? Aren't those scams?
  - wingerlang 10y ago
    Honestly, that was my impression at first. But the difference (in hindsight I've never really looked into other apps) is that they actually list ALL files they flag for removal (In Gemini 2 as well) so you do have the option to double check what the app does. You could even let it run in trial (500MB deletion limit) and then plainly look at the list and go delete it manually. The apps are also not "mass produced", they have really nice animations and you can definitely feel that there has been a lot of effort put into them. They also make some music player and encryption apps so they're not all cleaning apps.
ruraljuror 10y ago
Fixel and Hoover are beautiful cats and I am very impressed to see an example. Personally I would be very surprised if this worked considering how territorial cats are.

percept 10y ago

All these years, and we're finally getting around to the important questions. I don't have a cat (or a workplace), but cat cafes seem to be purring right along. Digging a bit, it seems that one in seven kids has cat allergies, which is twice as much as the rate with kids and dogs. Either way, that's a fair number of people, so if there's any sort of discrimination involved, I'm sure cat lawyers will pounce.

vskarine 10y ago

robinhood.io is so obsessed with cats that they have a huge cat mural: https://vimeo.com/115955748 https://vimeo.com/115955748

yoloswagins 10y ago

I've never heard of any company allow cats in the San Francisco bay area. Why would you want to subject your cat to being moved around so much?

freestockoption 10y ago

Why do some companies allow dogs? Some people are allergic to them, don't want to get licked by them, bitten, or want to step on dog poo. I've seen all that happen to other people in the company. Don't get me wrong, I love animals and I have my own. But where do we draw the line between personal and professional? How do we tell John that his dog is OK, but Bob that his dog needs to stay home?

shaftway 10y ago
At Google there's a one-strike policy. If your dog defecates indoors, bites someone, is overly friendly, or any number of things like that, you can (and generally are) asked to not bring them back. It's also considered common courtesy to ask people that you will be in close proximity to before you bring a dog in, in case of allergies. Cat-related allergies are much more common than dog ones. Generally dogs are also better trained than cats and behave more predictably.

danm07 10y ago

Such a strange job criteria :D

drakonka 10y ago

My partner's startup in game dev allows dogs and cats. Though nobody has brought a cat in yet, he does look forward to the day I show up with our cat in his cat stroller...

rotemyakir 10y ago

https://i.guggy.com/dGCaMn.gif https://i.guggy.com/dGCaMn.gif

gadders 10y ago

All of the big offices I have worked in for Investment Banks in London have had a mouse problem. Bringing cats to work should be encouraged.

camhenlin 10y ago

I work 100% remote and hang out with my cat (and dog!) all day. As do my other coworkers. Why not try that out?