I had a cat that was trained - yes trained. When I first adopted her she would reach out for the pins. I tapped her paw with my finger each time she did that. She finally learned not to touch anything I was working on. If she did reach out I would just ask her: do you need to be toe tapped, and she withdrew her paw. Sadly I had to put her down 2 years ago because of cancer. You can train cats but it does take some patience on your part.
I just adopted two more cats and they are good helpers. To use my mat I have to move Winnie. To iron I have to move the Tootsie.