Clingy Cat Never Satisfied With Attention

[andrastedevout]

Andraste - female, mixed breed, 2yo, indoor cat, spayed - is being a handful. Now she wants to scratch the keys from my keyboard off, scratch the screen of my computer, and can spend all day seated in front of the screen.

I work from home and I need to work, so I carefully pick her up and put her on the ground. Whenever I do this, she scratches and bites like crazy. It's terribly hard to get her off me. I put her on the ground, she bites whatever part of my body is nearer her. I can see she's ANGRY. It hurts quite a bit, she's able to draw blood, I almost can't make her stop.

I tried to play more with her, but her energy NEVER ends and, even though sometimes she doesn't want her toys anymore, she goes back to her "new spot" in front of the screen. Every once in a while I stop whatever I'm doing and just talk to her, talk to her until I'm tired, but it only works for a couple of minutes, then she's off to scratch my stuff again.

I know it's all about attention: she never does that when I'm not looking, and when she's scratching something she keeps eye contact the whole time, like she's defying me. She wants me to spend even more time with her, but I'm ALWAYS home! We sleep together, eat together, I play with her everyday... I don't know what else can I do

 

[susanm9006]

when she sits in front of the screen pick her up and put her down with a "no", "down" or a snap of your fingers; when she comes back up, probably immediately, repeat. After you have done this half a dozen times in succession or if she starts attacking your feet, either lock her out the room or place her in another room with a door for ten minutes or so. Let her out and repeat the whole thing if necessary, lengthening the shut door time. If you do this consistently, she will eventually get that she can't sit in front of the computer if she wants to be in the room with you.

 

[andrastedevout]

Thank you!

 

[maggie101]

Reminds me of the show My Cat From Hell. Can you put up shelves so she can watch? A cat tower?

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

That sounds very painful, and frustrating!

How are you and Andraste doing this week? I have a cat that also likes to sometimes appear near my arms when I'm at the computer -- this is when she really wants either attention, play, or her next meal. Of course it's always when I am really busy at my work, and it can get so frustrating! She doesn't attack as badly as your kitty nor is she as mischievous (by eyeballing you while attacking your computer).

I've found that the key is for me to move away from the computer as soon as I get a chance to, either by going to sit in another room away from her or by me escaping to the bathroom & closing that door for a few minutes! Picking her up when she is feeling ornery is not a great plan, as you've experienced when your own kitty bites and attacks you. It sounds like you are really getting hurt, plus she is learning the aggression gets particular responses. You have to cut off the pattern of how things are transpiring. You move away first, then a few minutes later, set up some play time with her, or prepare a meal. Separate the act of her coming to the computer... of you moving away from her... and then you playing with or feeding her several minutes later. She needs to learn different associations.

The key is to respond to her behavior before it gets vicious... respond to her initial requests, whether it is just you moving out of the area to be on your own (in which case, she'll eventually learn that visiting your computer will not get her exactly what she wants), or if it is a meal time or a play time, respond with those things temporarily but go back to your computer. If it really is time for her next meal, then I'll feed my cat (she is like a time clock), or if she wants to play, we play for a bit. But I always come back to the computer to work afterwards, and it seems to make her lose interest in bugging me. Again, the key is to stop the cycle of it getting to the point of her attacking you. You have to train her a little in order to do this.

When my cat is really persistent with me when I'm at my computer, or if I don't have an explanation for why she is hovering & I can't compromise with her, or if I am SUPER busy or on the phone too, what I do is pull out something that she doesn't like the smell of & wave it near her nose: for my cat, this is my little container of lip balm! She hates the smell, and will leave me alone if I open the lid of that little container! I rarely have to do this anymore, because I have been trained to react to her "requests" when she is still being nice to me and not bitey. But that little jar sits on my desk near my computer for the rarer times I need it to move her away from me, lol. I never have to put it close to her, and she knows what it is. (It's just Blistex DCT lip protectant, but it does have a sort of menthol-type smell.) But she usually goes to find something else to do for a while. She learns to look for different clues from me when I am ready to feed her, or play with her. Having a set schedule for meals and playtime also helps a lot! Cats get used to our daily habit patterns, and usually learn to adapt to them.

I hope some of that helps!

 

[maggie101]

I've been meaning to buy banana extract and open it whenever she gets on my counter. Anything she does not like.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Yep. Milly (my cat) hates bananas too.

lol

 

[danteshuman]

I gave up and gave one of my cats a bed on my computer desk. Maybe you could buy her a perch to watch you as you work so she feels included? Also a lunch play break might help (and with time she will learn when the breaks are )

 

[maggie101]

Yep. Milly (my cat) hates bananas too.

lol

I have an idea. Put the extract in a spray bottle. Just a tiny spray on a paper towel or plate is enough. Better than tipping the bottle over. My hands trimmer

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hm. To contain the extract more, though, not sure if you'd want to spray it so that is is airborne (even if just temporarily airborne). How about dipping a q-tip in the extract, and keeping it in a closed baby food jar near your computer. Then you can just open the baby food jar to "release" the banana odor only when needed. And since the q-tips are in a closed jar normally, it will keep kitty safe from eating the cotton on the q-tip (e.g. if kitty actually turns out to love banana smell when you are not monitoring the q-tips, ha).