Advice On Keeping Kitty Away From Laptop

[obijkenobi]

Hi guys. I'm on at my wits end. I adopted a second, younger kitty recently and I love him to bits except for one behavior. I'm desperately trying to finish grad school which means I need to write a 40 page exit paper before the end of the month. The kitty is very affectionate and long story short, he loves to jump on my laptop while I'm working on it. I've already had two scares where I thought he might have cost me a shot of graduating this semester due to jumping on the laptop.

I get playing with him to drain his energy and I do do that. But I also don't want to play with him when he starts doing this (typically he'll jump on the desk like 10 times in a row and I'll immediately place him down each time) so that he doesn't feel "rewarded" for jumping on my laptop.

Any thoughts/tips?

 

[susanm9006]

If you need some uninterrupted time, do you have a bathroom or other place you can place the cat while you are working. Or can you take the laptop and work elsewhere like your local coffee shop or library?

You can also try setting up a spot near where you are working where kitty can be near you but not on you. By a window might distract him enough.

 

[obijkenobi]

I've thought about putting him in the bathroom or the bedroom, but it would effectively cut off the apartment for the other cat as well due to how this is set up. My work desk is about 5 feet away from a window and I have a kitty stand next to it that he loves to sleep in/look out the window, but when I'm working at the desk he loves to come up to me.

I know its an attention thing though. If I live the laptop on the desk he'll try to step on it there. If I literally put the laptop on my lap, he'll try to jump on my lap. Part of the reason I'd prefer to come home to work rather than a coffee shop is that I work full time and then have night classes, so I do want to be around the kitties when I "have free time". I just don't want him walking on the laptop.

 

[lutece]

I have seen people use a decoy keyboard that they put near their real keyboard for the cat to sit on... Other than that I have no good advice other than set your word processor to autosave often.

 

[Columbine]

My guys can attention seek like this too (though more often when I'm beading or doing various textile crafts). With my cuddle-bug of a girl, I make my lap available to her, and pet her a little until she settles.

With the boys (who are one year olds, and very mischievous with it), I'm just very aware of what they're doing. If they come close to my work, I gently but firmly push them in the chest or put them on the floor. I don't make any other contact with them or say a word, just silently remove them as many times as it takes. Usually, after 10 or so attempts they give up and settle down close by and go to sleep.

I make sure to give them a good play session before I start, too, so they can get the fidgets out and actually be ready to settle when I start working

 

[maggie101]

Trixie puzzles with cut up treats keep my cats busy. A DVD that shows birds,squirrels,etc.

 

[Kflowers]

While you're trying to find something else for him to do, set your system to save every page, or every five minutes depending on how fast you type/work. I promise that will help your nerves.