Cat keeps bothering me at my desk

[smosmosmo]

What are some ways to deter her from doing this? She literally only does it for attention. I wouldn't mind her just walking around as I work, but Smo starts getting aggressive if I try to ignore her - she'll start biting my hands as I type or hit me with her claws out.

How do I make her leave me alone?!

 

[lucicat]

Do a vigorous play session before you go work at your desk?

Then give her treats for sitting next to you nicely while you work.

 

[sivyaleah]

Whenever our kitten does this, which is frequently, I mean, kitten lol, my tactic is to hiss at her and firmly say "NO", then put her down on the floor.

It's going to take doing this a lot of times though, before the kitten gets the message but eventually they will. Or, they will at least start to back off when you give the hiss noise.

I'd also suggest keeping as little objects as possible off the desk for now too. It's just too much temptation for a kitten to see pens, pencils, etc and not want to knock them off the desk. I can't tell you how many times ours has lost the coasters on our side tables from flipping them off.

Another thing you might want to try, is get the kitten a little bed for the desk instead. Invite her to be there in her own special space. Instead of making it a "forbidden" area, make it a place where she is welcome and perhaps she'll just settle in to watch you instead. Couldn't hurt to try!

 

[Kieka]

Rocket will be pretty insistent about me being on the computer when she wants something....

Luckily, she's out of the kitten stage so it's usually bedtime and she won't go to sleep until I am in bed. Children.

With a kitten, the above advice is spot on. A hiss, no and move off everytime. It's a pain but over time it will sink in. A cat bed for her on the desk also can help. We have one for Fury on the desk so he would stop trying to nap in the arms of whoever was typing; it did work. Now he naps in the bed only pawing out occasionally for a scritch.

 

[Azazel]

I do the cat bed on the desk thing. Actually I had to increase the size of my desk just so I could fit 2 beds on it.

I also have a window by my desk so on days that I work from home the cats and I have a routine. I go to my desk, they sit by the window, and slowly but surely one by one they roll into the beds and fall asleep. Sometimes I put a heat pad on the beds to encourage them to relax.

It’s not a perfect strategy though...usually they end up either in my lap or kicking me off my chair, but such is life with cats.

 

[danteshuman]

Give her a bed on your desk? Then make it a quiet time place. No play, just soft pets while she is in your bed. Plus 2-3 play sessions a day.