My Cat Got Angry

[Deilla]

I've been mindful of his triggers and careful about what I do around him. That seems to be helping. Normally he's a really sweet cat.

 

[ailish]

You can try to train your cat to leave you alone when it's your "me time". The way I do it is to ignore him, or shut him out of my room entirely. It's okay for him to hang around in my room if he just wants to nap, but if he has the zoomies and start bouncing off the walls I put him outside and shut the door.

I don't recommend giving your cat attention when he demands it, if he succeeds distracting you even once during your me time, he will feel rewarded and be sure to try again. So the next time you ignore him when he seeks attention, he will try to escalate his behavior, which may or may not explain him trying to attack your arm. You will need to teach him that attacking your arm is not okay. Make sure to really hiss loudly at him, and then shut him out (or shut yourself somewhere he can't get to) then ignore him. Make your displeasure known, repeat this every time he attacks or try to play rough with you. Cats play really rough with each other, and it takes a while for them to realize that humans don't have the same protective fur that they do.

Personally I believe teaching my cat to work around my time, instead of being at my cat's beck and call. It's less frustration for both me and the cat when the expectations are clear (he demands attention during my me time = be ignored or kicked out). My cat is less than a year old, so he's still very active and can forget to tone it down sometimes, but generally speaking he's very well behaved. When I put him outside or my room, he knows I'm kicking him out and will leave me (and the door) alone until I'm ready to let him in again. And there's no hard feelings!

I've been pretty good at training Ailish. She doesn't wake me up, she doesn't beg at meal times (although she does let me know it's mealtime by sitting in front of me with a fixed stare), but the computer has been my one failure. Ignoring her just didn't work. When she started marching across the keyboard I would sit back and close my eyes. She sat down in front of the screen and just stared at me. Minutes tick by, she doesn't move. I have to say, she was able to wait me out every time, although I did get up and go do something else, I didn't reward her. I still haven't conquered this one.

 

[Deilla]

I've been pretty good at training Ailish. She doesn't wake me up, she doesn't beg at meal times (although she does let me know it's mealtime by sitting in front of me with a fixed stare), but the computer has been my one failure. Ignoring her just didn't work. When she started marching across the keyboard I would sit back and close my eyes. She sat down in front of the screen and just stared at me. Minutes tick by, she doesn't move. I have to say, she was able to wait me out every time, although I did get up and go do something else, I didn't reward her. I still haven't conquered this one.

Yes, I still don't know what to do about the computer/keyboard. Sometimes I try to wait him out and other times I get up. I think I will start getting up every time though.