Terra the Cat is intentionally disrupting my computer time.

thefishyone

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
198
Purraise
211
Ever since a young agr, Terra has known that she can make me pay attention to her by walking across my field of vision diring intense moments in World of Warcraft (don’t ask me how she knows which moments are critical, but I swear she knows). I’ve learned from Jackson Galaxy that even bad attention is still attempting, so I would gently nudge her out of the way without speaking or making eye contact. All this did was teach Terra that I need to pay attention to what’s on screen, so she will now STAND if front of my monitor and look me in the eye.

Those of you with children ranging from 20-40 may have heard of World of Warcraft. It is an extremely social game where your reputation (with other players) will make or break you, and it cannot be paused. I play the most visible role in a group, so I am usually leading the group and awareness and mindfulness of what’s happening around my character are paramount. Terra has figured all of this out, and will time her attacks on my attention for when they will be most effective.

For a while, I tried shutting her in my room when she did this, but Terra is as willful as she is smart, and I was the first to say Uncle. Jackson Galaxy says that to solve most behavior problems eith a cat, you need to meet them halfway. Terra and I are attached at the hip, so where I go, she goes. How can I meet Terra halfway on this one. If I repeatedly take time to attend to Terra during a session, people will get upset.

Any constructive feedback on how to manage “kitty aggro” would be most appreciated.
 

ArtNJ

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 1, 2017
Messages
5,485
Purraise
6,957
Son, WoW came out in 2004. Lol, had to be said, since I'm not 20-40 and I played it a lot back in the day.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, can you fit a cozy spot for the cat onto the desk? We have wicker bins for paper and such that the cats both like to go into. We also have the scratching posts with a cup on top by our armchairs. The idea is to redirect them into that spot. They get to be close, and with them not on the keyboard or in front of the screen, you can even pay some one handed attention. Unless your in a 40 man raid or something :)

The only other thing you can do is gently pick up and put on the floor. After a lot of repetitions (hundreds sometimes), cats often (sometimes?) get the message.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

thefishyone

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
198
Purraise
211
@ArrNJ Yeah, I play a Tankadin in raids. I also play on a custom vanilla pserver called Turtle WoW, so I’m basically playing a tank on hard mode in a 40man. In any event, it’s good to see that I’m not the only gamer here.

Normally, Terra chills out in front of the base of my tower, where the daul exhaust fans from a decently over clocked CPU will ensure that her butt is kept noce a toasty warm. The idea of a box sounds great. I can empty a box on the shelf above my deskc and put a toy in that has been stuffed with “meowijuna.”

Thanks again for the suggestion!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

thefishyone

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
198
Purraise
211
Robyn, Terra’s a bit bigger than average at a little undee 10lbs. She’s also 10 and a half snd hated to be picked up. That said, she’s a cuddlebug and loves to be held.
 

IndyJones

Adopt don't shop.
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 13, 2017
Messages
4,016
Purraise
3,723
Location
Where do you think?
I personally hate wow (bad experience was harassed)

But understand the cat and computer thing.
I play Neverwinter as a tank. Indy likes to help me. I just place her on my lap and she purrs the whole time on all six cylinders. My chair is an ergonomic office chair but I am fairly small and she could fit next to me even. She knows climbing on the desk is a no no. Sometimes if the LEDs are running she swats at the glass case trying to attack the fans at the front. It's a Corsair 4000x and has 3 fans at the front and a liquid cooler mounted on top.

Tower sits on a table next to the desk along with my modle skyscrapers of the Chrysler building, Empire state building, and Willis tower.
 
Top