Question: “My cat is jealous of the computer.”
Steve writes, “When I am online, my cat goes crazy with jealousy. I live alone and she is used to being the center of my attention. What I do is to put her in the bedroom and close the door until I am done with the computer. What are your suggestions?”
Amy’s Answer
I’m sure that her behavior looks similar to jealousy, but since we can’t really get inside a cat’s head to know for sure, let’s just look at the behavior itself. It’s difficult for me to know without a more detailed description exactly what she’s doing. Veterinarians and behavior specialists look at the cat’s physical and emotional health, as well as traits of instinct to help figure out what’s going on and find solutions. Think of this as the H.I.S.S. Test, which stands for health, instinct, stress, and symptom solvers.
H=Health
Any sudden change in behavior may be due to health concern. For instance, hyperthyroidism can increase the cat’s metabolism so she becomes more active and irritable. That’s usually something that affects older cats.
I=Instinct
Computers can make odd sounds that might attract a cat by mimicking the sound of prey. Felines often become entranced by the curser moving over the screen, and try to chase that elusive object!
S=Stress
Cats can become stressed from a variety of situations, including a lack of attention. In most cases, the stress elevates due to a change of routine.
S=Symptom, Signs & Solutions
I don’t have a clear idea of what “crazy with jealousy” means. It’s not unusual, though, for cats to create ways to get attention. When it comes to the computer, that may include walking across the keyboard, rubbing against you or jumping in your lap, meowing a great deal, or otherwise “pestering.” My own cat, Seren, learned to jump on top of my fax machine, and “play” all the buttons so they made fun beeping sounds. She managed to take the fax machine off-line, so that I missed important correspondence. This generally happened when I’d been working at my computer for a period of time and she wanted attention.
In Seren’s case, I placed a cardboard box upside-down over the top of the fax. That way, she could still walk across the machine--her version of countertop cruising--but couldn’t play the buttons or take it off-line. Eventually she stopped because 1) there was no beeping reward, and 2) I ignored her, rather than yelling or chasing her off (what fun!!!).
So with your cat, you undoubtedly are rewarding her in some way, so that she continues behaving in this way. That might even be yelling at her, or squirting with water, or otherwise trying to purr-suade her to stop. As you’ve discovered, she understands that even BAD attention is better than being ignored. You have two choices.
There is nothing wrong with having “alone time” and shutting her out of your computer room when you must work. Simply create a routine that she knows and expects, that you play with her at certain times, but shut her out at other times.
Or you could attempt to deal with the situation by making it impossible for her to practice the behavior—as I did, with the box that thwarted Seren’s fax folly. Perhaps a treat ball that keeps her engaged while you’re on the computer could entertain her, so you can still share time in the room. If she continues to pester, you’ll also have to practice tough-kitty-love and ignore her meowing until it eventually goes away. It will take a LONG time to extinguish the behavior by ignoring it, and the behavior will get much worse just before it goes away.