I think my cat knows how annoying I find it when she interrupts my work calls

Actually I had this one call last Tuesday with my boss about a project deadline and my cat Jinx jumped right on the keyboard and sent a bunch of gibberish in the chat. My boss said it was cute but I could tell she was annoyed because we had to restart the whole conversation. The thing is I think Jinx does it on purpose because she only does it when I'm talking to someone important and not when I'm just chatting with my friend Dave. I told my buddy Mike about it and he said I'm reading too much into it but I've watched her wait by the door until she hears my voice get serious. Has anyone else's cat pulled this specific move where they wait for the worst possible moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

young.nora26d ago

Used to brush this off as random cat behavior until my orange tabby, Biscuit, proved me wrong. She sat perfectly still by my desk chair one afternoon while I was on hold, then the second my boss started talking about quarterly numbers she reached up and knocked my coffee cup right onto the keyboard. Still not totally convinced they plot these things, but your story raises some solid questions about timing.

jana_hart1825d ago

Jump right in and say I have to disagree with @young.nora about Biscuit being just random. My cat Jake literally unplugged my laptop during a performance review I had been dreading for weeks, and he waited until I was specifically talking about my weaknesses before he did it. Cats learn cause and effect really fast, so if they get a big reaction during calls, they repeat it at the same type of moments.

faith_thomas26d ago

Cats are opportunists, not masterminds. They pick up on patterns like when you sit still and talk in a certain tone, and they know that's the time you can't immediately get up and chase them away. So they go for the thing that gets the biggest reaction because that's just how they test boundaries. Your cat probably figured out that the keyboard is a magic noise box that makes you jump, and the phone call is just when you're trapped. But plotting your quarterly review? That's giving a housecat way too much credit for a brain the size of a walnut.