When Cats Demand Nonstop Attention
Updated on January 16, 2023
Because we like it when cats make their favorite vocalization—a very loud meowing sound—we reward them for continuing to do so.
Your cat’s sole motivation when he attempts to squeeze between your legs, paws at your ankles, or edges into the gap between your neck and the sofa is a simple one: he wants to be near you. It’s not a bad idea to keep the behavior going, as it might strengthen your relationship.
However, this attention-seeking habit can become frustrating or even damaging if your cat wanders over your keyboard while you’re trying to work or meows incessantly, causing you to lose any work that you hadn’t saved.
Unknown Origin
Katherine A. Houpt, VMD, Ph.D., is a professor emerita at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a co-founder of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. “We don’t know the rationale for it,” she says. “Stress has a role sometimes, but it isn’t always to blame. Even when they aren’t stressed, many cats insist on being touched, talked to, and played with.
It’s possible for a cat’s behavior to become more extreme if he figures out that it gets him what he wants. Common tactics include lowering themselves to eye level, knocking things over, or even biting with their mouths closed. When cats want attention, they’re more likely to meow, as Dr. Houpt puts it. Cats can keep meowing for a long time because it doesn’t require a lot of energy.
Your cat may be being attention-seeking because of how often you clean its litter box. According to Dr. Houpt, “a nice cat will come and tell you to replace it,” but “most cats” will simply excrete somewhere else, like your bed or rug.
Any habit can quickly become deeply established. Dr. Houpt believes it takes about 20 instances of a behavior before a cat learns its lesson. If you want your cat to share your chair, and you reward him every time he does, he will soon begin jumping up on his own accord in the hopes of receiving a treat.
Reward Ratio
Your cat’s high demand to reward ratio is a result of his repetitive behavior and your sporadic reinforcement of that behavior. He will not give up trying because hope is eternal. Dr. Houpt explains that the cat has decided to try 25 meows if the first three don’t work.
If you don’t want your cat to keep pawing at you, clicker training can teach it to sit on a mat instead. Enriching his surroundings can keep him from being bored and give him something to do with his time and energy. Increase his playtime by providing him with cat trees, tunnels, and a catio (a cat-safe patio enclosure).
You can train your cat to quit doing something (like jumping into your chair) with you, but he won’t learn to stop doing it with other people. If that’s the case, Dr. Houpt says you can teach him to sit or do anything else that’s inconvenient if he gets up to leap.
The goal of counter conditioning is to retrain the cat to identify a previously feared stimulus (such as the garage door opening) with a more positive one (such as a tasty food).
Wait until he stops doing whatever it is you find annoying, like pawing, before engaging with him. However, there is a caveat: punishment is not effective in stopping people from drawing attention to themselves. When your cat climbs on your lap unexpectedly, you run the risk of getting up and knocking him over. At least for the next hour or so, he won’t do it again.
When It’s Not a Bid for Attention
Anxiety about being left alone can lead to excessive meowing and other vocalizations from a cat, which may not be a normal attempt to get human attention. True separation anxiety manifests as extreme terror when left alone, including the destruction of personal belongings.
It’s not always the result of a stressful experience; some cats are just genetically more prone to this condition. It’s possible that Siamese and Tonkinese cats are genetically predisposed to this condition. It’s important to rule out medical causes before consulting a veterinarian behaviorist.
According to Cornell’s Katherine A. Houpt, VMD, Ph.D., medicine alone is not effective in treating separation anxiety. Medication is only effective when combined with behavioral therapy.
Members of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists are organized by state and can be found on this page.
Just Ignore Him
Avoiding confrontation by ignoring him is far more effective than trying to correct him. Punishment and negative reinforcement are two different things. By doing something unpleasant, like blowing at him, until he accomplishes what you want, in this case leaving the area, you are using negative reinforcement. The elimination of the punishing regulation is his reward. When the cat does anything you don’t like, you may discipline him by responding with an equally unpleasant action, such as yelling at him. Ignoring his or her actions by remaining silent, leaving the room, or not making eye contact is a successful, though consistent, strategy.
“The worst thing I’ve done to my cats is use a brush I have on my desk to groom them after they’ve jumped up on my desk. Dr. Houpt claims that this adjustment has been successful.