Cute, but really annoying

[carbonel]

Some people have vultures.[1] I have a cat.

Pyewacket likes to sit on my desk, next to my left (mousing) hand, and bash at my hand and arm. She purrs thunderously, and occasionally paws at me, just like a three-year-old who wants his mother's attention while she's on the phone. If I pet her, she purrs and bashes even more. Needless to say, this is not conducive to getting much work done.

If I try to put her on my lap, she jumps down, or back to the desk. She doesn't do laps.

If I put her on the floor, she either jumps back up, or goes away and meows piteously.

This seems to be desk-specific behavior; she doesn't come near me when I'm watching TV and have a free hand to pet her. She doesn't come near me when I'm reading in bed and have a free hand to pet her. She comes to my bed to be petted only after I've turned the lights out and I'm ready to go to sleep.

Any suggestions on behavior modification for a 16-year-old cat? She's always been importunate, but this "pet me or I will yower" behavior is fairly new -- or at least more severe.

[1] Okay, very few people have vultures. But lots of people have cats that do vultching behavior.

Comments

[beadslut.livejournal.com]

You don't think maybe she's just mad at you for going away?

[carbonel]

No, it predates that. She's always had a perverse streak.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Our Smokey (the all-black cat) did the vulture thing when she was younger and svelter. Do you remember our kitchen cabinets, which stop about 16" from the ceiling? She would leap from the counter to the cabinet top (a rather amazing feat to watch), then sit at the edge and kind of lurk over the kitchen. She bore a striking resemblance to Snoopy doing his vulture imitation.