It's not uncommon for gamers to enjoy the company of cute and cuddly companions in their lives, but one specific furry friend especially can provide some problems in terms of gaming.
Our furry feline companions do not understand the concept of gaming. At times they can make situations difficult because cats do not know they are not windows and you cannot see through them or that crawling into your lap and laying on your controller is counter-productive to them wanting attention.
There are a number of things that you can do to make your feline friend happier and allow them to be close to you while also getting in your gaming in and not having them walk all over your keyboard and making your character do weird things or cast random spells.
1. Before your gaming session, make sure you spend adequate time with kitty giving them stimulation. Clearly if they are annoying you while playing games they want to give you affection and love. Cats also require stimulation daily to combat boredom and to keep them healthy and the best way I've found is to use a hand mini laser or a cat wand with a dangly feather toy at the end. Wear them out a little and they won't bug you as much. Cats are also stimulated by smell almost as much as dogs so I frequently let them smell new items I bring into the household. Boredom and stress can cause behavioral issues and cats chewing on things like plastic. Before I sit down as well I find a few areas to hide treats that they frequent. 2. Spray frequently visited areas with relaxing pheromone spray or places you want them to visit with catnip spray. Spreading catnip in boxes can be a way to get kitty to be happy and stay out of your way. This helps especially if you are into VR gaming and are worried about stepping on your feline friend who clearly does not understand what virtual reality gaming is and that you can't see what they are doing with the headset on. If you have particularly nervous or anxious cats, the pheromone spray can be put directly on their collars. Just make sure to avoid anything with lavender or essential oils as these can be toxic to your purring pal.
3. If your cat loves to walk all over your keyboard or sits on your desk in front of your monitor, sit a box on your desk. If this does not work on it's own, lure kitty with a treat or catnip in the box. It will take some time to train kitty to get into the box but be diligent. Every time you sit kitty in the box, offer it a treat. Eventually your furry friend will equate food and the box and will go there naturally. Make sure to give it a pet every once in a while.
4. Interactive toys are your best friend. My cats are older so the new, self moving cat teasers didn't appeal to them and neither did a bug simulation toy. One of my two cats enjoyed a treat/meal dispenser toy which I try to use daily for her. The best item I purchased however was an interactive laser toy that I mount to the wall. When my cats get especially annoying during a long gaming session, I usually get up and turn on the laser toy and it goes for about 15 minutes on it's own. One was really bad to climb onto our higher end gamer chairs and rub against our heads or bite our hair. Utilizing interactive toys they get their exercise and stimulation in for the day this way. Some cats even can be trained to use cat wheels but we didn't attempt this with mine.
An additional note to add, make sure your cats have an area to claw or scratch as this is a natural thing they do and suppressing or scolding kitty may cause stress and anxiety. Corrugated cardboard boxes are frequently cheap and found in just about any store for purchase and there are also cat scratching posts. Especially if kitty has scratched things in your house you wish they wouldn't, it's not a bad idea to train kitty out of scratching in unapproved places. The way to correct this to put tin foil or double sided sticky tape over the area you wish for your feline friend to avoid and to place a few areas around your house which are scratch approved. Add catnip or catnip spray to attract your cat to the spot. DIY cat scratching post guides are readily available on the internet as well if you can't find one in stores. 5. Provide a place to climb, if possible, close to where you are gaming. In my case we bought a cat tree off of Amazon. We have two desks on opposite corners of the room and in the middle currently are gaming consoles, but I plan to move the cat tree there soon so they can not only be close to us, but also look out the window which is a frequent thing they enjoy. If you cannot afford a cat tree, the internet is full of DYI ideas for building or repurposing furniture for kitty. Below are some samples I pulled from the internet for your viewing pleasure.
Additional tips to keep your purring pal happy:
-Remember cats prefer clean litter boxes. You wouldn't want to poop in a public restroom which isn't cleaned daily and neither do they. Signs you aren't cleaning the box enough is them going outside the box.
-A dry food diet only for cats is not healthy for them. Make sure you use both dry and moist food or a moist food only diet in the best quality you can afford. If moist food isn't eaten in a day toss it. Don't forget dental cleaning treats either!
-Fresh water daily in a clean bowl is preferred and sit it away from their food bowl. If your kitty were wild they would not have food and water together. Move it around to one of several places daily if you want to encourage kitty to drink even more.
-Spaying and neutering helps cut down on populations, unwanted behaviors, and can increase kitty's life span. Often times there are low cost spay and neutering clinics that provide services cheaper if you cannot afford to do it at a vet's office.
-If you have indoor plants the cats keep eating, offer them their own! You can buy kits to grow catnip and cat grass and offer it to kitty instead. Also spraying the leaves with lemon juice can help keep kitty away.
-Spray bottles work wonders if kitty has real bad behaviors like climbing up on kitchen counters and eating plastic. This is also a sign they need their own space to climb up on.
Good luck with your fluffy babies. ~ Mel
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