How do I keep my cat from disturbing me during phone meetings?
I happen to have a fairly talkative cat. However, sometimes if I’m working from home and having a meeting, she’ll want attention and be very loud. If I kick her out of the bedroom, she’ll just meow at the door which is almost is bad. Is there any way to fix this?
I don’t necessarily mind her being talkative and asking for attention. Just not when I’m on the phone!
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9 Answers
Pet her in your lap and she’ll have your attention. Would that work? That’s what I do, at least. I know that’s giving the cat attention, but it works.
@blondsjon put his in the freezer when he went on vacation. Check with him to see how that worked out.~
Trade it in for an upgrade (a.k.a. A dog)
I recommend finding a way. I am a cat lover, but as an attendee of many phone meetings where one person in particular who dialed in always had a chatty, yowing cat beside her, I can tell you that I got sick really fast not just of hearing the cat noises but of how they always led to a major interruption:
MUFFY: MYOW. MYOW.
CAT OWNER: Shh, Muffy! Quiet now.
OTHER VOICES IN MEETING; Oh, is that Muffy? Hi, Muffy! Muffy wants to come to the meeting! Somebody give Muffy an action item.
MUFFY: MYOW. MYOW. MYOW.
CAT OWNER: I’m sorry, guys. Shush, Muffy. Just a minute, folks. I’m sorry. I have to try to quiet Muffy. I’ll be right back.
MUFFY: ROW YOW MEE-MEE-MEE-YOW.
You can’t blame the cat. No self-respecting cat is going to wait patiently while her person pays attention to something besides her.
If this were my pet, I would never let it compromise my professionalism among my peers. I would shut the cat in the bathroom before dialing into the meeting.
Can you shut the cat in another room that doesn’t have a common door with the room you are in? Or at least one that is on the other side of the house/apartment?
I think what you need to determine is if petting her in your lap really does consistently satisfy her and keep her quiet. Perhaps too could recruit a few friends to give you a call so you can do some test runs. If petting her in your lap does the trick, then problem solved.
However, Jeruba had an excellent point regarding professionalism. I’m also a big cat lover, but the first time Fluffy interfered with my professional responsibilities, she would be kindly but firmly transported to whichever room was farthest away from the phone.
I would also have previously placed an extra litter box there and made sure she has fresh water.
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