A cat on a video call is following impeccable cat logic: you are sitting still, staring intently at a rectangle, speaking in an animated voice to nobody visible — clearly the most interesting event in the house. Her appearance on camera is curiosity plus social instinct, not sabotage. Whether that cameo is charming or a problem depends entirely on the meeting, so management means sorting your calls in advance and shaping her options for each kind, rather than improvising while a senior colleague watches her tail cross the screen.
Spend her energy before the call starts
The single most effective preparation happens fifteen minutes early. A proper play session — chasing a wand toy until she is warm and satisfied — followed by a small meal or puzzle feeder triggers the natural hunt-eat-groom-sleep sequence, and a cat entering the sleep phase does not mountaineer across desks. For back-to-back call days, time the big play session before the most demanding meeting rather than the first one, and use smaller amusements — a fresh box, a rotated toy — to carry her through the routine calls in between.
Give her a sanctioned seat in the room
If she will be in the room, decide where she is allowed to be famous from. A perch, cushion, or box placed beside your chair, slightly below camera height, lets her supervise you contentedly outside the frame, and most cats, once settled there with a stroke of greeting, stay put. Position a scratcher or a lick mat at that station for the moments restlessness builds. Keep your desk surface itself boring during calls: no dangling lanyards, pens, or cables in play range. A brief, good-humored introduction on informal calls — many colleagues keep a mental roster of team cats — often ends the novelty for both sides.
Redirecting mid-call without derailing yourself
When she does make her move, smoothness matters more than discipline. Keep two or three treats and a quiet, non-squeaking toy within reach; a treat delivered to her side station buys minutes more reliably than being repeatedly lifted off the desk, which many cats read as an interactive game with excellent audience feedback. Mute, smile, relocate once, and continue — audiences forgive a cat cameo instantly when the human treats it as a two-second event rather than a five-minute apology. If she escalates to walking on the keyboard, that call has told you she needs the next-room option next time.
The next-room plan for formal meetings
For interviews, client presentations, or anything recorded, remove the variable entirely — kindly. Settle her beforehand in the adjoining room with her puzzle feeder, water, a warm bed, and the door closed, after her play session, so the separation reads as a treat delivery rather than an eviction. Household members can help on days when your calendar is solid: one person owns pre-call play and settling so it never depends on you finding a gap between meetings. Planned this way, her on-camera appearances happen on your terms — the friendly calls where a cat is an asset, not an incident. Assigning those pre-call play and settling duties in KinsLe Care Teams keeps your cat's call-day routine reliable, with timestamps showing each task was done.