What's the deal with my psycho cat?

My cat is about 9 months old, and ever since he was a couple months old he would get into this mood where he just kind of goes hyper "psycho". He runs around and jumps from place to place... which sounds normal, but he just gets crazy. He also attacks, not viciously... more playfully. And he'll have his mouth open with his teeth showing just ready to bite. He attacks mostly hands and arms... for example, if I'm laying down on the couch and I'm scratching my stomach, he'll attack! And I'll push him off... but that only seems to make him more crazy and as soon as he's on the ground he's ready to pounce again! Then I'll just grab him, lay him down and hold him against me for a few minutes and try to calm him down, and his tail goes crazy. It'll violently swat around and stuff.

He's not like this ALL the time, I would say half the time... and then half the time he's normal. There are two signs that he's crazy... one is his tail. The other, my brother noticed, is that his pupils dilate and his eyes go just about all black! My brother will see his eyes and go, "Uh-oh! Huckleberry's in possessed mode!" What does this mean? I've never seen a cat act like this before! Sometimes I'm afraid he has a secret drug problem or something ! A few people said it was because he needed to get fixed, but I got him fixed like a week and a half ago... and now he's just back to his old self. Someone else said "it's because he's still a kitten", but REALLY??? I didn't even know kittens acted like this! I don't know what kind of cat he is... he's not like a pedigree breed or whatever it's called. He's orange and white and by the way he acts some people suggest maybe he's a product of incest. Any advice whatsoever would be appreciated, thanks.

P.S. in the pictures, his eyes look all black... but I doubt they were at the time. Bad lighting and crappy camera is all.

It does take time to see general behavior changes after neuter or spay.......though it sounds like he has some Enigizer Bunny in him!

Sounds just like Radar! Lying on the sofa is a hazardous occupation around here, if he's in a quiet mood he'll lie next to you and purr but if he wants to play or is having the crazies then you are more than likely going to end up with a cat pouncing and hanging from your arm or ankle by his teeth

We know that he is not being deliberately vicious or nasty, but it still hurts! He just wants to play, he is pouncing on us to try to get us to play fight. We say NO, push him off and go get a toy to play with him interactively - either a fur mouse we can play fetch with, or a wand toy that he can chase and wrestle. On occassion we have had to shut him in the bathroom for a few minutes to calm down.

Kittens, even older kittens, do have a lot of energy and a need for interaction. I don't know if you've ever seen kittens playfighting and wrestling with each other, but this is I think what yours (and ours!) is trying to do with us. It doesn't always happen when we're feeling lively ourselves, but when they want to expend some energy we have to provide an outlet for them, by directing their behaviour into playing with us with a toy instead of trying to wrestle.

We are getting another kitten soon which should hopefully help Radar to expend more of his youthful energy without leaping all over us!

There's a great sticky thread under behavior that talks about cat aggression towards humans: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20837

Some cats just do what yours does. If you read thru the sticky, it talks about overstimulation biting. I have many that had that problem as kittens and others that never grew out of it as adults. If you are noticing the tail switching and the blackening of the eyes, then you know exactly when he is going to attack you. That's half the battle!

My cat does it to. Not the pouncing on tummy part. But his eyes dilate and the tail starts twitching when he's about to do something bad. Normally he'll run through the house and skid on the kitchen floor. But once in awhile he'll attack Kota (My dog) which is why I put soft nails on him. I think it's just a personality quirk. They may grow out of it as they mature. But right now at 9 months old they still are just adolescents.

both my cats do the same exact thing. My older cat Neko used to bounce of the furniture (and the people sitting in it) and jump on things he was not supposed to (like the curtains) and generally go into crazy mode. He also gets the dilated pupil thing and has a crazy meow (being Siamese he is very vocal) which i can't even describe. Since we got his little brother Willie he usually takes his crazies out on him and Willie does the same to Neko and Willie has the same exact crazy meow. The best thing to do during these times is take out his favorite toys and play with him until he is tired.

My cat Javier does the exact same thing. I had to laugh when I read your post because it sounded like our kitty, who is about 5 months old now.

His eyes don't go black, but he gets this intense wide eyed look, staring at whoever he is about to attack. We know to break eye contact, or stop it in it's tracks with throwing a toy mouse or something. He is an ankle and hand biter and sometimes even leaps on our heads. Hopefully they'll all grow out of this!

Gracie is 6 years old and she does the same thing from time to time...but for some reason she only does after she's used the litter box.

My Husband always says she's just showing us how pleased she is with her deposit

my 9 month old Harriet does the same thing, too...we call it "crazy mode". I've noticed that she'll do it more if she hasn't had her three "scheduled" play sessions; we play morning, noon, and evening to help her get all her excess energy out. If we don't, she'll be bouncing off the walls.

^^^ Same here with my 9 month old Gollum . He goes CRAZY and we always say that he has the devil in him during his zoomies ~ biting and charging around the place. It is almost like he can't help himself, because after his crazies, he will come to snuggle up and be very loving

Hehehe, he does look wicked! I know when the pupils dilate that he's ready to attack (may be playful, may not be). Do you have a crate/cage? Maybe everytime he acts up you can place him in there for a few minutes until you see that he has calmed down. Sometimes my Siamese goes crazy for minutes at a time and I tried that once and it helped. I tried distracting him first with a toy but that didn't work, tried pulling him away and placing him somewhere else in the house but he'd come right back to me so for me the crate works. Good luck!

Hahaha! Oh that's just like singa when she was a kitten. I thought she was brain damaged. The big eyes, the nervous twitch... not to forget the cute Halloweenwalk.. when the stretch themselvels into a complete arch and walk diagonally just before they try to hunt you down.. hahahaha!

I somehow got Singa to keept her clwas in so it never really hurt much... also when she play-bites its just a slight scratchy feeling. hehe...

I was laying in bed one morning, perfectly still, my wife was in bed and was awake. I was doing nothing but breathing/falling asleep (we work nights) and the next thing I know I had been punched in the stomach by Poe. Literally, he stood up and flung himself (both front paws) onto me, bounced off me like a ball, ran around the apartment for 5 minutes, came back, and promptly laid down and fell asleep.

My wife laughed for 10 minutes straight.

Somebody once explained what that is in a thread from a long time ago,....

"it's crazy kitty hour", ...........and most cats do something like it. but it can be unsettlling

LOL thanks guys for the responses. Of course it's normal for cats to play, but it's good to know that it's not uncommon to think that your cat goes completely psycho. It is very amusing at times... and I have to admit there are times when I will actually provoke him. Like I'll start tapping on his cheeks, and he'll open his mouth and show his teeth... and I'll go from side to side on each cheek, just tapping them really quick and pulling away, and his mouth goes back and forth trying to catch my hand. And then I'll playfully push him over when he's standing up, and he'll roll onto his back with his paws in the air ready to "play wrestle" (it's obvious that it's instinctual for cats to do this). But my favorite... I'll stand up and put my arm out, palm down, and wiggle my fingers... and he'll jump up, wrap his paws around my wrists, and just kind of hang there for a moment. It's hilarious, I'll get a picture of it one of these days.

But anyway, I'm thinking of investing in a cat tree (or condo, whatever you want to call it) for him to have... I just know that he'll go CRAZY over it. I found some cheap ones on a link from this site... but will he grow out of this behavior anytime soon? Because if he does, I probably shouldn't get it. Thanks.

I think it would be very worth the investment. They don't usually grow completely out of "the crazys", and to have something he centers on now may help a lot in a center for him to focus on during thoughs moments of crazed behavior

My friend's kitten is just like yours, JB68711! She attacks ankles though. My friend has scars all over her ankles from sharp little kitten claws and teeth, and when I visited I came away with some war wounds myself! Kittens are just crazy that way!

I like my older, calm kitties!

My 6 month old female usually goes insane in this manner.

She runs from one end of the apartment to the other at full speed making this weird squirrel chirping noise.

Yesterday Radar was going nuts, running all over the bookcases and jumping to the top of the door. When he was on the bookcases I heard the sound of him 'testing gravity' by knocking things off the back of the shelves (if we ever move we will find out where half our belongings have disappeared to). I went to have a look through the side of the racking, and this little kitty head surged towards me, a paw popped out, and I was BOPPED! on the nose That will teach me not to interrupt his kitty fun