TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Cat sleeps all day then up all night!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Cat sleeps all day then up all night!

post #1 of 10
10/15/10 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
Our 5 month old kitten is home alone all day. Greebo sleeps a little when we go to bed but is up and ready to play by 2 or 3am.
Is there an electric cat toy that can be put on a timer to start up when we are at work?
Is there a better solution?
Reply
post #2 of 10
10/15/10 at 2:36pm
Hello and welcome to TCS. My first suggestion is to get another kitten, slightly older. Then they will have each other to play with.

However you will still need to play with them.

Whether you get another cat or not your kitten needs a lot, a LOT, of attention and interactive play time at this age.

My kitten, Queen Eva is just over four months old. She has three older doting cats who play with her quite a bit, but she still needs at least two good half hour sessions of interactive play with me.

I play with her in the morning for half an hour, and in the evening for half an hour, then the other cats take over and play with her, too. And she sleeps through the night, curled up against my legs under the covers usually.

So, what kind of Games do you play with Greebo? What kind of interactive toys does he (she?) have? Does your kitten have a cat tree?

Is there a window you can put a bird feeder outside of, for Cat TV?
Reply
post #3 of 10
10/15/10 at 3:10pm
Thread Starter 
Greebo (witches familiar from Terry Pratchett books) and I stalk each other around the house, peeking around the corner at each other then running and sliding on the wood floor.
He loves to chase anything thrown. His favorites are paper balls, plastic bottle caps and his catnip mousy.
We have those cardboard scratching beds but no cat tree, looking into that one.
He has a favorite chair, when he jumps into it its time to play.
Sometimes he meows loudly when he wants to play and is in a room by himself.
Wears me out but we love him.
If we get steadier employment we are considering rescuing another kitty from the county animal shelter where we got Greebo.
Reply
post #4 of 10
10/15/10 at 4:25pm
Get him a DaBird toy. It's a wand toy with a feather attachment that flies like a bird. You can't leave it out, but you can use that and he'll chase it and jump at it. Also, a laser toy will be fun and exert a lot of energy. Do you have a turbo scratcher? That would be a good toy, too. It's got a ball in a track that they can chase around and around and around for hours on end. Play hard with him for about 30 minutes just before bedtime, then feed him a nice serving of wet food. Then, lights out! Leave quiet toys out for him to play with at night.

I have a 5.5 month old and we play before bedtime, eat, then go to sleep. He'll sleep all night through.
Reply
post #5 of 10
10/16/10 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
Thank you, we will try playing and then feeding just before bedtime. We are also going to look for the toys you mentioned and get a couple.
Just before sunrise this morning he was ready to play and now at 9:30am hes ready for a nap! Oh well, hope your suggestions work.
Thanks again.
Reply
post #6 of 10
10/16/10 at 3:31pm
We have 2 interactive toys on timer:

1) Frolicat DART (laser)
2) Panic Cat
Reply
post #7 of 10
10/16/10 at 8:32pm
The behavior is completely natural though, just wanted to add that.

Cats are a crepuscular species, which means that their biological clock is tuned to be most active during twilight hours, dusk and dawn.

This is likely evolved from prime hunting hours either due to their prey habits, or advantage of having excellent low-light vision.

So expect them to be spazzes early in the morning and earlier in the night, with rest cycles during the mid-day and middle of the night.
Reply
post #8 of 10
10/16/10 at 8:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ummm View Post
We have 2 interactive toys on timer:

1) Frolicat DART (laser)
2) Panic Cat
Those are both good toys. I used to have one of the wand toys that are on a stand and wave around by themselves. Those are good too as long as you cat isn't too rough, we have a Maine Coon and she snapped the wand right off the stand.

I've been thinking of getting the Fling-ama-string which is another 'automatic' toy. I was benched across from one of the vendors at a cat show and they had one of those toys running. My cat Harley kept staring over at it looking really interested!

For interactive toys that you can use to play with him, the ones my cats like the best are the ones made by the company that makes Da Bird (Go Cat)-- they love the Cat Catcher, Da Bird, and the one where the 'string' is a clear plastic spring (I forget the name). Their other favorites are the laser pointer, and Cat Dancer.

I usually play with my cats right before I go to bed, I stay up late though so it works out for us.
Reply
post #9 of 10
10/16/10 at 10:39pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you for all the suggestions and info.
We bought him a Motor Mouse which is entertaining him a lot! He jumps over the top to catch it on the other side.
I am going to try playing with him and then feed him some wet food at night for a week and see how that goes.
I'll check into all the toy suggestions too. Has anyone tried the Mouse Chase Electronic Cat Toy. Its motion activated, found it on Amazon for $12.00.
Reply
post #10 of 10
10/19/10 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 
So far so good.
We are giving him (and me) a good workout just before bed then feeding him wet food and he is sleeping all night. Whew.
I don't expect this to work every night but we will keep working at it.
Thanks again everyone.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Behavior
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Cat sleeps all day then up all night!