Cat is too hyper...iduno what to do anymore

im soo close to taking him back to the spca.

he eats everything, scratches everything and howls all night. He has many toys and gets lots of attention around the house and even gets to play with my guinea pig

i am soo lost on what to do. ive tried spraying him with a water bottle, canned air, 2way sticky tape and nothing!

any suggestions on how to calm this cat down and let him know what he is doing is wrong?

hes 11 months old and weve had him for about a month

i didn't have such problems with my two fellas...i dun think i can be of much help.. i can only wish u luck....

Have you given him a scratching post to use? If you catch him scratching something else, take him to it, and show him. They learn pretty fast. You might have to try a couple of different kinds. Both of my cats love a simple wood post, and Faile also loves to use the sisal scratch pad I have.

What is he eating--is it food or is he chewing on different things? My one cat used to unroll the toilet paper and shred it, so I closed the bathroom door. She doesn't do that anymore, and the door is open. The other cat loves to chew on paper, especially sticky notes, so I just put it in drawers or out of her reach.

Both of my cats were crazy when they were little, too. Trust me, they learn to behave better, it just takes time. As for the howling, I'm not sure what to suggest, but there are many knowledgeable people here, so I'm sure someone will help you. Do you lock him out of your bedroom? He might want to be with you if that's the case. Maybe a snuggle kitty would make him feel less alone?

Please do not use the spray bottle.
He is still a kitten, technically.
Have you tried Bachs flower remedies, such as rescue remedy?
My youngest, Kahu is very active, but we learned to ignore it - I know its not easy, but he can be trained. I am sure this will be moved into the behaviour forum where the right people will read this and have great advice for you - there are some who know so much about cat behaviour.
It will be okay.

This belongs in our behavior forum, I'll move it there for you.

I can certainly sympathize, my Noelle was a real little devil at that age. She got into everything! She shredded toilet paper, well, any paper, she'd knock everything down that wasn't nailed down, she used to climb up curtains and the sides of doorways, she used a potted plant hanging from the ceiling as her personal swing (I was sure she couldn't reach it- and you can guess how that turned out), "attack" ankles from under the bed when you got up, "attack" and hang on your arm when you reached out for that cup of coffee, ruined quite a lot of wallpaper etc etc. And during all of this she got plenty of attention and had toys to play with.

She still has the right to check out whatever I'm eating and have a bit of that- with two dogs and two cats I know better than to leave food I want to have myself where they can reach it.

But you know what? After a (loooong) while AND getting spayed she calmed down, and today at 6 yrs old she doesn't do much damage at all and is a real sweetheart most of the time. I think she must have been about 1,5 yrs or so when she finally started to calm down, and it did take time, didn't happen over night.

She used to make a lot of noise too, don't know if howling is the word I'd use, but believe me, it was loud! She mostly grew out of that too, she can still be noisy, but only very occasionally.

For the scratching I'm not much help, the only thing I've tried to protect from scratching are the walls, and that's been easy enough. I can deal with scratched furniture and rugs, I don't mind that.

Don't know how much help this actually is, but at least you know that others have gone through similar things and survived. I'm sure it must be hard since you're dealing with this right from the start, at least I had time to fall in love with a cute little kitten before she showed me her devilish side.

Is he neutered? If he isn't, neutering him will help. Does he have a cat condo, or cat perch or someplace he can go to get up higher than you? That calms cats down as well. When you say he eats "everything" can you be more specific? There is a condition in cats called picca that causes them to eat things that are unnatural. If he is licking bricks, or concrete, he is probably anemic. Has he been to the vet recently? Yowling could be a response to some pain in him?

Please do not spray him with water or canned air, you can do some damage to him that way, and spraying him only makes him scared of you. If you have to use the spray bottle, use it as a toy and shoot it up and away from him into a corner so he *thinks* there is prey in the corner and goes off to investigate. There are some excellent books out about problem behavior. Have you sought the advice of a cat behaviorist? Or thought about using Bach Flower remedies to help calm him down? There are so many different ones out there, Vine might him calm down, or Vervain.

I think if he were my cat, I would take him to the vet first and ask the vet to do a full work-up on him and make sure nothing is wrong. And if he is not neutered, get him neutered- though being a shelter cat chances are he already has been. Shelter cats have usually been through some nightmares you can only imagine. He may have his own private demons and you need to work with him through them, with patience and love, not frustration, anger and air cans.

Please dont take your cat back to the spca. That is such a cop out. Take the advice of everyone here.. they gave VERY good advice.

Oh yes, I forgot to say that I've never used a spraybottle or anything like that with my pets. I just don't believe in punishment- you'd have to be able to do it in a way that the animal doesn't connect it to you (or they'll be scared of you, and not understand why you're doing it), and have to time it exactly right, and at least my reflexes are definitely not that good, split second!

Ignoring unwanted behaviour and rewarding wanted ones is the way to go. It can be frustrating for the owner, but you have to think long term. You want a well-behaving, happy cat, even if it takes a while to get there.

An 11 month old is in his teenage, rebelious age. A tall cat tree or cat condo works wonders for mine. They spend most of the day running up and down it (I have four 7 month olds right now that are just hitting their "teen" years). I leave empty boxes (24 or 30 pack boxes work great) on the floor for them to pounce in and out of. Don't give up on him yet - he has to work thru this growing up period in him life!

I absolutely agree with Momofmany: 7-11 mths is their 'teenage' or rebellious phase. I experienced it with both boys, but not much with my girl. Then again, you may have a generally very active kitty type, which requires A LOT more effort from you to keep occupied.

They were just relatively boisterous kittens who would listen to me. Then they got very comfy in their home, became holy terrors and started pushing the boundaries to see how far and what they could get away with. The funniest (and most frustrating) was my Mozart who knew he was doing something wrong but refuse to give in/move/stop, and would give me that stubborn squinty "i'm not budging" look.

Just hang in there, patience. You're doing well, trying out different suggestions, but don't give up now, you gotta keep trying various things to find out what will work for your kitty.

Originally posted by superkitty
The funniest (and most frustrating) was my Mozart who knew he was doing something wrong but refuse to give in/move/stop, and would give me that stubborn squinty "i'm not budging" look.

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ROFL Mozart would be my Stumpy. He was a stubborn terror until he grew out of it. And he DID grow out of it and is the most wonderful cat in the world right now! Hang in there!!

Originally posted by Momofmany
ROFL Mozart would be my Stumpy. He was a stubborn terror until he grew out of it. And he DID grow out of it and is the most wonderful cat in the world right now! Hang in there!!

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Wasn't it the funniest thing? Torn between being mad or laugh your head off!
He's grown out of it mostly, but the stubborn/squinty streak will always be there.

But I love them feisty and super active, that's why I picked Pixie (my newest). Today is her first day out, and she's been playing for 7 hours straight as of....now!

He is newtered, has a scratching post and many toys to play with.

hes had a full workup and he is fine...totally healthy!

do you think we should get him a tree house sorta thing to play in?

he also has a collar with a bell on it so we know where he is..that doesnt seem to bother him (that we know of)

and what are these remedies that are talked about?

When I had my guys from the cat shelter they were fully grown and fortunately I didn't have any "problems" with them settling in. I did get adult cats on purpose, it was a better fit for me and for them.

A friend of mine had two kittens from the shelter at the same time (approx 1 year old) they were TERRORS ! They particularly liked hanging fron her curtains and leaping from there onto the furniture - great to see when you went to visit but I don't think there was much in her house that didn't suffer from their exuberance. She's a very chilled-out person, thank heavens...in the end they settled in and became more calm. I can only wish the same for you and your little fella.

You did a wonderful thing bringing your waif home from the shelter, it's a generous and loving home that you've created for him and I hope you grow into eachother. I don't have any "cures" just good wishes

Originally posted by equlizer
do you think we should get him a tree house sorta thing to play in?

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That sounds good, any activity that's vertical would amuse him greatly. Different levels, more the better. If you're thinking of building something, save the trouble of doing anything other than the posts for the first 2-3 feet. Mine love any levels above 3 ft.

The thing about toys, these guys find it old in 5 mins flat. Things that move are really great, unfortunately I haven't found anything that lasts. The more interactive the better.

You can find the essences here. Mix them with spring water and keep them tightly capped. They are very effective when used correctly and they do not give the cat a drugged appearance at all.

Cat Faeries

A cat condo/tree house is a wonderful thing for a cat to have. I am planning to build one for my babies. You can also get them on eBay for a fraction of the price that you see in pet stores, but make sure they are safe.

Good luck in finding solutions.

And also, I want to thank you for asking here for help, instead of just finding the easy way out.

I'm sure you're already doing this, but just a thought...

Are you playing with him with interactive toys at all? Or is he just playing with his toys by himself. Cats are pretty good at keeping themselves amused, but I found with all of our cats that spending just 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening (before bedtime) seems to help behavior problems out a bit. We have several interactive toys and the girls chase them and enjoy spending time with us and it nixed the "naughty" behavior right away.

Hang in there. Wishing you lots of good luck!

DO NOT SPRAY WITH WATER!!!! Trust me...I tried that with Spica about a week when I first brought her in because she climbed the curtains,chewed my computer wires and knocked things off shelves. I learnt the hard way that this doesnt work it only scares her and caused her to leave the spot and return later. Also, she became scared of me and wouldnt come to me. I stopped imediately and thankfully she forgave me and is now loving and caring. I just dont have anything on my shelves,dressers, or desk now. No pictures on walls either since she figured how to get to them. Spica is a wonderfull cat and the older she gets the more she calms down. The same with your cat. You got it from a shelter and have no idea what it's been though. Dont punish it for it's behavier...there are reasons. Punishing it is punishing you. Your cat will never behave as long as you do that. Good luck, keep us posted, and let us know if you need anything.