Endless Energy

I'm hoping to get some tips on how to tire out an 11 week old kitten. Cheddar has endless energy and I was expecting it. But now it's getting to the point that he's sometimes a bit too much for my dogs. He plays a lot by himself (or me) with his toys but has taken a great liking to play too rough with my dog's tails. I try to distract him when I see him doing this but he's not getting the point.

Also, I know this is not the most ideal, but I have a foster dog here and she was here from before I found him and brought him home. She shows way too much interest in him so I have to do a rotation between the 2 to give equal opportunity out with me. Cheddar has gotten into the routine that his time out is endless playtime and rarely sleeps, this includes every other night as I alternate between him and my foster loose overnight. When it's his turn to stay out overnight, he does not sleep. He'll wake me up multiple times in the middle of the night playing in my hair and what not and I hear his bell literally ringing all night as he's harassing the dogs when they are trying to sleep. Because of this routine, he associates his crate with sleep time and out crazy time. How can I teach him to settle down at night?

Aw what a cutie!!

Unfortunately, as you seem to know, this is pretty typical. Ideally he'd have been with mom and littermates for a few more weeks learning his 'manners' but even then, kittens are crazy.

One tip for night in particular is to try to tire him out by playing with him and feeding him right before bed. I mean with an interactive toy like da bird, and when I say play with him, I mean for up to half an hour- until he is panting and exhausted.

Another tip is to just totally ignore him when he bothers you at night.  Eventually he will get the message that you can't be bothered when you are sleeping.  This will take some time though.

I just bought this and it arrived today. It's pretty big and tall. The dimensions are 36-Inch Long by 23.5-Inch Wide by 50.5-Inch. Do you think it's too small to have both Cheddar and Devon in there together? I thought it might be a good idea to have them together, that way they can burn off energy together during rotations. Also, maybe they can teach each other manners in kitty language.