Frustrated Kitty?

Hello all, my little boy is almost 10months old, and recently I've been noticing that when I try to play with him he's either disinterested or he appears to become frustrated/scared with what he's playing with.

He is an indoor cat, has plenty of toys, safe places, tall cat tower, I play with him as often as I can. Could it be that he's just a little highly strung as a personality?

Some toys he plays with for a while then makes a brrrchrrrp and runs off away from it and hides all wide eyed, laser pen he goes mental chasing and pants after a few minutes of that and I stop the play session when he's "got the light" and give him a treat "where he got it" so it simulates the hunt/kill as I felt maybe he was getting crazy because he couldn't get it.

Sometimes after or during playing he becomes very skittish and runs away from wherever I am as if he's scared of me? Any ideas? Is this normal behaviour?

Thanks x

How long have you had him?  Is he neutered?

Does he run away and then lick his fur a few times? My 1yo cat does this whenever she gets overstimulated from playing. I've also seen her do this when she gets startled and needs to calm herself down.

How long does it take him to come back out? I think it's normal to hide behind something or just around the corner and then continue to stalk the toy during playtime.

Also, for a while, my cat was scared of one of her wand toys, because I accidentally hit her on the head with the feather part as I was flicking it around. She ran away every time I took it out. Now she plays with it sometimes but still doesn't like it when it's above her. She prefers things that scuttle on the ground rather than flying things.

Sorry I didn't have internet access yesterday, he's almost 9months not 10 months,  I've had him since he was 8weeks old and he was neutered at 6months. 

I did think he had that rippling skin syndrome at one point as he seemed to go crazy for no reason and I have seen his back twitching a few times but not a huge amount.

He hides only for a short time, and doesn't over groom himself that I've noticed. He actually became quite aggressive the other night I was in bed and he was staring at me and then lurched and grabbed hold of my arm - he meant it too, I was shocked as he's not done that before :-( I told him no and shut him out of the bedroom for a while.

I suppose I am anxious as I don't want to not play with him if its stressing him out & then he gets bored and frustrated but then I also don't want to make him play if he doesn't want to then he'll be stressed out.

I bought a Feliway diffuser I've had plugged in a couple of weeks now. He was ill with some sort of virus at the beginning of July, he had to take 2 types of antibiotics, and appetite stimulant and the vet also gave him a valium. He seems back to himself apart from this personality change, his toilet habits are normal, eating ok, except he now seems to prefer his dry food that's left rather than wet food which he used to love.

I'm at a bit of a loss, I know one of the wand toys he's particularly not fond of is maybe because it makes squeaking noises each time it is moved, but can't understand the rest he used to be a playful cat.

DalisMum said:

 
He hides only for a short time, and doesn't over groom himself that I've noticed. He actually became quite aggressive the other night I was in bed and he was staring at me and then lurched and grabbed hold of my arm - he meant it too, I was shocked as he's not done that before :-( I told him no and shut him out of the bedroom for a while.

I suppose I am anxious as I don't want to not play with him if its stressing him out & then he gets bored and frustrated but then I also don't want to make him play if he doesn't want to then he'll be stressed out.

Click to expand...

Oh no! Was there anything that caused him to be aggressive? Or was he just too playful and energetic?

Also, would you consider him a low energy, medium energy, or high energy cat? Generally speaking, if a cat isn't interested in playing, they'll just walk away, although probably not to hide. If he's watching the toy, he's probably still interested.

Is he frustrated by/afraid of a specific type of toy? If so, maybe you can play with him using a different type for a while.

No there was no obvious reason for the aggression, he'd jumped onto the bed for a brush and then decided after a minute or two that he was in a biting mood!

I've hidden away the toy that squeaks, and we've played ok for the past couple of evenings but he still gets a bit bitey if I tell him off, he ran to the top of the tower last night and tried climbing on the curtains from there so I went over and said no and he had his mouth open at me with saucer eyes! I'm hoping he's having "teenage angst" and will grow out of this behaviour!

I know teenage kitty angst!   I have two siblings the same age as yours.  They are Jekyll and Hydes.  Fortunately, they both have sweet temperaments and don't bite which was good since it was nail trimming day!