when will my kittens calm down???

My husband and I adopted two adorable male kittens, litter mates who look almost exactly alike. we've had them for about a month now, and they're five months old and neutered.

A third of the time, they are very affectionate. Another third of the time they are sleeping. And the final third of the time -- they are TOTALLY INSANE. they tear through the house, jumping up on all of the furniture, ripping up the plants, scratching the hardwood floors with their running, rolling around and play-fighting. they get completely wild. we let them, most of the time, because we understand that they're kittens and need to get that energy out.

but, this is really taking a toll on me...

when can I expect them to become a little more adult and not act as energetic/crazy. I could definitely go for some lazy-sleepy cats right about now.

I'd love any encouragement/stories/advice.

thanks!

After 6 months of age. I have 2 cats calm down after they hit that mark. You can always get a hyper adult cat everynow and then. lol


Ashley

There is really no set time that they calm down. Some cats remain hyper throughout their adult life. You can help by setting up interactive playtimes with your cats and letting them run off steam with a good toy like DaBird, or a laser toy or panic mouse. I just use a peacock feather with my crew, or a toy on the end of a fishing line/pole.

You can make a fast inexpensive ball bin, by going to an appliance store and getting an empty cardboad box. Cut holes in the box off the floor level, cut off the flaps on one end and toss inside the box about 3 ping pong balls- the cats will jump into the holes, bat the balls around for quite awhile, or chase each other out of the holes-

For me so far... our 3 older cats started calming down towards a year old. Shade is 6months... don't know if she will calm down... she doesn't seem like she will. She's about to be fixed though

Well that's what cats do.. play and tear through the house in the middle of the night Totally normal and must be expected when adopting kittens. It actually makes me laugh. (when they do it while I'm awake of course. ) Saki is 1.5 years and still isnt calm yet Calmer than he was when he was a kitten.. but he still gets his spastic running/meowing fits.

you'll miss it when they stop. my kitten is 9 months now and is just starting to calm down. enjoy it when it lasts.

Originally Posted by allissa

You should have gone for Persians. I would say they sleep most of the time, the rest of the time they eat.
One of mine does have a bit of energy and plays from time to time with some toys, but he ceirtanly is not ripping through the house. The other one is a total couch potato.
Seriously, if someone wants a cat that does not have a crazy amount of energy one should go Persian.

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Wow, Kionu is certainly a unique Persian. He can play for HOURS! He's played for 3+ hours straight...no kidding. Granted he can also sleep for hours too, but hey, what cat doesn't? LOL. He loves mylar balls and his feather bungee. Miko seems to be playing more with Kionu around so I suppose all this playing gives them a good work-out.

You don't know when they will settle down. I typically adopt litter mate pairs and can say that it's about a 50/50 chance that they will be settling down about 18-24 months. I had one pair that were mellow from kitten-hood, and have had others still whacky at 8 years old.

I keep lots of toys for them around the house to engage them (boxes, cat condos, toys, etc). The worst part of it is the noise from the constant thump-thump-thump of their feet as they tear around the house (I am all hardwood floors here), and the sound of boxes as they slide up and down the hallway. But then again, I know exactly where they are by the sounds they make. It has become background noise to me - I can close it out of my mind until I hear a "crash" sound after the series of thumps. I can even tell by the crash noise if it was an expensive "crash" or a not-to-worry-until-the-morning "crash" - the former will wake me up from a sound sleep.