Cat hard to calm

[ckhatcher]

We have three cats; the two older ones, that are over a year old, come in at night and generally calm down and go to sleep after eating.  The youngest one (that took up with us) gets along well with the other two, but wants to play, play and bother us, the furniture, and the other cats.  He just won't calm down for a long while.  He is about 7 months old now. 

I don't want to medicate Harry, but is there anything you can suggest that might make him calm down at night?  They all sleep in the kitchen area; the older two will go to sleep, but Harry bothers everybody!!  Thanks.

 

[tulosai]

We have three cats; the two older ones, that are over a year old, come in at night and generally calm down and go to sleep after eating.  The youngest one (that took up with us) gets along well with the other two, but wants to play, play and bother us, the furniture, and the other cats.  He just won't calm down for a long while.  He is about 7 months old now. 

I don't want to medicate Harry, but is there anything you can suggest that might make him calm down at night?  They all sleep in the kitchen area; the older two will go to sleep, but Harry bothers everybody!!  Thanks.

You are describing totally normal kitten/cat behavior.  He does not need medication.  He is nocturnal, like most if not all cats naturally are (they adapt to their humans schedule quite often but this is not how they'd ordinarily be doing things) and he wants to play a lot, like all kittens (and even if he looks like a cat now, make no mistake that if he is not at least a year old, he is still a kitten and going to act like one).

If it were me, I'd honestly just let him do his thing. As I already said it sounds like he's acting totally normal.  He will mellow some, even if he remains nocturnal, within the next year as he makes the transition from kitten to adult cat.  If you want him to 'calm down' some play with him using interactive toys for 20-30 minutes before you go to bed.  This will tire him out for the other two cats.

 

[catspaw66]

Are all of your cats neutered? If not, you should do it, since you let them outside.

There is really no way to 'get' a cat to calm down. Mine play at night, I know. When I get up in the morning, I will see toys in different places, bathroom trash can dumped (sometimes), and shoes dragged out into the laundry room.  If you ignore him at night, after you wear him out with play, like tulosai said, he will eventually get the message. The older cats will discipline him if he gets too rowdy and annoying.