My apartment is NOT a Nascar track.

[grissom]

Cat's are nocturnal, I understand that. BUt Grissom's nocturnal tendencies are driving us NUTS. We play with him in the evenings, when we get home from work, but that is apparently not enough. Every night around 3 am, he goes absolutely INSANE. I wouldn't mind, but there are people living beneath us and they are getting a bit perturbed. Anyway, last night it started with attacking his toy mouse on the linoleum, which is loud becuase he has no traction so he runs into things and knocks things down. So after a bit, I got up and took the mouse off him. The guy beneath us pounded on his ceiling. Quiet. For 1.2 minutes. Then, it was NASCAR time. He ran from the living room through the kitchen and bedroom into the bath and up onto the toilet, then back out through the kitchen. I got up to try and stop him and he blew past me back into the bathroom into the tub, yanking down my shower curtain. Then back out, between my legs and into the living room. He made his return lap and I shut the bedroom door. Thinking he would calm with just the bedroom and the bath, but no, he lapped them too! Bathroom, to under the bed, then to the bathroom. I shut the bathroom door. So then, he decides, under the bed to the top of mommy's dresser is a grand idea. I must admit here that he is a very graceful jumper, not a single fairy figurine was moved on my dresser. However, this was still unacceptable. One, because by this point I had been up over an hour with Grissom the Lunatic, and two becuase the guy downstairs was surely still hearing this noise.

So, back to the point of this post. What can I do to make him less nocturnal? Or am I and the man downstairs just going to have to live with it?

 

[jeeperscat]

I've heard (somewhere on this forum) that wet food before bedtime helps kitties sleep better.

 

[ruzica_hr]

Uhm ) well, you have an option: keep him awake and occupied during the day, don't let him sleep a lot. Then, in the evening, play with him a lot more and harder than before. When he is tired, annoy him again. Few days like that, and he should learn when is the sleep time.
If that doesn't succeed, you will have to live with that. If he's a young cat, that behavious will stop... someday )

Ivan.

 

[rosiemac]

And i thought my two playing chase around the bedroom at 5.30 a.m was bad enough!.

I'm not letting them have a nap until i go to bed tonight

 

[lotsocats]

Grissom,

Sounds like you have a wild-child on your hands! To best help you we need a little more information. How old is your cat? Is he neutered?

Let us know these two things and we will give you some ideas!

 

[hissy]

LOL I saw your subject line and my first thought was "Wanna Bet?"

As lotsocats says, some information is missing, so fill us in-

 

[grissom]

Well Grissom is approximately 2 years old, and yes, he is neutered. He is a Maine Coon or Maine Coon mix and ... I don't know what other information would be helpful. I know that they have lots of energy at that stage, but Chaos was never like this, and she was obnoxious!

 

[dima]

LOL!! I trained my guys from the first day they were here that I don't much care how nocturnal cats are SUPPOSED to be...here they are NOT! lol

They run around in the bedroom like wild squirrels for about 10 minutes when it is bed time, I completely ignore them, they get bored and fall asleep. I also play with them A LOT in the evenings. I do it while I'm watching TV or sewing or working on the computer even. I have one of those battery powered balls that has a little thingy inside that makes the ball roll by itself and when it hits something it changes direction. They go NUTS playing with that thing. That's a good toy in the evening to tire them out! I also feed them a bit of wet food RIGHT before I go to bed, so that their tummies are full and they seem to sleep better...and longer

 

[KittenKrazy]

Originally Posted by hissy

LOL I saw your subject line and my first thought was "Wanna Bet?"

MA, that was my first thought too! Mine don't run through the bedroom, but they do race from one end of the trailer to the BR door, into the bathroom, tub and back out again...over and over and over.....and God forbid that you are sitting on the couch when someone is having a running fit, 'cause they go up the arm on one end, across the back and back down the arm on the other end! (And I'm talking cats from 10 weeks old to 10 years old doing this!)

 

[rang_27]

I would say that best suggestion is play with him alot, maybe a good hard play session right before you go to bed would help. As far as the neighbor have you explained that it is your cat & not you. When I got my boys I ran into the guy that lived below me & explained that I had gotten 2 young cats that I was aware they run around alot & night & appoligized saying I hope they didn't wake him up. His response was "Yeah I hear them, but I just turn my fan on & go back to sleep." Maybe just apologizing will smooth things over with the neighbor & if he doesn't understand tell him he's lucky cause he could live below me & have my two 12 pound boys running around all night & knocking things over.

I'm also wondering how your cat reacts to cat nip. Often cats will get crazy for a little while & then relax after the cat nip. If that's the case with your cat maybe you could give him some before bed? I don't know if this would be a good thing for everyday, but if it works once in a while to help you get some sleep would be nice.

 

[qtkitty]

we don't live in an apartment . but we do live in a trailer .. and when our animals get into the running mood .. LOOK OUT ... usually its Luna( out 3 year old cat ) and Sampson ( 1.5 year old 120lb. Dog ) who start running back and forth .. first Sampson Chasing Luna then Luna chasing Sampson ..

They don't do it at night often .. usually its more a few mews .. then if you say here ( who ever it is thats mewing ) they will come to bed and get lovings and cuddle into bed with everyone else and go to sleep .. and as for Sampson *lol* we go to bed and before we get the light off or get to sleep he is Snoring away *lol*

( i think Sampson and having other cats in our house and us bugging them to play during the day .. wears them out )

I think Luna snores too *lol* ( which i think is adorible )

 

[sashacat421]

Yepo, agree w/Rang. Same thing. Sasha is 12 and has alwaya done that. Not every single night, but enough - and it's Formula 1 racing baby! All the way ---taking towels, toilet paper, dishes and socks with him to the finish line. I call it the midnight heebee-jee-bee's. Playing with him around 8-9 pm for 15 minutes seemed to help immensely. Before the mauling, Eric would put on his puffy snow gloves and "box" with Sashie until he lost interest or said enough (maybe this is what helped him fight off the coyote in the end) and we noticed a difference. Sasha would be totally aggressive with the snow gloves, he'd hiss and grab them, bite them, kick them like he was on a treadmill, and then he'd be pretty docile for the rest of the night.

So if you can, intense interactive play on a fairly regular schedule might help!

 

[anne g]

I have also heard that you could give the cat a fish meal before bedtime. Fish makes people sleepy, so why not cats too? Give him a good run after a laser dot and then food.

Or maybe you could let him have his night run in a room that is not directly over your neighbour's bedroom? Close the door to the bathroom, as the pipes will carry the sound more than in other rooms.

 

[grissom]

Thanks for all the advice! i will put it to use tonight. Hopefully, its just a phase.

 

[grissom]

Rob has just played with Grissom for awhile and annoyed him greatly and now the furbaby is chowing down on some kitty kibbles. Unfortunately, we don't have any soft cat food right now, but he is gobbling up some hard stuff. Hopefully it will fill his belly and he will sleep the whole night through.

 

[twofatcats]

Originally Posted by ruzica_hr

If he's a young cat, that behavious will stop... someday )

Ivan.

Oh? When?

I have one that is eight years old who tears up and down the halls at 3:30 or 4:30 AM, then up over the top of my bed, makes a loop and back down the hall. At least I am retired, so I almost always take a nap later anyway. And I have my own house, so it isn't disturbing anyone else.

In my case, leaving food out overnight helps delay the crazies and reduce the frequency that this happens. I use dry kibble, and since my cats are both overweight, I just set some of their daily allowance to put out shortly before I retire for the night so if they get hungry during the night, they don't have to wake me to tell me it is time for breakfast. At least that works part of the time.

Hope all the activity and evening feeding works for you. Let us know!

 

[fastdak]

LOL, miikka does the EXACT same thing, only between the hours of 11:00 and 1:00am...
LOL, I dont think there is any way around it...
Silly cats.

 

[monica's six]

I think all of my cats have their evening crazies at different times but it goes ALL NIGHT LONG! I'm fortunate though that they do not play in the bedroom... or even upstairs for that matter.

When I got my new bed, I had to sleep on the futon downstairs for a night, because I got rid of my old bed by myself... Lets just say I didn't get one wink's worth of sleep. Between the LitterMaids and them playing downstairs all night and the continual traffic out in front of my apartment I was miserable by the time the Furniture Delivery guys got here.
-

 

[gilly]

Oh this sounds like Guinness!!

He does this before bedtime and in the morning. It's so funny that I don't have the heart to tell him off but just tell him to calm down a little. lol he jumps on the kitchen table and a few times now he has even knocked over the chair. I am used to waking up now and finding my bathroom towel somewhere else in the flat other than the bathroom!

It's like he is posessed and has this mad half hour. His new game is to chase my legs (cos it's summer and I have been wearing shorts to bed). He then jumps on the bed and chases his tail for a bit before starting speeding around the place. My neighbour downstairs can hear him but she loves it. She has 3 cats herself and think it's great that Guinness is so active.

 

[turtlecat]

Ahhh.. another reason that we live on the bottom floor. However, Paige used to keep jason up all night doing that.