Super Alert Cat

[scaredkitty]

hi have had my cat now for a few weeks and he is about 6 to 7 months old he seems to super alert all the time either running from room to room like he has adhd and has much engery even though we play with him or every noise seem to make him jump like he can never just settle and relax we have tried different foods tried putting him in a different room nothing seems to make a difference any help would be great thanx

 

[ArtNJ]

Try this:


(Sorry, this one is outside my experience but others will help.)

 

[susanm9006]

Yup, the energy level of a seven month old kitten is amazing. Who wants to relax when there is so much to do and play with? The only cure is time. Some timemin the next twelve months or so he will begin to settle down and have longer periods where he chills out and relaxes. In the meantime enjoy his antics.

I would not by the way do that cucumber thing.

 

[ArtNJ]

I was thinking it sounded like maybe it was a little beyond that susanm9006 - even 7 month old kittens have *some* downtime. With the "every noise makes him jump" bit I was thinking the kittie might be anxious. But you are 100% right, first time owner could easily be confused by the whirlwind that is a 7 month old kitten. OP mentioned she had the kitten for a few weeks, so where was he for the rest of his life?

Sorry for the cucumber bit, give us a bit more history scaredkitty so we can figure this out.

 

[susanm9006]

There are active kittens and there are hyperactive kittens. I have lived with cats my whole life but my hyperactive kitten had me running around checking on her constantly because she was either into something or was running so long and fast that I was afraid she had seriously injured herself and was running from pain as some cats do. When she stopped, there would be one ear turned to the back and her head slight cocked that told me she was gathering breath for another ninety mile an hour tear through the house. And when she reached a wall or piece of furniture she just went up and literally cleared everything out of the way. So much was dropped or damaged that I had to Velcro things down.

Hopefully yours isn’t quite this energetic but kittens can be so wild then seem mentally unbalanced at times.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

There are active kittens and there are hyperactive kittens. I have lived with cats my whole life but my hyperactive kitten had me running around ... When she stopped, there would be one ear turned to the back and her head slight cocked that told me she was gathering breath for another ninety mile an hour tear through the house. ...

lol, I can see it now!

 

[Neo_23]

Do you play with her?

Feeding her would not make her relax... and putting her in a room I imagine would just make it worse.

Play and time. That’s all you can do. Being hyperactive is normal for a kitten.

 

[scaredkitty]

wow thanx very much for the quick messages. He is a rescue and has spent most of his life at the vet hospital so i am not sure of his life before that yes we play alot 2 to 3 times day for aleast 30 to 40 mins as he seems to want to keep going for that long so your suggestion is just give him time and he should come good. But he seems so like he can never settle unless we put him in the bathroom and he sits in the sink for a while so anything else would be great

 

[Kefa]

I used to remind Homer that he was supposed to be sleeping 16 hours a day. But no. He only slept in short cat naps between bursts of activity. He finally settled down a bit at about 13 months, and started sleeping 6 hours at a time all in one stretch. He is reasonable now. May I suggest toys?

Here are some links from Chewy, but you can find them at Wal-mart and other places cheaper.

This one Homer still plays with, no batteries thank gods:
Catit Design Senses Circuit Cat Toy

I went through five of these because he loved them so much and he figured out how to turn them on himself. I also had to buy rechargeable batteries. The cutest thing was when the batteries died he would try to drag the whole toy around.
SmartyKat Hot Pursuit Electronic Concealed Motion Cat Toy

There are a few others I bought but those occupied him the longest and were his favorites.