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My mrs has lumbered me with her cat, basically all day its fine. Playful and like a normal cat.
But at 4am it goes mental!!!!
Bighting me jumping screeching clawing everything, the it just snappes out of it at 6:30am and goes back to being a pleasant cat
Im exasted and my sleep is ruined. I thousgh it was doing this coz it wanted to go out and I had to keep it in for a week so it made home or what ever its called. But now its allowed out it doesn’t go out. it just goes crazy
Any idea why it’s doing this or how to stop it?
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How old is the cat? As kittens, they do have moments of complete madness.... when mine was little, every afternoon he would run round and round the living room, jumping on the sofas, going behind the TV and all that. Would last an hour, then he'd wear himself out and settle down.
Best thing to try if its a kitten, or even an older cat (if it doesn't want to go out) is to play with him/her a lot before you go to bed. Also, make sure there is food avaliable after this. The combination of lots of play and avaliable food should wear it out and make it want to sleep during the night.
If this doesn't work, force him/her to go out. Take the cat outside and stay with it for a while.... cats can get a bit nervous when first setting foot in a new area... I know my cat just hid under parked cars for the first week of going out, and would be pretty much screaming to come back in less than an hour later once I'd started to let him out on his own. After a while, they get used to it, meet the local cats and make friends. Being outside and able to explore the area and play with other cats will usually calm it down when it comes back inside. I know my cat just eats its breakfast then has a clean and goes to sleep after a night outside.
If these methods fail, it may be worth taking him/her to a vet and seeing what they say. The cat could be ill, or perhaps have a behavioural problem, but to be honest I think the first two methods I' ve suggested should calm your cat down. In a situation like this, the vets should be the last resort.
Also, if he/she is biting and scratching you and messing up your furniture, you need to be firm. A tap on the nose, a smack on the backside or a squirt of water seemed to do the trick with mine, and although he'll still have a bite and scratch now and then, he's aware of the consequences and certainly doesn't do it as often as he did. He stays off counter tops, away from wires, and doesn't claw at furniture. His attacks on me now seem limited to my elbow, which for some reason evokes hatred in him if he sees it poking off the arm of the sofa. However, he won't launch a sustained attack... more of a hit and run. He'll bite and then run away very quickly, as he knows I won't be best pleased!
Anyway, to conclude, wearing your cat out with lots of play time, making sure it is well fed, getting it to go outside more and a bit of discipline should calm your cat the hell down. As a last resort, consult your vet.
We keep our cat in her own room at night. Also when we're cooking, since she keeps trying to steal tasty tasty people food. She'll meow a bit if she thinks you're awake and she's missing out on the fun, but she'll get used to it otherwise.
thankyou, its sounds like kitten madness, hes 10 months old. but thats about fully grown i think.
he "sleeps" in my room , often at the foot of my bed, then he just wakes up at 4 and goes mental
i let him out yesterday and he snuck into teh nabours house and distryed there bird feeders, so i have to go buy them a new one.
i expect him to go mad when i get home from work or somthing when i play with him, with thos ball on a string that he claws at. i just dont understand why its 4 am untill 6.30. a week of this has left me exausted.
is it a good idea to say squrt him with water during this mental moment , is it likly to stop him or make him worse?
Conroy Bumpas on
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It depends what he's doing. If he's causing you harm (ie, not just a playful nip) or destroying your furniture, then I'd say yes, do that. It may not stop him at first, he may continue, but after a while he'll get the picture.
At 10 months old they are still full of beans. My cat is 3 years old now, and has calmed down an AWFUL lot since his kitten days, but at 10 months he was still a little mad.
Oh, one thing that could be causing this that I forgot to ask about... has he been neutered? After 6 or 7 months old, they start to get crazier if they haven't been neutered. If he hasn't been, I would definatley get it done. As its a male cat it shouldn't cost too much and the surgery isn't as invasive as with a female cat.
aparently he didnt go crazy before he came to my house. i forgot to mention, there is also another cat in the house. my house mate has a 2 yaer old female cat. my cat seems to liek the female(shes been done too) but she dosnt like him, shes gets extreamly jellouse when anyone pays anyatetion to the other cat. but they dont fight. the are ok in teh same room together, and i have seen them sleeping on the same sofa. it just a jellosy thing when a human pays atetion to teh other cat. byt the female is out of teh house at night so i dont think thats gt anything to do with why he goes crazy
Conroy Bumpas on
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He may just be stressed out, full of Teenage Cat Madness, or both. Play with him hard while he's awake and give him plenty of attention. If he's too much of a nuisance in the wee hours, lock him outside your room when he starts acting up. (The bathroom is good for that; not much he can do to the tile, really.)
Oh no! Did he bite you hard on the nose? They're cute when they give you a little nip, but when they have a proper go (especially at your face) discipline is most certainly needed!
Hearing that, I'm quite grateful my kitty just goes for my elbow! Hehe.
mine bites my feet and fingers..... i think he thinks there somthing wiggly to eat.
he dosnt bite and hold, but his teeth are super sharp so he has broken the skin
Conroy Bumpas on
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Does he run away once he's done it? By the sounds of things, he's just super playful. To avoid tension with your other cat, I would play with your kitten in a seperate room for a while, wear him out before going to bed, and as I say food helps too. Also, make sure to give your other cat plenty of attention so she doesn't get jealous. Lots of stroking and cuddles!
My cat wakes me up in the middle of the night if she doesn't have (or can't find) her water to drink. She is more focused on water than I've ever seen a cat be before.
Our cat won't drink from the water bowl we put down for her, i've seen her do it maybe once. She will drink from the taps in the kitchen / bathroom / shower or even the toilet
My cat very rarely drinks water... only if he has dry food. Usually he's on wet food then, and apparently they get most of the water they need from that anyway. There is always a bowl of water next to his food though if he wants it.
My cat generally scratches outside my bedroom door at 7am (around the time I wake up for work) to pester me for his breakfast if he stayed in that night. He won't leave me alone till he gets fed either! I think cats have some kind of alarm clock in their heads, cos they seem to know at what times things are going down. We have a stray cat we feed at work, and almost every day she is at the back door waiting for her food at 4pm.
oddment on
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TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
My King Bastard is the same way. All I can really do is try to wear him out before I go to bed and hope he doesn't set his sights on everything I hold dear as he is wont to do.
I don't understand the OP's situation here. The cat wakes him up with biting and jumping, but "putting it out" means it's outside?
When my cats are too playful overnight, I pick them up, plop them outside the bedroom door, and go back to sleep. The next night they're VERY lovey because they want to stay with us (due to being kicked out). Sometimes they meow and play after the door is closed, but they shut up if they're pretty awake.
If you squirt him with water he'll just learn to run away from the squirtbottle; he won't really learn to stop doing the activity. But do you not have doors in your place?
Sorry for derailing this, but I'm having pet problems as well at this very moment. I'm staying at a relative of mine and this damn dog keeps humping my leg while simultaneously clawing and nibbling my thigh whenever it's playful. I usually hit its head in a non-violent way, but it seems to make it even more active. I don't want to hit the poor thing too hard, so I'm at a loss of what to do. Playing is fine, but goddamn it, stop using my leg as a way to get off you horny fuck.
Cats are active at night. I reckon the cat is just being super playful at the wrong time, and feeling a bit lonely at night too.
I suggest you play with the cat when you're awake, and generally give him a lot of attention. If you can teach him to run after things you throw (my cat is crazy about metallic bottle caps for some reason) and bring them back to you, or if he already knows how to do this, you can just sit on a sofa and throw stuff until the cat is exhausted and won't bother you anymore. Do this in the evening and chances are he'll leave you alone at night.
Sorry for derailing this, but I'm having pet problems as well at this very moment. I'm staying at a relative of mine and this damn dog keeps humping my leg while simultaneously clawing and nibbling my thigh whenever it's playful. I usually hit its head in a non-violent way, but it seems to make it even more active. I don't want to hit the poor thing too hard, so I'm at a loss of what to do. Playing is fine, but goddamn it, stop using my leg as a way to get off you horny fuck.
a good sharp knee to the chest when the dog jumps up on you will eventually teach it not to do it, couple that with a strong no, and it will work. it won't hurt the dog but it will learn its lesson
as to the OP, sounds like normal kitten behavior to me. our kitten who is still fairly young would wake us up at 4am to feed him/play. kind of annoying, he would nibble on exposed body parts or motor boat by our heads. though lately we have been fostering orphan kittens and he has been playing with them/beating them so he doesn't mess with us as much lately
as an aside anyone in Nor cal looking for a kitten, we have a bunch that will need homes eventually
My cat wakes me up in the middle of the night if she doesn't have (or can't find) her water to drink. She is more focused on water than I've ever seen a cat be before.
Not to scare you, but excessive water drinking can be a symptom that something else is wrong.
The only response my cats get when they wake me up is negative. I have an empty soda can beside the bed filled with a few pennies. Shaking it is a noise they absolutely hate. The added bonus is that I don't have to get out of bed to deal out the punishment, and they can't run away from a noise.
If you wake up and start playing/giving them food they learn that making a lot of noise gets them what they want.
My cats, now a year old, TIP-TOE around during the night for the most part.
There is lots of value in tiring the cat out before you go to bed, definitely. But please don't give in and get out of bed for them, it will just make things worse.
As for the dog, don't talk to it or look at it when it's being annoying. Just a sharp, firm push away with your fingers (don't push with your hand, jab with your fingers in the neck area) and ignore the dog until it sits calmly, then pay attention. Dog probably needs more exercise though. Most people don't give their dogs enough exercise. Dog should also be fixed if not done already.
EDIT: If the cat hates the vacuum (like what, 99% of cats!), putting the switch ready to turn on near your bed will be an escalated response above the penny can. Alternative if you need it.
Yeah what onceling said. In my experience the only way to deter a humping dog is to ignore it completely. No matter how you react, it will interpret any reaction as a potentially positive response to its advances. Slap the dog and it'll just think you're playing hard to get.
My cat wakes me up in the middle of the night if she doesn't have (or can't find) her water to drink. She is more focused on water than I've ever seen a cat be before.
Not to scare you, but excessive water drinking can be a symptom that something else is wrong.
Keep an eye out.
Yeah, I've been told, but she went to the vet a couple of weeks ago and all is good.
My cat would try to wake me up a full two hours early to be fed by meowing beside my bed. I got him out of that habit by leaving a spray bottle on my bedside table and squirting him when he woke me up. (I left it on wide mist so I didn't really have to aim, and it didn't leave the floor soaking wet.) He stopped that after a few days, though I leave the bottle there in case he forgets.
This morning my cat (15 months) climbed on my chest, meowed once very loudly and promptly bit me on the nose.
Cats are officially insane, but so damn cute with it.
Bweh heh heh! Ain't it the truth. My cat was batshit insane up until she hit about 3 years old. Since then, she's just been a living, breathing teddy bear.
To the OP: Have you cat-proofed your home at all? By that I mean taking things off of shelves that could get broken, making sure to secure the pullstrings on your window blinds if you have them, etc. There are many precautionary measures you can take if you're concerned about the cat damaging any property. If it's just your own sleep loss that you're worried about, you could try sleeping with earplugs in if you can't get the cat to quiet down.
Other than that, I'm definitely going to second the idea that you should play with the cat while you're awake until he's completely worn out. Surefire way to not only build a better relationship with him, but to make sure he sleeps at night, as well. And definitely leave some food and water down.
I have a cat that's about 2 years old now and she has always been a bit hyperactive. I just moved recently and ever since she has been off-the-wall batshit crazy. I never knew she could leap OVER my couches, but apparently she can - and does so often. One problem I've always had was when I want to sleep, she wants to play. If I manage to fall asleep she will usually go to sleep nearby, or at least that's how I find her when I wake up.
Worse yet she begs for attention, but REFUSES to be pet or held. She only wants to bite, playfully. All the time. And she likes to hide from people. Then pounce on them when they least expect it.
Ah, stupid cat. Why can't you be like the super awesome lazy affectionate cat I grew up with?
ok, over the last 2 days or so my kitten has developed a habit of stealing the kitchen cleaning cloths and sponges. I don't know what the hell's going through her head, but I had to haul one out from under my bed last night. Thank god we don't have carpets is all I'm saying, because she snagged it right out of the sink I'm having to chuck a lot of perfectly good sponges because of this, and she doesn't really respond to cussing and yelling and thumping around beyond doing the same old thing when we're not looking. I'm pondering the spray bottle, but I'm not sure it'll have any more of an impact. She's great besides the kitchen burglary, what do i dooooooo
The Cat, that might be one of the situations where you have to admit defeat and just hide the sponges or otherwise make them unreachable to her. Unless you've switched to a new brand of sponges or cleaning fluid that she loves, in which case you could switch back to the old one(s). My cat was quick to learn that doing forbidden things is "OK" if I don't catch him doing them, and once he figured that out, I ended up in a situation where I had to be extremely creative (or resort to desperate furniture rearrangements and the like) to prevent some of the nightly cat crimes.
Although if you can catch her in the act, there's one device that works really well in cat training: a black umbrella. I only had to catch my cat on the kitchen counter once and quickly open the umbrella towards him. Apparently cats see it as an extremely threatening gesture, which makes sense because it kind of matches their own body language when they try to appear threatening. He never returned to the kitchen counter again in my sight. I used the same trick to stop him from digging in flower pots and attacking my guests (he went through a phase where he'd decide to hate a particular visitor, stare at them belligerently for a while and then bite them in the ankle when they weren't looking).
Eventually I didn't even have to open the umbrella anymore. Just picking it up was enough to send the cat running.
My cat wakes me up in the middle of the night if she doesn't have (or can't find) her water to drink. She is more focused on water than I've ever seen a cat be before.
Might want to look into this. My (elderly) kitty went on a crazy water kick and it turned out to be a thyroid condition.
I would booby-trap the sponges and kitchen cloths for a few days (or as long as it takes). Choose a couple that you are willing to sacrifice for the 'training program'.
Choose a non-toxic but foul-tasting/smelling substance. Bitter apple is something available in pet stores, and often (not always) works, but you can just use like, chili sauce, vinegar or something.
Coat sacrificial sponges in chosen substance for a couple days and leave them in the normal places near the sink. See if the cat enjoys them so much.
Side note:
To stop my cats jumping on the kitchen counter I coated the edges with canola oil while they weren't watching. I then waited for the next time they tried to jump up. It's sad and hilarious to watch a cat jump, slip and fall, then stalk away to clean their paws for a couple of hours (they hate the feeling and it takes forever for them to clean off). This may seem extreme to you, others have had success with double sided tape and foil, but I didn't want to tape anything to the counter and I think psychologically "slippery fall to the ground" is a greater imprint than just "Avoid the shiny stuff because it sucks". They would probably just notice when the foil went and started jumping up again. (Yes, this sucked to clean up afterward from the counter but it was worth it).
To stop my cats jumping on the kitchen counter I coated the edges with canola oil while they weren't watching.
I love this part, because it's so true. Cats have crazy observation skills, and since they're smart enough to do stuff when you aren't watching, you need to make sure they don't know what you're up to either.
The Cat's cat is bored and seeking attention, more than likely. Cats are needy when it comes to attention- sometimes mine start fighting when a family member comes home just because they're trying to get the first attention from whoever just walked in the door.
yeah, a friend of mine gave us some toys her cat doesn't play with any more, and I'm making an effort to play more too (although I'm not home much). She's on her own a fair bit because of our work schedules, I guess I just have to work out all the crazy when I can :P
Hmmmm.... is another cat out of the question? Cats are highly social animals, and the end result would be that both cats play with each other instead of being bored and attention-seeking in a "let's obliterate the paper-towel roll so I can get some attention" way.
well, maybe eventually, but we can't really afford one right now. Still have to get this one fixed. and technically we're not supposed to have pets >.>
well, maybe eventually, but we can't really afford one right now. Still have to get this one fixed. and technically we're not supposed to have pets >.>
I wouldn't worry about getting another cat as company. Cats are good at entertaining themselves (you've noticed, I'm sure) and they tend to just nap when they get bored. As your kitty gets older she'll nap more when you're not home and then play when you're there.
It's (of course) dependant on the cat but you can get pretty good value out of some high-intensity play sessions.
We have a LOT of toys in this house. Some are meant for people to help out and some the cat can enjoy alone. But it doesn't have to be expensive.
Laser pointers are one choice, generally you have to know how to keep the cat interested though. If the pointer goes out of the cats view (like around a corner) or up a wall out of their reach you'll probably get more of a reaction than just a back and forth across the carpet.
Foil picks are great high-intensity (when you are short on time) play sessions. These must be a human-only interaction (don't want your cat left alone with this chewing the pieces off) but these are often used at shows to get the cats immediate attention. One of our cats will be physically panting by the time he's done jumping and chasing this:
The guys at this cat teaser place live here in BC but they will ship everywhere. Everything on this site is great value. This couple that makes these are just awesome. I highly recommend all the products on their site (well the toys anyway, haven't bought any of the other stuff before).
Our cats chase these around endlessly until they are stuck beneath the couch. You can play fetch if the cat will do it but they will probably figure out how to play alone with these too:
Those can safely be left alone with the cat. The most damage done by those springs was to our male cat himself, as he ran headfirst into a table leg while chasing it around.
We built a box-fort in the corner of the living room which acts as a retreat and an amusement park. All it took was $4 at the local rescue organisations garage sale for a couple of those cat tunnels. Then cardboard boxes were free at Costco over a couple of trips.
We just cut some holes in the boxes for peek holes, put 3 of them in a roughly triangle shape on their side, put the tunnels as a back and a front entrance and threw an old comforter over the top. The cats love it, and if you only have one, you can play with him poking toys through the cut out windows or just let him have a personal space to keep things. The fort in my household seems to act like a dog's hole in the backyard, minus the bone but plenty of toys and stolen socks and such.
Cats will get bored of toys, you can hide them so they have to discover where they are, or just do a rotation and save some for your daily interaction.
Well I guess my point (aside from admitting to being a crazy cat lady) is that the right choice of cheap toys can make a big difference to the cat playing alone and making play time quick but tiring.
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Best thing to try if its a kitten, or even an older cat (if it doesn't want to go out) is to play with him/her a lot before you go to bed. Also, make sure there is food avaliable after this. The combination of lots of play and avaliable food should wear it out and make it want to sleep during the night.
If this doesn't work, force him/her to go out. Take the cat outside and stay with it for a while.... cats can get a bit nervous when first setting foot in a new area... I know my cat just hid under parked cars for the first week of going out, and would be pretty much screaming to come back in less than an hour later once I'd started to let him out on his own. After a while, they get used to it, meet the local cats and make friends. Being outside and able to explore the area and play with other cats will usually calm it down when it comes back inside. I know my cat just eats its breakfast then has a clean and goes to sleep after a night outside.
If these methods fail, it may be worth taking him/her to a vet and seeing what they say. The cat could be ill, or perhaps have a behavioural problem, but to be honest I think the first two methods I' ve suggested should calm your cat down. In a situation like this, the vets should be the last resort.
Also, if he/she is biting and scratching you and messing up your furniture, you need to be firm. A tap on the nose, a smack on the backside or a squirt of water seemed to do the trick with mine, and although he'll still have a bite and scratch now and then, he's aware of the consequences and certainly doesn't do it as often as he did. He stays off counter tops, away from wires, and doesn't claw at furniture. His attacks on me now seem limited to my elbow, which for some reason evokes hatred in him if he sees it poking off the arm of the sofa. However, he won't launch a sustained attack... more of a hit and run. He'll bite and then run away very quickly, as he knows I won't be best pleased!
Anyway, to conclude, wearing your cat out with lots of play time, making sure it is well fed, getting it to go outside more and a bit of discipline should calm your cat the hell down. As a last resort, consult your vet.
*Thanks Thanatos!
he "sleeps" in my room , often at the foot of my bed, then he just wakes up at 4 and goes mental
i let him out yesterday and he snuck into teh nabours house and distryed there bird feeders, so i have to go buy them a new one.
i expect him to go mad when i get home from work or somthing when i play with him, with thos ball on a string that he claws at. i just dont understand why its 4 am untill 6.30. a week of this has left me exausted.
is it a good idea to say squrt him with water during this mental moment , is it likly to stop him or make him worse?
At 10 months old they are still full of beans. My cat is 3 years old now, and has calmed down an AWFUL lot since his kitten days, but at 10 months he was still a little mad.
Oh, one thing that could be causing this that I forgot to ask about... has he been neutered? After 6 or 7 months old, they start to get crazier if they haven't been neutered. If he hasn't been, I would definatley get it done. As its a male cat it shouldn't cost too much and the surgery isn't as invasive as with a female cat.
*Thanks Thanatos!
aparently he didnt go crazy before he came to my house. i forgot to mention, there is also another cat in the house. my house mate has a 2 yaer old female cat. my cat seems to liek the female(shes been done too) but she dosnt like him, shes gets extreamly jellouse when anyone pays anyatetion to the other cat. but they dont fight. the are ok in teh same room together, and i have seen them sleeping on the same sofa. it just a jellosy thing when a human pays atetion to teh other cat. byt the female is out of teh house at night so i dont think thats gt anything to do with why he goes crazy
Cats are officially insane, but so damn cute with it.
Hearing that, I'm quite grateful my kitty just goes for my elbow! Hehe.
*Thanks Thanatos!
he dosnt bite and hold, but his teeth are super sharp so he has broken the skin
*Thanks Thanatos!
Stupid Animal!
My cat generally scratches outside my bedroom door at 7am (around the time I wake up for work) to pester me for his breakfast if he stayed in that night. He won't leave me alone till he gets fed either! I think cats have some kind of alarm clock in their heads, cos they seem to know at what times things are going down. We have a stray cat we feed at work, and almost every day she is at the back door waiting for her food at 4pm.
*Thanks Thanatos!
When my cats are too playful overnight, I pick them up, plop them outside the bedroom door, and go back to sleep. The next night they're VERY lovey because they want to stay with us (due to being kicked out). Sometimes they meow and play after the door is closed, but they shut up if they're pretty awake.
If you squirt him with water he'll just learn to run away from the squirtbottle; he won't really learn to stop doing the activity. But do you not have doors in your place?
I suggest you play with the cat when you're awake, and generally give him a lot of attention. If you can teach him to run after things you throw (my cat is crazy about metallic bottle caps for some reason) and bring them back to you, or if he already knows how to do this, you can just sit on a sofa and throw stuff until the cat is exhausted and won't bother you anymore. Do this in the evening and chances are he'll leave you alone at night.
as to the OP, sounds like normal kitten behavior to me. our kitten who is still fairly young would wake us up at 4am to feed him/play. kind of annoying, he would nibble on exposed body parts or motor boat by our heads. though lately we have been fostering orphan kittens and he has been playing with them/beating them so he doesn't mess with us as much lately
as an aside anyone in Nor cal looking for a kitten, we have a bunch that will need homes eventually
Not to scare you, but excessive water drinking can be a symptom that something else is wrong.
Keep an eye out.
If you wake up and start playing/giving them food they learn that making a lot of noise gets them what they want.
My cats, now a year old, TIP-TOE around during the night for the most part.
There is lots of value in tiring the cat out before you go to bed, definitely. But please don't give in and get out of bed for them, it will just make things worse.
As for the dog, don't talk to it or look at it when it's being annoying. Just a sharp, firm push away with your fingers (don't push with your hand, jab with your fingers in the neck area) and ignore the dog until it sits calmly, then pay attention. Dog probably needs more exercise though. Most people don't give their dogs enough exercise. Dog should also be fixed if not done already.
EDIT: If the cat hates the vacuum (like what, 99% of cats!), putting the switch ready to turn on near your bed will be an escalated response above the penny can. Alternative if you need it.
Yeah, I've been told, but she went to the vet a couple of weeks ago and all is good.
Bweh heh heh! Ain't it the truth. My cat was batshit insane up until she hit about 3 years old. Since then, she's just been a living, breathing teddy bear.
To the OP: Have you cat-proofed your home at all? By that I mean taking things off of shelves that could get broken, making sure to secure the pullstrings on your window blinds if you have them, etc. There are many precautionary measures you can take if you're concerned about the cat damaging any property. If it's just your own sleep loss that you're worried about, you could try sleeping with earplugs in if you can't get the cat to quiet down.
Other than that, I'm definitely going to second the idea that you should play with the cat while you're awake until he's completely worn out. Surefire way to not only build a better relationship with him, but to make sure he sleeps at night, as well. And definitely leave some food and water down.
Worse yet she begs for attention, but REFUSES to be pet or held. She only wants to bite, playfully. All the time. And she likes to hide from people. Then pounce on them when they least expect it.
Ah, stupid cat. Why can't you be like the super awesome lazy affectionate cat I grew up with?
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Although if you can catch her in the act, there's one device that works really well in cat training: a black umbrella. I only had to catch my cat on the kitchen counter once and quickly open the umbrella towards him. Apparently cats see it as an extremely threatening gesture, which makes sense because it kind of matches their own body language when they try to appear threatening. He never returned to the kitchen counter again in my sight. I used the same trick to stop him from digging in flower pots and attacking my guests (he went through a phase where he'd decide to hate a particular visitor, stare at them belligerently for a while and then bite them in the ankle when they weren't looking).
Eventually I didn't even have to open the umbrella anymore. Just picking it up was enough to send the cat running.
Might want to look into this. My (elderly) kitty went on a crazy water kick and it turned out to be a thyroid condition.
Choose a non-toxic but foul-tasting/smelling substance. Bitter apple is something available in pet stores, and often (not always) works, but you can just use like, chili sauce, vinegar or something.
Coat sacrificial sponges in chosen substance for a couple days and leave them in the normal places near the sink. See if the cat enjoys them so much.
Side note:
To stop my cats jumping on the kitchen counter I coated the edges with canola oil while they weren't watching. I then waited for the next time they tried to jump up. It's sad and hilarious to watch a cat jump, slip and fall, then stalk away to clean their paws for a couple of hours (they hate the feeling and it takes forever for them to clean off). This may seem extreme to you, others have had success with double sided tape and foil, but I didn't want to tape anything to the counter and I think psychologically "slippery fall to the ground" is a greater imprint than just "Avoid the shiny stuff because it sucks". They would probably just notice when the foil went and started jumping up again. (Yes, this sucked to clean up afterward from the counter but it was worth it).
I love this part, because it's so true. Cats have crazy observation skills, and since they're smart enough to do stuff when you aren't watching, you need to make sure they don't know what you're up to either.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
I can has cheezburger, yes?
I wouldn't worry about getting another cat as company. Cats are good at entertaining themselves (you've noticed, I'm sure) and they tend to just nap when they get bored. As your kitty gets older she'll nap more when you're not home and then play when you're there.
We have a LOT of toys in this house. Some are meant for people to help out and some the cat can enjoy alone. But it doesn't have to be expensive.
Laser pointers are one choice, generally you have to know how to keep the cat interested though. If the pointer goes out of the cats view (like around a corner) or up a wall out of their reach you'll probably get more of a reaction than just a back and forth across the carpet.
Foil picks are great high-intensity (when you are short on time) play sessions. These must be a human-only interaction (don't want your cat left alone with this chewing the pieces off) but these are often used at shows to get the cats immediate attention. One of our cats will be physically panting by the time he's done jumping and chasing this:
http://www.catteasersandmore.com/teasers/under3/
The guys at this cat teaser place live here in BC but they will ship everywhere. Everything on this site is great value. This couple that makes these are just awesome. I highly recommend all the products on their site (well the toys anyway, haven't bought any of the other stuff before).
Our cats chase these around endlessly until they are stuck beneath the couch. You can play fetch if the cat will do it but they will probably figure out how to play alone with these too:
http://www.petdiscounters.com/Colorful-Springs-Cat-Toy-p5799.html
Those can safely be left alone with the cat. The most damage done by those springs was to our male cat himself, as he ran headfirst into a table leg while chasing it around.
We built a box-fort in the corner of the living room which acts as a retreat and an amusement park. All it took was $4 at the local rescue organisations garage sale for a couple of those cat tunnels. Then cardboard boxes were free at Costco over a couple of trips.
We just cut some holes in the boxes for peek holes, put 3 of them in a roughly triangle shape on their side, put the tunnels as a back and a front entrance and threw an old comforter over the top. The cats love it, and if you only have one, you can play with him poking toys through the cut out windows or just let him have a personal space to keep things. The fort in my household seems to act like a dog's hole in the backyard, minus the bone but plenty of toys and stolen socks and such.
Cats will get bored of toys, you can hide them so they have to discover where they are, or just do a rotation and save some for your daily interaction.
Well I guess my point (aside from admitting to being a crazy cat lady) is that the right choice of cheap toys can make a big difference to the cat playing alone and making play time quick but tiring.