My Cat wont let us sleep

Question
Hello,

Thanks for putting yourself out here for this Q&A, I appreciate it. I have a 6 month old male domestic medium hair. He's very sociable and can be very sweet and affectionate. However, he has recently been developing some aggressive behaviors ie. Running at top speed through the house/Jumping around just for the sake of it/attacking his toys ferociously. He seems very hyperactive! For a kitten, I'm sure this is normal and its not usually a problem. But it is a problem when my fiance and I are trying to sleep at night. We have been trying to calm him down and train him by bringing him to bed and doing all kinds of things to relax him, and hold him in place so he gets the idea. It seemed to be working at first but I don't think hes changing. He still wakes us up by tearing around the room and jumping on and off the bed/pouncing at the covers/etc. Is there anything we can do to take the fiestiness out of him at night?

John M.
San Francisco Ca
immea@yahoo.com

Answer
John,

First off is your kitten neutered?

6 months of age is when many male cats start to hit puberty.  Couple that with the coming of springtime when many female cats are in season, and you may have a case of raging hormones.

In addition, dometic cats are, by nature, nocturnal.  Cats eventually learn to expend more energy in daytime than at night since that is when humans are active.  So, in time, your kitten will learn that you sleep at night and will probably sleep with you.

At 6 months of age, however, kittens ARE full of energy and bounce.  They will outgrow this.  All of your "relaxing" techniques are for nought. Believe it or not, the best thing to do with your kitten, besides having him neutered, is to ignore his night time escapades.  He has discovered he can get a rise out of you by carrying out this behavior and you are reacting to the behavior, so he is getting your attention.  If you ignore the behavior (as hard as that might be) and play with him more during waking hours (as much as you can), he will tend to simmer down allowing you to get a better night's sleep.

Best regards... Norm.