Morning Crazy Time

[Nouveau]

Back story:

I haven’t had a cat in over 15 years. So the last time I had one, as usual at that age, my parents took care of her and she was an outdoor cat.

I’d been getting that craving for a four-legged companion for the past year or so and saw an adoption event going on at my local shelter. I went there to look at one of the kittens I saw online but then saw my perfect kitty: a boy, black, medium hair. He’s the most BEAUTIFUL cat I’ve ever seen. And he’s not even all black! He’s more like a DEEP chocolate with sporadic white hairs and gradient gray patches on his tummy! His tail is as long as his body and he’s RIDICULOUSLY SOFT. I’ve only had him since the end of August and still can’t beleive he’s mine.

His name is Nouveau and he is going on 7 months old (fixed 10/2017) and he is an absolute spaz in the mornings. He zooms everywhere, runs all over me, knocks everything off the night stand, climbs the curtains, paws at the window which rattles the blinds. When I reach to pet him he rolls over or pops off the bed and takes off. All the while purring, chirping or making little kitten “mews.” I’ll admit I haven’t been the best at his morning routine but I’m working on it. And I’ve read that in most cases they will eventually grow out of it. But is there anything I can do in the interim? At night we have a great routine and he lays down with me and we both go to sleep. He doesn’t do anything during the entire night. At least not that I know of which is great! I am not a morning person but he seems most unhappy in the mornings. And I want my sweet boy to be happy!!

Any tips? How about that Feli-way spray?

 

[Kieka]

Play with him in the morning too. AM zoomies are just a standard kitten condition and no amount of other methods beat out the simple play time. If you can't play with him in the morning think about getting a second cat who can play with him when you are too sleepy too. Most cats do grow out of the zoomies but my guys are between 5 and 3 and morning stampedes and races are still common.

 

[susanm9006]

When he starts the morning craziness shut him outside your room. He will eventually figure out that the only way to remain in your room is to be quiet. And this way you have some buffer drifrom his noise.

 

[Brian007]

Does he have breakfast? I find that a spot of breakfast sends my two (and therefore, me) back off to sleep.

Does he spend long periods of time on his own? If so, then around about nowish might be a good time to think about finding him a furfriend.



Feliway probably won't help with his morning zoomies, unfortunately. But, valerian might..... It can be found in many 'cat-calming' preparations or in tea-bags as the dried herb.



Make sure you really tire him out before bed with energetic play, and give him a bedtime snack to help keep him sleepy for as long as possible. And don't let him sleep in the evenings, prod him awake for a fuss whenever you catch him trying to sneak in 40 winks.

 

[danteshuman]

Besides food & play & a furbuddy... there is time. Also I recommend ignoring him/not feeding him when you first wake up.... more like when you make coffee. Otherwise your cat will wake you up at 4 am for his 7 am breakfast. Kicking them out if they wake you works .... it just takes time. Hang in there. Right now you have a teenager that should stop growing at 12-18 months. So he is at his hyperest. Toy rotation & interactive toys help.

 

[Nouveau]

When he starts the morning craziness shut him outside your room. He will eventually figure out that the only way to remain in your room is to be quiet. And this way you have some buffer drifrom his noise.

He was really bad at climbing my bedroom curtains during a super busy week at work so I started to shut him when he did it. I know that cats can take any sort of response as positive simply because they want attention. So I think he started to climb the curtains cuz I was laying in bed on my phone with the light on and he felt I was ignoring him. And climbing them resulted in me getting up to pick him up and put him out. He wouldn’t fuss after I put him out. But I don’t think he was learning what I was trying to teach. Well, THEN I figured out that if I just turn the light out (even if I’m still on my phone, like I am now) he understands its night time and will go off and do his own thing, never bothering me the rest of the night. I happen to have a better night time routine for myself than a morning routine. And clearly that’s working for him too. At least at night.

Gotta work on that!

 

[Nouveau]

Does he have breakfast? I find that a spot of breakfast sends my two (and therefore, me) back off to sleep.

Does he spend long periods of time on his own? If so, then around about nowish might be a good time to think about finding him a furfriend.



Feliway probably won't help with his morning zoomies, unfortunately. But, valerian might..... It can be found in many 'cat-calming' preparations or in tea-bags as the dried herb.



Make sure you really tire him out before bed with energetic play, and give him a bedtime snack to help keep him sleepy for as long as possible. And don't let him sleep in the evenings, prod him awake for a fuss whenever you catch him trying to sneak in 40 winks.

Hey Brian!!

Thanks for the advice! He definitely gets breakfast. But I gotta try harder at giving it to him at a more regular time. I just bought a 6-meal auto feeder because I want to continue feeding him 3 times a day until he’s a year old. And some days I’m not able to leave work to come home and feed him for lunch.

Unfortunately at this time I can’t afford a fuzzy buddy for him, though I’d love to. I just can’t provide all the additional necessities (2 more litter boxes, more litter, more cat food, more toys ) to adequately care for two babies. Just not ready yet financially as I just moved and started a new job only 6mos ago. Maybe one day!

I do need to play with him more. I used to give him 15 minutes before his breakfast, lunch and dinner. But then I got busy at work. No excuse, I know! :/ But he does tend to take a nap in the evening like an hour before I tend to get ready for bed. I’ll have to try keeping him awake! But he’s so freakin precious when he sleeps!!

Thanks again for your words of wisdom!

 

[tnbsp]

Hey Nouvea! I have a similar morning crazy problem with my 6.5 month old kittens. There are two of them, litter-mates, but they still are wild and run like buffalo in the morning 5-7am... I worry about my downstairs neighbor all the time! (apartments), an old building with wooden floors and super loud.

I think fuzzy-buddies are awesome together but ... I still have this issue anyway, so I don't think it necessarily stops cats from going wild, you just get two of them going wild together instead of going as wild towards you! haha.

And like you, I have a nice bed-time routine, it's just the morning that this happens. Even though we close the door when they start... we can still hear all of it happening.

Has he calmed down at all? If you find out something that works to help reduce the morning crazies I would love to know

 

[Etarre]

Congrats on your new cat-- he is really gorgeous!

Mine is about 9 months old, and does run around in the middle of the night and the early morning before we're awake. We bought her one of those toys that have a ball that runs in a circle around a track, and she plays with that and her little catnip hedgehog quite independently before we get up. Of course, we do still hear her doing it, but it keeps her from being destructive or bored or actively trying to wake us up. She also has lots of things to climb in the living room, and has a big window to look out of. I think having lots of options for her to keep busy has really helped keep her energy level manageable. If you don't have lots of time to spend playing with your cat, does he have toys that he can play with by himself? With our last cat, we even hooked the cat dancer (a long thing wire toy that cats seem to go nuts over) to a bookshelf so that she could play with it on her own, and that was a big success.

These are all, by the way, very affordable toys-- the circular thingy was about $10-12, the catnip toys are less than $5, and the cat dancer is also quite cheap.

Catnip has also seemed to mellow our cats out, but I hear that it can effect every cat differently, or not at all.

 

[Brian007]

A 'Cat Dancer' attached to a wall, which I'm presuming looks a wee bit like your one on the bookcase Etarre ? I've never done this as I've not thought to. But, I have been playing with Cat Dancers with a multitude of cats for 30 years. You just hold it by the wee end and the wire wiggles on its own so that the big end dances about like a moth or insect. You can just hang onto it whilst you're watching tv and your cat will do the rest. A very simple, very effective, very cheap, very low human energy, very high cat enjoyment, game. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND them!




I've also got a circuit and ball game but in blue. All my cats play with it independently and never get bored. Try hiding it half in a very large paper bag and see the fun double as the ball disappears, then magically reappears again, woohoo!

 

[Etarre]

Great idea, Brian! I'm definitely going to try this. Thanks...

Try hiding it half in a very large paper bag and see the fun double as the ball disappears, then magically reappears again, woohoo!

 

[RufusGizmo]

i have an eleven year old who still gets the fits around one am. luckily since he is older, it only lasts about 20 minutes before he is too tired. I just ignore him or go sleep in the basement.