Summertime = Crazy Cats

[domesticzookeeper]

Not sure if anyone else has this problem/noticed this phenomena.

Since the warm weather moved in a few weeks ago, the cats have been wired every. single. night.

:crazy

They're indoor only cats and already fairly active. But this is a bit much, even for them. They're tumbling, wrestling, tearing around the house and generally acting like kittens, not a bunch of five year old cats. Our boy cat just ran sideways along the back of the couch :hunh

We have to close every window shade and curtain, every night, or else they will fight. Every night. We live in a rural area and have nightly visitors of all shapes and sizes: raccoons, moose, turkey, fishers, black bears, etc. I'm guessing that the cats are seeing them and responding by beating each other up (http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html). And these are not tussles, they're knock down, drag out fights that require physical separation for the rest of the night. It's exhausting :yawn

I love my cats, but sometimes they are just REALLY high needs :neutral

[expatmom]

I didn't tie it into the warmer weather, but this spring my cats have gotten very fiesty with each other. They are inside cats, but have a stream of neighbourhood & feral cats peering in our windows all day and night. Our normally docile male cat (fixed) gets really ramped up and attacks his poor sister like a bully.

[Amber]

I guess I'm lucky that my cat is 12yrs old and has no desire to take part in these spring/summer shenanigans :giggle

[whippet99]

I've definitely seen kitties who act crazy when they see other kitty "visitors" outside. It can be a big problem if they defer their aggression toward other members of the household...

Hope things calm down a bit in your household soon! :hug2

[domesticzookeeper]

It's mainly our tortie girl who's the instigator :no The other cats might spat and then break it up, but once she's upset she won't let anyone else rest :doh Oy. She's also the cat who gets plain old weird in spring.

We've taken to locking the cats out of our bedrooms at night, so unless they're really fighting, we don't hear them. Not until breakfast time ;)

[RosalieMarie]

My cats are like this most of the time. They're 8 years old!! :hunh I don't think they'll ever slow down. :yawn

[momofmany]

My kitty's been off the wall as well. He's either racing around or yowling in front of the sliding glass door all night. I've been putting him in the garage (along with his food and litter box) at night so I can get some sleep.:yawn He seems content out there so I guess it's okay.

[Apple-Saucy]

It's mainly our tortie girl who's the instigator :no The other cats might spat and then break it up, but once she's upset she won't let anyone else rest :doh Oy. She's also the cat who gets plain old weird in spring.

We've taken to locking the cats out of our bedrooms at night, so unless they're really fighting, we don't hear them. Not until breakfast time ;)

Well there's your problem...Torties are WEIRD cats...:giggle

[domesticzookeeper]

Well, you may have a point there :giggle

[J3K]

She beat me to it. Torties are just plain odd. It's almost like they don't know they are cats and are constantly thinking of ways to get out of their cat suit.

My cats are acting weird too. I have one that prefers to be outdoors , and he's wanting to be inside. I have one who usually prefers to be indoors and is scratching to be let out , then crying literally less than five mintues later to be let in. I have one who isn't fixed but is dying to get outside...we let her on a monitored leash to quench her need for speed. And then we have one that has decided to live in only one room of the house. Dd's room. I think she's part tortie.

[Rabbit]

I thought it was because we moved, or that I just hadn't noticed before on carpet, but they are tearing through the house in the evening, right around sunset on through until nearly midnight. They're as loud as the children, with their thumping and banging around on these hardwood floors. And then George, who has never been allowed to sleep with us at night, sets himself up at the bedroom door to scream and cry under it ALL NIGHT LONG, wanting in.

[expatmom]

I've also wondered if cats who have been spayed/neutered still have a hormonal response sometimes. :think This is kind of prime kitten season & I wonder if cats still get frisky even if they can't fulfill the frisk.

[SilverMoon]

First, yeah, those torties are something else.
Second, yup, our cats are on edge more with the warmer weather. Monday morning I woke up to find blood drops in the kitchen and outside my bedroom door. It looks like two of the cats were fighting and the George, the 11 yr old orange tabby, has a cut inside his ear.
Larry, who's around 8 years old, is the worst of the bunch. He's been sleeping with me the last few nights, even trying to sleep next to my head in the mornings, and all the animals know not to go higher than my knees. I removed him from the room before I fell asleep last night because I couldn't fall sleep with him in the bed. He roams around the house, sniping, swiping, snarling and howling at anything that walks past him, especially when it's meal time. And the peeing, oh the peeing. He's got to mark around the house so those feral cats know he's king (when he's really not, George is). He busted through the new screen door to get to the ferals that hang out next door.


Expatmom, I've found they do have some kind of response. Before we could get our female spayed she went into heat and our neutered male was her bestest friend. He'd present herself, he'd look at her like, "Wha?" but then they'd wrestle and he'd hold her and lick her head. Very strange. I imagine redirected aggression has a role in replacing sexual arousal in altered cats. They're supposed to be less aggressive, and I agree, but they're still cats with an inherent wildness, especially if the were strays or born to strays like all of ours.

[expatmom]

:yes Ours are also rescue cats, after multiple generations of being feral (and perhaps never domesticated before ours). Ours are arabian maus (http://www.mecats.net/arabiabMau.asp), which I think contributes to their weirdness.

[Rabbit]

I have three asian type cats. Gandalf, part oriental. George, part Siamese but he's solid gray and fluffy like a Siberian. Tabitha, George's mama, applehead Siamese.

[domesticzookeeper]

We joke that our cats must be part Siamese, just because they talk constantly. Not meow - TALK. Prince John is a constant amusement to guests who have never heard a cat quite like him :giggle

I'm fairly certain they come from stray/feral stock, and there are feral Orientals in the area, so who knows :shrug3

I'm very, very tempted to dose them with Rescue Remedy tonight :shifty

[Tiquatoo]

Well there's your problem...Torties are WEIRD cats...:giggle

Absolutely. We had two: a black based shorthair and a dilute blue longhair. The dilute blue was gorgeous, but had the worst temper. The black one was... odd. When we brought in a black male kitten, she started spraying. The two of them had spraying contests - especially in the bathroom - until the day she died. She was also the first one to actually "befriend" our first dog. I wish I had pictures of the day I watched her walk between the dog's legs, under her belly, then stand next to the dog and look in the same direction with the same stance. So funny!

I also think she had Siamese in her somewhere because she would talk to me when I was in the bathroom.

[Heather Micaela]

My cat is 90% Bustopher Jones (http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/cats/bustopherjones.htm) and 10% Jenyanydots (http://www.angelfire.com/mi/JellicleBall/Gumby.html). This (http://http://www.andryfinearts.com/i/ANIMALS/ZZZ_Tuxedo_Cat.jpg) could be her exactly.

I notice very little action at all:giggle

[SilverMoon]

I see a pattern here. Tortie or Asian descendant. Our youngest cat, Kitten, is definitely an Asian descendant per a friend who's family used to raise and show Asians. They raised Asians that weren't Americanized (round faces, big round eyes).
I named Larry for my dad because my dad had black hair when I was a kid, and Larry is a sleek, glossy black cat. The joke is when we first brought him inside he'd roam around the house about 2am, howling and meowing at the top of his lungs. I said Larry the cat never shut up, just like Larry, my dad.

[chasingbutterflies]

YES!!! and we live in an apartment. Our female cat keeps begging to go outside though. she's spayed, she isn't in heat or anything. she just wants to go outside and attack the raccoon that lives in our property I guess...

[Rabbit]

Juvenile/adolescent kitties have taken to romping through our yard. They're not getting close to the windows, as they're too busy in their own play, but it sure gets my cats' attention.