My cat's hunting instincts...

[Kya]

Hi there!

I have a female smokey black kitty. She is about 4 & a half years old, and was only fixed about 8 months ago. She's an indoor cat. I also own a younger grey kitty, who is about 3 & a half. She is the daughter of my older cat.

My problem is with the mommy. Recently, in the past 2 months, she has begun 'hunting' around my house, with her toys. She was never very playful until she got fixed. Now she constantly grabs a toy, pushes it roughly into the floor with her mouth, and just MEOWS!!! AND MEOWS!! She's driving me insane. She especially likes to do this right as soon as I get into bed. She use to come and sleep with me, but now she prefers to go and grab a toy and do this little annoying habit! I thought she needed more attention, so I'd try to coax her into my room, but she just ignores me. So what can I do??

Thanx!

[Traci]

Try alotting special time with her (and the other cat) with playtime/activity shortly before you retire at night...this may help relax her so that she will sleep through most of the night.

If after trying that for a couple weeks and she still exhibiting the behavior, ask your vet about the possibility of missed uterine tissue during the spay. Although uncommon, it can occur, some cats will develop behaviors similar to those in heat. Hopefully that is not the problem, but it's worth asking your vet if kitty is displaying "in heat"-like behavior. Otherwise, it could be she is simply bored and has a high activity level.

[abbyboyd]

I understand your complaint! My kitty is CRAZY at bedtime(he is carzy all the time actually) - but that's what I love about him too. He is very entertaining. Cats are nocturnal so it is very normal for your cat to behave that way at night. Sometimes my kitty will sleep with me but most nights I have to remove him from the bedroom after sleepless HOURS of pouncing and foot attacks. My advice to you would be to let her sleep with you WHEN she is wanting to sleep and otherwise(I know...it's hard) you might have to close your door...

[Kya]

Thanx Traci, that sounds like something I can try. She actually got fixed while she had some kind of urinary infection (though after being treated with medication first), so it was a bit more complicated than it should of been. Who knows, but I'll try playing with her before bed. She's so stubborn though.. She really only likes to play when SHE wants to play! =)

And Abby, it would be nice if I could close my door, but I'm in a bachelor apartment, and the only thing seperating me from her playzone (the living room) is a curtain. Lucky she doesn't like playing with my feet =D

Another question I have (if anyone reads this far) is that the same cat will come into the bathroom when I'm showering, if I leave the door open, and she'll meow and meow like I'm in some kind of horrific situation. If I open the curtain to calm her down, she swats me!! Anyone know why she might be doing this, too? She's always done it, and she never swats in any other situation. She's very friendly and social! Just something about the shower..

[Traci]

I have one who is similar, although he doesn't swat, just vocalizes. It could be the noise of the shower, it could be your kitty is so attached to you and finds this an appropriate time to get your attention

[Kya]

Well she honestly seems pretty peeved @ me for showering! My other cat is starting to do the same thing, aside from the swatting. I understand that she doesn't like water, I mean.. She's a cat after all! =) But sheesh, I don't understand why she'd swat me, with her claws!! She actually scratched me this morning. Not nice.

[Traci]

Don't feel bad, I have three who actually get in the shower with me. Sigh.

[Phoebe's human]

I was going to say that most cats dislike water so much that maybe your cat thinks you're another cat and is really worried about you getting into all of that water. But then I read about the cats who get into the shower with their human....

I think your cat's meowing while playing with a toy may mean he wants you to play with him. Have you tried taking the toy and tossing it so he can chase it, then repeating that until he seems to be tiring of it? Cats need a certain amount of exercise and playtime each day.

[Kya]

The older cat I speak of isn't interested in fetch one bit. Her daughter on the other hand loves it. The older would prefer to play face to face, or on her own, and I'm not about to get out of my bed every 2 seconds to toss her toys around.

Last night I just took all the toys away before bed after playing with her before I went, and that worked alright, except that she took to the rocking chair to play with, and that rocked & bumped into the wall a few times from her jumping on the back seat =P I can't win!

[Phoebe's human]

You might have to anchor the rocking chair down somehow every night for quite a while. My previous cat LOVED to lean on the shade of the large glass-based lamp beside my bed while I was asleep--and I took to removing the shade every night before going to sleep. This went on for years, but it was better than being waked up by the smashing sound of the lamp hitting the floor.

I'm afraid some cats are incurably nocturnal. Night sets in, and they're ready to party. There are a few things you can do to coax your kitty out of these habits.

One is to play with her quite a bit right before you go to bed. This might tire her out so she'll just want a nice long snooze.

Another is to rearrange her feeding schedule (if she has one) so that she gets a meal just at the time you go to bed. This might fill her up so she'll just want a nice long snooze.