At what age do kittens calm down?

Question

We just got an 9-week old kitten and have had him for a few days.
I've never had a kitten before, so I'm not sure if his behavior is normal or not. He's extremely playful for about 95% of the time we're around him, and doesn't really sit down much or take much of a break from playing.
I know kittens are frisky and curious by nature, but he doesn't let us sleep at all and is constantly running around. I'm happy that he's so playful, but I'm wondering at what age cats start to calm down a bit so i can get a little rest. we even tried closing our bedroom door so that he can't wake us up at night, but he sits outside the door all night scratching on it and meowing.
any advice you could give would be appreciated. thanks!

Answer 1

Kittens are maniacs and stay that way for quite awhile, usually at least until a year old.

Nighttime is often when they are most active, so your kitten is lonely and bored all night while you sleep.

The very best solution is to get another kitten. They will play, groom and cuddle with each other and yours will be much happier. And no, they will not bond more closely to each other than they will to you.

I rescue cats and we will not adopt out kittens that age if there is no other cat or kitten in the house.

Answer 2

Yes, kittens are very playful. Some grow up to become the lazy type of cat that sleeps 20 hours a day. (Neutered males are notorious for this) But some do retain their playful nature. I have an adult female who's very smart and playful and demanding of human attention. She's always been a handful.
One thing you might do, if you can, is to get another kitten as a companion for your kitten. They will play with each other and grow up as buddies.
And a closed bedroom door (when the kitten knows you are on the other side) is just an invitation for scratching and meowing because he wants to be with you.

Answer 3

She doesn't need medicine, she needs to learn. When she hurts you while playing, make a high pitch "oww" sound and immediately stop playing. Withdraw whatever you were playing with (which should never be just your hand, or else you're encouraging her) and walk away. After a few minutes, or her coming up and being sweet and "apologetic", resume play. It may take a many repetitions of this, but she has to learn that play fighting has its boundaries, and that's how she learns. If she were still with her litter mates, they'd be teaching one another this. Also, there are two commands my kitten knows that are invaluable- "no" and "gentle". On the off chance that Olivia jumps high enough (after a string or toy or something) that she gets my hand instead of hte toy, I use the word gentle, and she knows that means to retract her claws when she's touching mom or dad. I taught her this by playing with her paws when she was calm- just stroked the underside of her paw, and as she retracted her claws, said "gentle". She got it in about 10 days. It's a good reminder when she gets really worked up playing. The other word we know is "no"- in a firm, gentle voice- yelling at them only makes them afraid, and spraying with water tends to make them dislike the person spraying, not the water, so it's difficult to do without alienating the cat partially. Even the momma cat would have a tone she used for "stop that", so it's mimicking as best you can the momma cat.

Answer 4

I would consider this unusual because I have 7 cats and only one of them demonstrated that kind of behavior and she is now 13 and is one of the meanest cats I've ever seen. I used to call her a crack baby. She would only sleep for about 5 minutes and would be up and running again.
Usually it takes 2 or 3 years in my experience for a kitten to become a CAT with dignity. LOL

Answer 5

Welcome to having a feline.

Cats don't calm down in general. Some do when they are in old age. My oldest is 16 yrs old and still runs and plays to the point that there are kitty prints on my windows...sideways!

However, I have trained all of mine (I have 4, aged 13-16) to sleep when I do.

It isn't easy, but since you have one so young, you might be able to pull it off.

During the day, let your kitten go nuts - play play play! If you catch her sleeping, wake her, get her to play. Keep her from napping by waking her.

If no one is around during the day to keep her active, do the best you can when you are there.

About and hour before you go to sleep (or longer), play with her with a laser pointer (its kitty-crack, she can't resist it) until shes tired. Bring her in with you to sleep.

She will most likely sleep when you do - at least for a while. If she wakes up and wants to play, put her in a place where she can't bother you too much if you can - but definately out of where you are.

Here's the hard part: when she scratches, meows or whines - tell her "No" and continue to do that until she stops. I found hitting the inside of the door (kitten on the outside) while saying "No" works well. Make sure you say "No" firmly.

Wait a bit to ensure that she has stopped. Then let her back in and go back to sleep. If she gets up to play again - repeat the above. Unfortunately, you will have to give up some sleep for this training, but TRUST me, its worth it!

What you are doing is training her that it is ok to play during the day, but not at night. If she wants to play at night, she needs to leave to room. All of my cats sleep when I do. If they get up to eat or play, they are quiet and leave the room to play in another room. When they want to sleep again, they crawl back with me.

This does take time and you must be consistant!
I used the above technique on my oldest when he was about 6-12 months old and it took a month or two for the training to set in.

Good luck!

Answer 6

I'm going through my second experience with this and consider yourself lucky.

I got a kitten six years ago (Tigger) and he has been the most playful cat I've ever seen (until now). He would get into everything, annoy you, but then would curl up on your lap or sleep on the bed with you. The trick with him was to keep active during the day (if possible) and then they sleep through the night. He has been really good at sleep through the night.

NOW, we just adopted a kitten a couple of months ago. And have suitingly named her Spazz. She is the most hyper, nuisance (and I love it) that I have ever seen. She will play fetch with us, she knocks the garbage can over and gets into it, she eats through bread bags, and so on. She is so bad but is so cute.

When we brought her home, she took over the house so Tigger has now calmed down. We have been so lucky though to get two cats with the same personality.

Now if only Tigger would teach her to sleep through the night!!

Good luck and be patient. It's worth every minute!

Answer 7

I got my kitty at 6 weeks old and he is now 6 months old and he has calmed down a little bit...it helped getting him neutered.... But I think by about 1 year old they should grow out of their kitten friskiness!

Answer 8

how much is he eating??? my baby boy kitty runs around doing the feline 500 when he wants to eat. kittens eat a way lot of food--they grow very fast. the first year of their lives they are cat food recycling centers. make sure he has a feeder with dry food available all the time--feed at least 3 times a day wet food until 1 year--i used to feed my kittens 5 times each day--but the auto feeder takes care of between meal snacks and hungry kitty times--kitties relax when they are full of food.

they also run the feline 500 if they are upset about their litter situation--they do not like the smell of their own stinkies. keep that clean--make sure kitty knows where the pan is and that he is not trying to tell you his pan is too dirty for his tastes.

and love him--pick him up and cuddle him and bond with him.
if he knows you are his momms, he will cooperate with you best.

Answer 9

If I'm going to bring home kittens, I usually do it in pairs so they will have someone else to play with. Right now mine are 8 months old and still in their terror stage. They generally calm down when they're over a year but every animal is different.

Answer 10

I have a kitten that just turned 1 year about two or three months ago and he is crazy i am talking about spazz kitty no exaggeration he runs in circles for hours unend climbs bathroom curtain and living curtains Hun you just gotta go with it sorry. you will kinda miss it whenever he does calm down though you gotta admit it is kinda funny to watch .