Welcome to Sphynxlair! Connect with Sphynx owners & enthusiasts around the world!

Kitty ADD

Cleopatra Beers

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
5,542
Points
643
Marcus has been officially diagnosed-by me-after nearly four months of close observations. He has Attention Deficit Disorder (although I think that in Sphynxes, it is so normal that we really cannot call it a disorder).

Marcus' symptoms include the following: it starts around 6:30 every night. He has to have all his toys scattered around the living room. The battery-operated undercover mouse toy must be turned on, and he prefers to have Cleo in the room too. Daddy must also be ready with Da Bird. Then he goes from toy to toy. First it's the undercover mouse, then the Heart Attack, back to the mouse, over to Cleo for a wrestling match, then it's time to launch himself off Daddy's foot to attack the undercover mouse again, then it's time to attack the kitty house, then Cleo again, and so on. In between playing with Cleo and the toys, Marcus wants to play with Da Bird. All of this goes on for more than 2 hours every night! If the undercover mouse or Da Bird are not out, he wants to play with the spinning wheel and fireplace, which are off-limits.

Our cute li'l boy is by far the busiest kitten we have ever had--and that includes Cleopatra! Are there any other ADD kittens or reformed ADD kittens out there?

image.jpg Here he is, looking innocent with Sydney.
 

admin

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
23,725
Points
643
Marcus has been officially diagnosed-by me-after nearly four months of close observations. He has Attention Deficit Disorder (although I think that in Sphynxes, it is so normal that we really cannot call it a disorder).

Marcus' symptoms include the following: it starts around 6:30 every night. He has to have all his toys scattered around the living room. The battery-operated undercover mouse toy must be turned on, and he prefers to have Cleo in the room too. Daddy must also be ready with Da Bird. Then he goes from toy to toy. First it's the undercover mouse, then the Heart Attack, back to the mouse, over to Cleo for a wrestling match, then it's time to launch himself off Daddy's foot to attack the undercover mouse again, then it's time to attack the kitty house, then Cleo again, and so on. In between playing with Cleo and the toys, Marcus wants to play with Da Bird. All of this goes on for more than 2 hours every night! If the undercover mouse or Da Bird are not out, he wants to play with the spinning wheel and fireplace, which are off-limits.

Our cute li'l boy is by far the busiest kitten we have ever had--and that includes Cleopatra! Are there any other ADD kittens or reformed ADD kittens out there?

View attachment 52311 Here he is, looking innocent with Sydney.
My! That is a lot of "stuff!" going on! Could only imagine seeing it in real time! What a handful! :D
 

Xandria

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
10,022
Points
643
I had a lovely Norwegian Forest cat that had an eating disorder. While not the same at all, I only mention this because we put him on "kitty Valium" (I so wish I could remember the drug), and it helped his disposition.

Could you maybe try a little medication for Marcus? Or maybe he'll grow out of this phase?
 

serena33

Lairian
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
23
Points
24
Although new to the Sphynx ownership (or being owned depending on what's in our fridge) I have noticed our Pharaoh goes berserk for about 15 minutes a time, 2-4 times a day. Flying up and down the stairs, jumping on and off windowsills like they're hot and launching himself at the furniture. Seems to be about 2 minutes before I fall into bed exhausted he looks at me like I have forgotten my head!
Two hours?! You're a star!
 

Cleopatra Beers

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
5,542
Points
643
Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. My condolences to those of you who also have ADD Sphynxes! Those of us who deal with this are a very special subgroup of Sphynxis servants! Thanks for the suggestion @Xandria, and there have been times we wish we could medicate Marcus (Cleo too, for that matter!), but he should settle down a little bit as he gets older.
On the positive side, most of the time that Marcus plays in the evenings, he plays by himself. He will attack Cleo until she gets tired of wrestling and then she leaves and he continues playing by himself. If he has the Undercover Mouse toy, he can play with it and other toys for up to an hour by himself. The ADD part is that he can't play with one toy for long--he has to mix them up as he plays.

I think I have figured out why he plays so long at night--during the day, he does nothing but sleep!

IDK, maybe we should form a support group for those who have ADD/ADHD Sphyxes.....sigh....
 

Cleopatra Beers

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
5,542
Points
643
I think you need to regularly wake Marcus up during the day so that he's more tired at night. giggles.

I actually agree with you. That's why I suggested that his Beardy Daddy do just that! Bob works at home most of the time, and I am at school most of the day, so it just makes sense that he should do this. However, he totally disagrees with me and insists that Marcus needs to sleep during the day so Bob can work...sigh...
 

Xandria

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
10,022
Points
643
Teach Cleo to pounce on Marcus during the day? LOL

Or Beardy Daddy needs to take breaks like anyone who works that hard! And while he's on break, he can wake Marcus up! Beardy Daddy drinks coffee, right? And uses toilet facilities? And makes lunch? ;)
 

cherp

Lairian
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
76
Points
54
Well . . . we have little Zoey . . . who thinks humans are for playing. She does not play by herself at all. She expects humans to play with her all the time. We have Da Bird. Not interested. We have laser pointer. Not interested. We have balls, mice, hanging stuff . . . you get the picture. But as soon as Mommy can play chase me or hide and seek then yipee, we are playing! If we don't play with her, she meows plaintively until we play with her. And if we don't she launches herself at us and uses us as springboards to jump off of!!!! Oh, and bugs. Meowing until humans get them down off the ceiling or walls for her to play with! Oh, but is she a cutie patootie. She definitely has us well trained.
 

Cleopatra Beers

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
5,542
Points
643
Well . . . we have little Zoey . . . who thinks humans are for playing. She does not play by herself at all. She expects humans to play with her all the time. We have Da Bird. Not interested. We have laser pointer. Not interested. We have balls, mice, hanging stuff . . . you get the picture. But as soon as Mommy can play chase me or hide and seek then yipee, we are playing! If we don't play with her, she meows plaintively until we play with her. And if we don't she launches herself at us and uses us as springboards to jump off of!!!! Oh, and bugs. Meowing until humans get them down off the ceiling or walls for her to play with! Oh, but is she a cutie patootie. She definitely has us well trained.
It sounds like you might definitively have an ADD Spyhnx! Welcome to our wonderful world of Extra-Special Sphynxes! Your Zoey sounds like our Cleopatra before Marcus came. We had many of the same problems-pestering us until we played with her, refusing to play with toys and the worst--breaking things if we ignored her! Marcus plays pretty well by himself, and looooves his toys. He has never broken anything on purpose, and our only real issues are that he plays for such a looooong time and he tries to play with my spinning wheel when he gets bored.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
I think it's more like ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - and I think it's fairly common with this breed. It happens at night more that the day which kills me when I'm trying to watch a little TV and relax. But I love them so that's all there is to it.
 
Back
Top