warm weather = restless cat

[Rens]

hi everyone,
been a while since I've posted here.

Our Saoirse has been rly good for a long time now, she's around 2 years now, but recently as the weather got warmer her energy just seems to increase non stop.
We got our schedule, we play with her at a set time. But most of the time she's got the zoomies at other times than the one of her schedule, which are inconvenient times for us.
She's starting to show more frustration, like attacking us and seeking out things that she usually never does to get our attention (like trying to climb the bookshelves and bite the plants). SO i think she needs to loose more energy some other way? But when we do play with her she shows little interest We try to do everything by the book, so I'm at a loss...

I also don't wanna play with her when she's being naughty cuz I don't want to reward that behavior, but at the same time would it serve as redirection? idk...

any tips are welcome♥

 

[Beckinboots]

If you don't have one already, have you considered a cat wheel? Mine use theirs in all weathers and it's great for them using up pent up energy.

 

[Rens]

If you don't have one already, have you considered a cat wheel? Mine use theirs in all weathers and it's great for them using up pent up energy.

we have one yeah.
she only uses it for very short bursts, usualy before her food to also get attention I think?
she likes to zoom trough the house but doesn't seem to realize she could do it nonstop in the wheel

 

[Rens]

I can't seem to edit my post I think, so I'll add it here.

I've heared/read that like for dogs, going on a walk is important cuz they can sniff around and it gives great mental stimulation.
would taking her out in a carrier or on a leash help the same way you think? I don't know if it works for cats too

 

[Rens]

another update from today. please help
normally she sleeps/rests now, she was in her bed and suddenly came out fully determined and went straight to climbing stuff she never does, trying to reach plants she never does. like the typical behavior she does when she's trying to get attention. I try to ignore as much as I can as ling as she's safe. but then she just comes up to me on the table to stand there and stare at me, and when I try to pet her she attacks my hand, and when I pull back she'll try to attack my face. I leave the room when she does this to try and signal that it's rly not ok. she then calms down and just settles at a window or something. she barely plays on her own anymore, I thought it was better for a while but it stopped again...

I'm at such a loss, she's clearly frustrated but I have no idea what to do and it's getting rly hard to handle.
she has everything she could need but she's still this frustrated and shows aggression, I need help
please.

 

[Yoda mom]

@Rens, we are here for you and Saoirse . Is she spayed?
hormones can come into play and if she senses another cat perhaps outside? causing frustration?

my Toby would grumble hiss and attack me, went away after he got neutered and his hormones settled. I used to tell him a stern AH and redirect him to a kong kicker toy, he was soo bad I had to give him 5 minute time outs in the bathroom.

only one of mine uses the cat wheel. I encourage him with verbal "Toby go fast" he looks at me and runs faster. he also does spurts.
the wear him out more I use Supervised only** a dabird pole toy, a fav in group. I do have to hide it away in a closest when not in use so he doesnt chew the string or get tangled.

**please please check the plants you have, perhaps move them, make sure they are not on the toxic plant list. this is a partial list from the ASPCA, you can google search your particular plant names. I personally would move plants even if not on the toxic list to prevent upset tummies or possible obstruction.

 

[Rens]

@Rens, we are here for you and Saoirse . Is she spayed?
hormones can come into play and if she senses another cat perhaps outside? causing frustration?

my Toby would grumble hiss and attack me, went away after he got neutered and his hormones settled. I used to tell him a stern AH and redirect him to a kong kicker toy, he was soo bad I had to give him 5 minute time outs in the bathroom.

only one of mine uses the cat wheel. I encourage him with verbal "Toby go fast" he looks at me and runs faster. he also does spurts.
the wear him out more I use Supervised only** a dabird pole toy, a fav in group. I do have to hide it away in a closest when not in use so he doesnt chew the string or get tangled.

**please please check the plants you have, perhaps move them, make sure they are not on the toxic plant list. this is a partial list from the ASPCA, you can google search your particular plant names. I personally would move plants even if not on the toxic list to prevent upset tummies or possible obstruction.

View attachment 111584

Hello! thank you for the help.

she is spayed, and we just bought her one of those longer fishingpole toys, so I hope that one will be a hit.

and yeah we checked for all our plants which one are highly toxic and which aren't. but she can't actually reach any of the highly dangerous ones.
they are on shelves, close together so she can't jump on there. and she normally doesn't put much effort to try and reach em anyway but she does when she's annoyed it seems.

we got her catgrass but she doesn't seem to like it much.
I wanted to see what other plants that she can have to nibble on that are safe for her but I checked so many sites and they all contradict eachother :s
we used to have Chlorophytum (spiderplants) for her cuz we read it was safe. she ate those like crazy and didn't seem to have any trouble from it, but then we read it's not that good for them after all? so ugh, it's dificult to know which is good or not.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Can you try finding a distraction like the bird feeders that suction cup to windows, an extra cat tree etc…you can also try treat puzzles …things like this add enrichment and keep them busy. @Rens

Ours love the bird feeder

We have these treat puzzles…Amazon has many examples. I like this one because you can increase the difficulty because some slots you can double close and really make them work.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Rens]

Can you try finding a distraction like the bird feeders that suction cup to windows, an extra cat tree etc…you can also try treat puzzles …things like this add enrichment and keep them busy. @Rens

Ours love the bird feeder

We have these treat puzzles…Amazon has many examples. I like this one because you can increase the difficulty because some slots you can double close and really make them work.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hello thank you for the reply♥

she gets food from slow feeders/puzzles every day cuz she gobbles everything up at high speed otherwise :'D

we haven't tried a birdfeeder yet!

 

[Rens]

small update.

she seems to be calming down again. still seeking trouble every now and then
But the routine is more normal and it seems to help!
she finally slept on my lap again♥

 

[Rens]

another update.

she had 2 calm days again but today she's restless again.
like she looks like she got too much energy for sure, but also seems to on edge? :s
she attacked me and my wife yesterday evening cuz she is super high energy right before we go to sleep for some reason and this morning after she was also being tense and I had to like push her aside or put her down from the table cuz she kept walking on my laptop.
she is running around, easily spooked, staring around, etc. I don't know what makes her so tense
we got the windows open cuz it's warm af here, so there's car noises, but the last few days those didn't seem to bother her so I don't know if it's that.

we moved her cat tree and her running wheel today, hoping that would catch some interest.
the wheel is now in front of the window. I am hoping since she'd sit there for the sun, she'd also walk a bit every now and then.
she did a few times so far, just a few steps, but it's something?

we are going to continue the routine as usual, try not to make too many changes since that may cause an opposite effect, maybe some more playing? idk yet. I wanted to keep the playtime on routine too but idk how to keep that.

 

[Yoda mom]

@Rens thanks for keeping us updated. I can tell you my nakids way different energy and personality than any furbaby kitty I have ever had. I swear sphynx are cat dog monkey baby all in one for life.

I do set routine times for play in the morning on the bed, time in the afternoon, and at bedtime. I keep fleece throw blankets around and they borrow in for naps.

are they any other cats outside she could be sensing? mine get restless sometimes and sure enough I walk around and check outside and find my neighs cat walking around. then the cat leaves and back to normal personality.
with Toby, I can tap on his cat wheel and command Toby go fast.. he runs to it runs like the wind in spurts and meows. when he stops I tell go fast toby go fast and he chirps at me and keeps running . then he goes naps. he is sensitive to outside kitties and gets antsy when he senses other cats outside. he used to jump off the dresser at me. I would give a stern "ah" and even some 5 minute time outs in the bathroom.
I also got him a kicker toy to redirect his energy.. when he is in a fresh mood, he will play rough with it with me swooshing it back and forth. chills him out after. I tend to train them like a dog. they are sooo stinkin smart. you could try some cat trick training too perhaps? some great tricks online.
maybe try closing the windows ? I cant leave windows open bcz smarty pants here could push out the screens.

following for updates, hugs n head smooches

 

[Rens]

Another update.

She's nice and calm and friendly again during the day. But she's a completely different cat in the evening.

Playing w her is still a chore. She has small bursts of play and then walks off a bit. On and off.
I try to keep it up for atleast 15min, before i give her food.
She seems to have conpletely lost interest in the wheel suddenly.

In the evening after her last feeding of the day ahe suddenly starts playing w some toys on the ground like crazy! Which is good but she doesn't chill w us after her food anymore.
In the past she'd snuggle up and we could go to bed calmly.

Now when we start to prepare to sleep she'll start hunting me.
She'll hide in a box and jump out when i pass by. Or even worse, she'll attack my legs.
Yesterday i was prepping her bed and she was blocking the doorway and tried to jump at my face and legs.
She doesn't grab on or bites (yet), but it's pretty scary... well she bit my leg once but not hard.


Thing is we got a heatwave going on and we need to air the house at night to cool it off and make it bearable during the day.
We got mosquito mesh in the windows but i do not leave her along w them open. It's too risky and I'm afraid she could break out.
So we have to lock her in a room to sleep at night like we did when we just got her, to get used to the house.
She doesn't do much at night normally or wander the house much so i didn't think it would be such a problem.
Is it possible she's angry that we lock her up for the night? Is that too big of an assumption? I just don't know what else...

We got one of these things (pic from google) but there's no way to attach it, which i didn't know. It got screw holes but we are renting so we can't do that. Plus the frame isn't wood... so i see no other option

 

[Rens]

@Rens thanks for keeping us updated. I can tell you my nakids way different energy and personality than any furbaby kitty I have ever had. I swear sphynx are cat dog monkey baby all in one for life.

I do set routine times for play in the morning on the bed, time in the afternoon, and at bedtime. I keep fleece throw blankets around and they borrow in for naps.

are they any other cats outside she could be sensing? mine get restless sometimes and sure enough I walk around and check outside and find my neighs cat walking around. then the cat leaves and back to normal personality.
with Toby, I can tap on his cat wheel and command Toby go fast.. he runs to it runs like the wind in spurts and meows. when he stops I tell go fast toby go fast and he chirps at me and keeps running . then he goes naps. he is sensitive to outside kitties and gets antsy when he senses other cats outside. he used to jump off the dresser at me. I would give a stern "ah" and even some 5 minute time outs in the bathroom.
I also got him a kicker toy to redirect his energy.. when he is in a fresh mood, he will play rough with it with me swooshing it back and forth. chills him out after. I tend to train them like a dog. they are sooo stinkin smart. you could try some cat trick training too perhaps? some great tricks online.
maybe try closing the windows ? I cant leave windows open bcz smarty pants here could push out the screens.

following for updates, hugs n head smooches

Thank you so much for the replies

There's not rly any cats outside that i know of. She looks outside at birds but thats it. The car noises suck but its too hot to keep them shut

When we moved her wjeel to the window she used it on her own a couple of times but now she refuses to use it even for treats, which she normally always does. Idk why.
And she's such a dificult player... it sucks to see her show little interest when i try to play w her but then go wild in the evenings lol. I switch up toys a bunch so try keep it entertaining but she chases for a bit and then stops a while... she's hard to tire out cuz she don't play non stop :/

Omg yes! We clicker trained her a bunch of tricks too! It's so cute she can sit, highfive, spin, stand up, etc . We always do some tricks before her feeding times

Im indeed scared she'll escape but it's too warm rn to keep them shut :'(

Thank yoi for all the tips

 

[Rens]

Another update.
She's wearing more tshirts for a bit more sun protection and it also seems to calm her down a bit. We also close the window in the evening for less stimulation.
And last 2 evenings went good!
She'll try some shenanigans in the house after some food and playing on her own and then eventually She'll want to sit w us under a blanket untill bedtime

Today we had to go out in the morning and were back around 16h for her playtime and food.
And after that we tried on a new shirt, it seemed to fit a bit different than the prev one and she was very agitated. She was calm for a while and then started trying to climb the window mesh and other dangerous stuff, so i had to take her down a few times but tried to ignore as much as i could.
But she came to attack us again, so i put her in timeout for 5 minutes in the bathroom

When i opened it she meowed at me a bunch as if she was happy to see me? But then walked over to bite my foot

So another 5 min.
Im now in a diff room after releasing her again.
So I'll see how the rest of the day goes...

I'm afraid she discovered that biting is an option or something. Hope she stops it with enough ignoring/timeout


But all in all, some improvement!