Very active cat?

[TheSecondOfHerName]

M has been with us for just over two weeks now. She is about a year old and was neutered a few weeks ago. She's our third cat.

She is doing really well; eating well, using the litter tray appropriately and seems to like our company. However, she is a bit more active than I was expecting.

She does the tearing around the house thing that young cats do when they have excess energy; our house has three floors and she will run up and down both flights of stairs chasing imaginary prey.

However, we are also playing with her several times a day, mostly using dangly fishing-rod type toys like da bird. We'll play with her for 15-20 minutes and when we put the toy away and get out a toy she can play with independently, she'll meow in protest.

She loves looking out through the window, and will chatter at any birds she sees.

She seems to like being with me, and will follow me to whichever room I'm in.

I'm off work for another week, but after that I have to go back to work (17 hours a week). I'm worried that she's going to get bored / frustrated. The shelter recommended keeping her inside until she has been here 6-8 weeks.

Will she settle down a bit once she has access to the outdoors? Or is it just an age thing?

She's fed, loved and sheltered, I would have said it's an age thing. She'll adjust.

It makes me laugh when they run up and down like something posessed!

I'm not up on cat toys as mine rejects them, she only likes bank notes and business cards.

You could try leaving the radio on when you go back to work as a bit of background noise

The radio is a good idea; I'm worried it'll be a bit quiet for her after having 5-6 of us here all day every day.

I don't remember our previous two cats being this interactive at this age, but we got them together, so perhaps they played with each other.

Have you got a nice big tree for her? Mine has a floor to ceiling one- basically a fat pole, so it doesn't take up too much space- and that encourages her to work off a fair amount of energy.

She has a large scratching barrel which is several times her height with four levels of places to sit.

There's also our staircase, which is a two storey high cat adventure playground. Near the top of the first flight of stairs there's a T-junction then there's four more steps on each side. On one side there's a little area from which she can peek through the bannister and see all the way down the stairs. Then the next flight is a carpeted version of a spiral staircase.

She'll probably do what most cats do and sleep while you're out. Then she'll be nice and bouncy when you get home.

She's calmed down a bit today...

Chill day! :)

She’s v cute OP

My cat is an older lady now but is a through the bannister attacker, I’ll be walking downstairs and the next thing I know is a claw around the side of my head

As PP said your kitty will adjust to have her energetic moments when you are home and kip when you’re at work.

^ She does the tearing around the house thing that young cats do when they have excess energy; our house has three floors and she will run up and down both flights of stairs chasing imaginary prey.^

Don't worry OP, that's not a young cat thing. I have a 16 YO girl who does this practically daily.

She seems to be learning stealth.

I'm lying on the sofa at the moment; I thought she was asleep in the kitchen. She silently climbed up on to the arm of the sofa behind my head, lent down and then loudly chirruped in my ear. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Ours is calming down a bit at 8.

You'll have to get used to it!

She has been going on and off (mostly on) from 5pm until just now.

Da bird with me
Feather Kong toy with DH
Short break while we ate dinner
Cat dancer with me (very kitten-like play)
General racing around
Batting around a crinkly ball on her own and then with DS1

It's exhausting just watching her.

She became pregnant at about 6 months, then was nursing / caring for kittens, then in a shelter, so it's possible she's having a delayed kittenhood.

Let her outdoors. I don't know where you are, in the UK we think it is bonkers to keep a cat indoors. They are very free roaming animals. I have two cats ( I have extensive experience of keeping cats). Neutered cats do not range far, but cats need to range. Let her out.

My girl is 6 months old and I’ve not let her out yet as she has to be spayed first. (Booked for first week of January)

She charges around like a whirling dervish, at such high speed. She runs up and down stairs, round and round the room whilst the two older cats snooze or look on in disgust. I’m hoping it’s just the energy of youth. I don’t recall my other two being quite so crazy.

Lyanna don't worry, we are going to be letting her out. We have a catflap and a large garden. She's been with us for less than three weeks, so it's still a bit soon.

She has managed to wear herself out now.

Update:
Today was my first day back at work. I work part-time, so Wednesdays are the only days that she will be on her own all day. She seemed fine when I got in, but she has been either actively playing (we're taking turns playing with her) or zooming around for nearly four hours now, and she is still going.

I visited her several times in the shelter before she came home with us. Each time she seemed curious and confident, but she was more laid back (not as hyper) and also more affectionate than she is now. At every visit she rubbed her head against me to be stroked, and on a couple of the visits she sat on my lap.

Since she came home with us, the curious and confident side is still apparent, but she is more hyper and less affectionate than she was in the shelter. She does follow us around and will usually choose to be in the same room as us, but she doesn't initiate physical affection and she hasn't sat on any of our laps at all.

Are we doing something wrong?

No, please stop worrying.

She'll adjust. It's not like she's being swung around by the tail and starved.

Hope you haven't got the January blues!

Part of the problem is that as soon as she got used to us she started exhibiting mild play aggression. She grabs my hand between both front paws (claws not out) and softly 'bites' it (not hard enough to hurt or leave a mark). She will 'ambush' DH's ankles in a similar way. I'm guessing this was tolerated (or even encouraged) in her previous home, but we are trying to be consistent with the message that hands and feet are not toys.

We deal with it by redirecting her energy to a toy every time she does it. However, this means that we end up playing with her every time she tries to (in her own way) show us affection.

I've bought a cat tree today to provide a bit more vertical territory in the living room, as I spend a fair amount of time in there.

Update: she spontaneously came and sat on me this evening.

She has just fallen asleep on my lap for the first time. I think the cat playground helped to wear her out.