Kitten is hard work!

[Livelykittenmum]

How long are kittens usually very boisterous?

We have a very friendly 12 week old kitten and my, he's hard work! We have an 8 year old cat, who was considerably easier when young.

He does sleep, mostly at night, and a little in the day, but he is up and down curtains, snd just about everywhere else, and wants to play fight quite a lot, including with our poor 8 year old cat. We have to separate them often, as the older cat seems to get harassed, and will eventually retaliate. We shut off the cat flap as he'll try to follow him out, and is desperate to have a look out.

The vet calls him "a confident kitten ". He's been bought a box of toys snd I have a couple of young people around who play with him too, when he wants it, but we are all getting worn out!

I'm looking forward to when he is older and can go out to play just for a bit. Obviously that won't be for a couple of months at least, as we'd hate to lose him or see him come to harm. And anyway the vet won't spay him till he's 5 months.

Does anyone have tips on how to manage and amuse him and also views about when to risk him venturing outside in the longer run? It's not that our house is too small for him; it isn't.

How cute is he?! When mine was a kitten she got one of those ball track things that they bat between the gaps. I know that doesn't explain very well - link below shows what I mean. She would play for hours with that and still has a play with it most days now, and she's 10! (even though it is now held together with sellotape). I noticed very similar in Aldi recently too. www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_toys/chase/catit/133881

Thank you for all these great ideas. You all rock xx

He and you would benefit from getting him a cat tree/condo. He needs something to climb.

Oh my heart just melted. Couldn't you just squeeeeeeeeeze and eat him all up.

So cute! We got our kitten at 5 months old.. he also was very confident and ‘hard work’!! I found he started to calm down around the 1 year mark . I got a felliway plug in diffuser and found it helped a little.

Also the 50p foil balls from pets at home, our cat goes mad for them, sure he thinks it’s a mouse, spends ages running up and down the stairs throwing it around, that could help tire him out a bit!

Your kitten is adorable. When I got ours I got 2 at once and we did that twice so 4 beautiful cats now. They entertained each other.

Feliway is good for mine.
Variety is what kittens thrive on. Have lots of toys but only a few at a time.
I had a variety of things like boxes, paper bags, one oddly popular toy has been a Hessian bag with a rattle in it. They hide behind it, hang off it, try and put other toys in it...tall scratching posts, cat trees, tunnels, bits of fabric draped over chairs to make hidey holes. Ah, and 2 kittens 😄

Our kitten is exactly the same! He never stops! He's taken a big liking to my house plants and likes to attack and kick the soil everywhere! I've tried putting lemon slices around them to discourage him but it is not worked!

I made puzzle boxes for mine basic shoe box different toys stuffed inside catnip and paw holes tape securely

We adopted 2 kittens last year, they're not far off 2 years old now. They have slowly but surely calmed down a lot as they've gotten older (and been allowed outside) but I would say they're still high maintenance compared to my siblings' cats who are all older, and still want a lot of interaction and stimulation.
Getting into a routine for playtime is a good idea, ours always seem to want the most interaction in the early evening so I will always try to play with them when I get home from work. Nowadays they will settle down and go to sleep at 8pm and pretty much sleep through until 5am, but it's taken a while to get them into that routine.