What do I do with this crazy cat???

**crazyscootercat** · 03-21-2004, 12:39 AM

My cat Scooter is a 3 yr old (approx. I don't know for sure) fixed male who acts like he is a kitten on speed. He tears around the house like someone put a hot poker up his rear. Up, down, left, right, nonstop. He rarely sleeps, but seems healthy. He lets you pet him for a few seconds then bites and/or scratches you (in a playful way). In the middle of the night he will attack your toes while you are in bed. He is possesed and has bitten a few people for no apparent reason. He is cute and can be sweet, but his behavior is driving us nuts. We've tried using loud noises, a water bottle, etc. for behavior modification, but to no avail. Help, please!

**carole** · 03-21-2004, 03:01 AM

I had to laugh at the way you described your kitty, Scooter sounds delightful, I have no advice really, he just sounds full of beans and that is his personality, a little crazy and cute at the same time, my old cat Ash is somewhat like that, I could imagine him being like your kitty when he was young, just enjoy him as he is, coz I think in a nutshell, that is just who he is.

**PayItForward** · 03-21-2004, 04:22 AM

Scooter just sounds like an energy filled cat.

Maybe if you adopted him a similar aged cat friend, he should play with them instead of your toes.

In the meantime make sure you play with him at least an hour before going to bed and then feed him his last meal of the day. This is hunt the prey & eat it game, he should sleep more deeply.

**BastetsMum** · 03-21-2004, 04:52 AM

He doesn't have any abysinnian in him. Bastet does the Hall Run constantly! Its truly beautiful to watch. Her tail either flops to one side or stands straight on end and she has the funniest look. I wish I could take a photo of her.

Enjoy it

**jenluckenbach** · 03-21-2004, 05:35 AM

Welcome to pet talk.
Scooter sounds like a lot of fun. But it does sound like he'd benefit from a kitty pal who is as active as him.

**catcrazylady** · 03-21-2004, 07:19 AM

I also had to laugh about Scooter! I personally like them full of energy. They keep you on your toes and they are funny to watch. I would also seriously consider adopting a play mate for Scooter. I would talk to your local shelter and make sure your find a young kitty that seems to have the energy level of Scooter. If you bring in a timid kitty you would probably have more trouble than you do now. I think Scooter would scare it to death!!!!

**catnapper** · 03-21-2004, 08:26 AM

I know the cat run well... but usually its one cat tearing down the hall after another... then at the end of the hall, the game switches around to the chasee becomes the chaser. In fact, they are playing the game right now (only in the confines of my room since the door is shut... they are managing to make a lot of noise.

)

PayItForward had a great idea... sometimes cats do well with buddies. Our Allen is 3 and acted very odd. He was just lonely, but we didn't know that until we happened upon a Petco adoption day and my daughter's blue pleading eyes won out. We brought home little Pouncer and life hasn't been the same since. Allen is such a happy cat now and loves his little "brother" very much.

Now, we certainly understand that you might not be able to adopt another cat... but if there's no reason not to, go for it!

Oh, I almost forgot... Welcome to Pet Talk!

**slick** · 03-21-2004, 10:46 AM

Originally posted by crazyscootercat
He tears around the house like someone put a hot poker up his rear.

Forgive me for laughing, I know it must be bothersome to you.
My cat Max sometimes does this between 6am and 7am. I agree that maybe a playmate might calm things down.

BTW Welcome to Pet Talk, but be warned, it's very addictive.

**rkidsrcats** · 03-21-2004, 11:06 AM

We have 5 that love to tear around the house, occasionally jump on toes and don't have much time for loves and hugs when its play time!
However, if a playful companion is not an option, we did learn a few tips when our first cat Roady had to make a quick transition from outdoor kitty to indoor kitty. She was driving us nuts with her pent up energy and at all hours. We basically got the most interesting feather toys & a thing called a catdancer to play with her & made sure she had a 30 min session before bedtime. A great organization called Wisconsin Cat Club told us that if a kitty has a 20-30 minute play session before bed, they would soon learn to sleep most of the night. And I mean we played hard - but never wrestling with her with our hands (she had the potential to be a play biter and we didn't want her to think we were fair game). We dragged feather toys through the house, up on the bed, down and then back up, tossed catnip mice up the stairs for her to chase and bring back, made her play up on the cat scratcher tree with a feather...you get the idea. We tired her out and within 3 days she was no longer getting us up at night and seemed calmer during the days.
We still play feather toy with the 5 guys we have now, but they also do a tremendous amount of cat wrestling, chasing and goosing with each other and the dog.
One other thing and then I'll shut up....if you do get a companion, try to make sure its personality is going to be playful, crazy cat too! Nothing worse than having a high energy cat trying to get a low energy couch potato to play with him.

**jazzcat** · 03-21-2004, 11:09 AM

Hi and welcome to PT!

I'm another one laughing. I think you've got my Ripley's younger brother. He was the same way, except he often became mean to me, when he was young and finally grew out of it around age 5 and began to mellow. He was so wild at night that we had to restrict him to the laundry room and garage at night so we could sleep. Finally around age 4 we began letting him stay out in the house all night and he has ever since.

My vet even wanted to give him female hormones to try to calm him down. Luckily age finally did it for him. Oh yeah, water bottles never helped Ripley much either.

Good luck with Scooter, someday you will miss all that energy.

**crazyscootercat** · 03-21-2004, 11:29 AM

Wow! I can't believe all the replies already. Thank you all. I should clarify: It's not so much his energy (guess I put that in for background) as it is his sudden attacks. It's the biting and scratching that we'd like him to stop. There are 5 cats here (2 are mine) so he doesn't need a playmate and we play with him often as well. He attacked my friend the other night for no reason. Ran up to her, wrapped himself around her leg, and bit and scratched her so hard he drew blood. He's also been attacking my other cat. They've been together about 2 years without much problem. The other cat has always been the alpha male, but Scooter seems to be challenging him now. Hopefully, age will mellow him.

**Randi** · 03-21-2004, 11:49 AM

I can't give much advise other than what you already got. I too would have thought another cat could have solved it, but I see you have several cats, so ....

Anyway, welcome to PT!

And good luck calming him down a bit.

**rg_girlca** · 03-21-2004, 12:15 PM

Welcome to Pet Talk.

You said that he has been attacking your other cat and that they have been together for 2 years without much problems. Is this something that he just started doing recently? If so, maybe a trip to the vet would be in order to make sure there isn't anything medically wrong with him.
The only thing at this time that I can suggest is, that when he starts his attacks, to grasp him firmly, but gently by the neck and tell him a very stern "NO", then put him in the bathroom or any spare room, by himself, for a time out. You have to be very consistent on doing this.
I wish you the best of luck with him cause this does not sound like fun to me.

BTW, what kind of cat is your Scooter?

**catmandu** · 03-21-2004, 12:52 PM

Actaully Scooter would be better off , with a quiet Little Girl Cat , and I have found that if a Cat is lively as a Kitten , they will keep some of that energy. JJJ3 was a Kitten Dyamo , and is still lively , as an older Cat! The Found Cats SAy Go Scout GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

**crazyscootercat** · 03-21-2004, 02:00 PM

Scooter is an orange and white male tabby. So is my other cat, Buddy. Scooter is about 3 yrs and Buddy is about 8 yrs. I got them as adults so I am not sure about their ages (especially Buddy, he adopted me. lol). I also have a rabbit named Bunny. She is a Black Havana and thinks the cats are playmates. The cats are a bit scared of her even though she is only about 5 lbs. The other cats here belong to my roommate. One is a 20 yr old female (Joppa Kat) who is gray and white. She can be quite fiesty despite her age. The second one is another orange and white tabby (a female named Cassius). The last one is actually a calico, but you have to look close to see this. His name is Breughal (after the painter) and he looks like a white and silver-gray tabby. If you look close, however, you will see about 3 very small orange spots. One on his neck, one on his underside, and another one somewhere I don't remember. That's the story of the animals that surround me (does my 13 yr old son count?? Sometimes he feels like another pet).