Kitten age and behavior question

It's been a long time since I last had a kitten-1982 to be exact. Back
in Dec. I adopted an 8 week old male kitten from the shelter. Now he
is about 5 months old, and has just been neutered. Charley is very
sociable and an all around well-adjusted little guy. No matter what
he's doing, be it sleeping or playing, he prefers to be in the company
of humans. The only problem is one of his preferred play times is
about 10PM--when we are trying to relax and go to sleep. It would be
okay if we could shut him out of the bedroom, but eventually he comes
and yowls at the door, quite persistently. I expect this evening play
time is a normal thing, but I'm wondering when he gets older, if he'll
grow out of it? If so, when might this occur? (Neutering did not
affect it much.) In order to get some sleep, we sometimes put him in a
room at the other end of the house, but I don't regard this as an ideal
solution. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Michelle

Took mine till one or two years old, but I found a heavy play session at 9
pm (for about 15 minutes) followed by a wet food snack usually got them
wound down by bedtime.


"bookbug2005" wrote in message
ups.com...
It's been a long time since I last had a kitten-1982 to be exact. Back
in Dec. I adopted an 8 week old male kitten from the shelter. Now he
is about 5 months old, and has just been neutered. Charley is very
sociable and an all around well-adjusted little guy. No matter what
he's doing, be it sleeping or playing, he prefers to be in the company
of humans. The only problem is one of his preferred play times is
about 10PM--when we are trying to relax and go to sleep. It would be
okay if we could shut him out of the bedroom, but eventually he comes
and yowls at the door, quite persistently. I expect this evening play
time is a normal thing, but I'm wondering when he gets older, if he'll
grow out of it? If so, when might this occur? (Neutering did not
affect it much.) In order to get some sleep, we sometimes put him in a
room at the other end of the house, but I don't regard this as an ideal
solution. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Michelle

On 2005-03-04, bookbug2005 penned:
In order to get some sleep, we sometimes put him in a room at the
other end of the house, but I don't regard this as an ideal solution.
Any ideas?

Thanks! Michelle


Oscar's four years old, but now and then she still decides that she'd like to
play while we'd like to sleep. I'm experimenting with putting her in the
basement for the night as soon as she does it; hopefully she'll associate the
crime with the punishment and not be so noisy. In Oscar's case, various signs
point to the idea that she's not just innocently playing, but purposely doing
things to wake us up so that she can get attention in the middle of the night.
I haven't been doing this for long enough to know if it's working, though, and
she isn't noisy every night.

All of that being said, kittens are much more energetic than older cats and
I'm sure your kitten will settle down at least somewhat as he gets older.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 12:55:18 -0800, bookbug2005 wrote:

It's been a long time since I last had a kitten-1982 to be exact. Back
in Dec. I adopted an 8 week old male kitten from the shelter. Now he
is about 5 months old, and has just been neutered. Charley is very
sociable and an all around well-adjusted little guy. No matter what
he's doing, be it sleeping or playing, he prefers to be in the company
of humans. The only problem is one of his preferred play times is
about 10PM--when we are trying to relax and go to sleep. It would be
okay if we could shut him out of the bedroom, but eventually he comes
and yowls at the door, quite persistently. I expect this evening play
time is a normal thing, but I'm wondering when he gets older, if he'll
grow out of it? If so, when might this occur? (Neutering did not
affect it much.) In order to get some sleep, we sometimes put him in a
room at the other end of the house, but I don't regard this as an ideal
solution. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Michelle


If he had a playmate they would (hopefully) keep each other company -- at
the other end of the house. Best wishes. MLB

Thanks for all the input. I wouldn't mind getting a playmate for
Charley, but my housemates worry that we'd just have two wooly, yowling
beasts at the bedroom door. Still, I'm glad to know that there is hope
Charley will outgrow this nocturnal play, unless he's a little onery
like Oscar. ;-) And I'll try to not to feel guilty putting Charley in
a room at the other end of the house--totally comfy with all his stuff.

Michelle

Dogs have owners; cats have staff.
~Unknown

On 2005-03-05, bookbug2005 penned:
Thanks for all the input. I wouldn't mind getting a playmate for Charley,
but my housemates worry that we'd just have two wooly, yowling beasts at the
bedroom door. Still, I'm glad to know that there is hope Charley will
outgrow this nocturnal play, unless he's a little onery like Oscar. ;-)
And I'll try to not to feel guilty putting Charley in a room at the other
end of the house--totally comfy with all his stuff.

All cats are ornery =P

Michelle

Dogs have owners; cats have staff. ~Unknown

I love this quote!

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Charley certainly has me trained. :-)