When to cats stop acting like kittens?

gracie83

My little lunatics turned 2 years old a few weeks ago. My understanding is that cats become proper adult cats at around this age. My girls are as crazy as they were when they were 6 month old kittens! Our house is a disaster area. The darlings have clawed off wallpaper and all my curtains now let in little pin points of light where the darlings have climbed them!

I would love to start repairing the damage the girls have caused but at the moment they are showing no signs of slowing down and more adult behaviour. We have tried training them with water bottles (we no longer need to squirt just hold the bottle and they run), they have learned what a shouted 'NO' means and they respond but they keep on misbehaving!

They are house cats (lost our first cat when she was run over so these are never going out!) so we try to keep them busy with toys and in a routine. Their misbehaviour is now in a routine as well. 7.45pm on the dot one of them will kick off (clawing walls, clawing curtains or attacking her sister). You are guaranteed ring side seats at an epic cat wrestling match at around 8pm then by around 8.20pm you can place bets on which cat will win the race from the back wall up the stairs and back again! By 9pm they are begging for their dinner! (highlight of the day two little fluff balls constantly nose bumping us!)

Any ideas when the girls will grow up! I am not spending a fortune redecorating just for them to destroy everything again!

Fire_Fox

I wonder if they are bored. Is there no possibility of them going out, perhaps for short periods during the daytime only before feeding times so you can easily get them back in? Could you cat proof your garden so they can explore a limited area? Or do they have medical reasons for needing to remain indoors?

bexbex

sorry but I have 3 cats and they're all nuts..
My oldest is Rosie who is 15 and she still has days where she forgets how old she is and has a "mad 5 minutes"
Tilly is 8 and she is really crazy.. she was a crazy kitten but I can't see a difference fro when she was a kitten!
Trevor, the baby, is 4 and probably the calmest but that's more down to the fact we never see him execept at feeding times! haha
Good luck

anguk

Mine's about 13 now and she still has her daft 15 minutes every day, normally about 9pm, where she'll find something she can flick around the floor until it goes under the sofa then she'll race up and down the stairs making strange little squeaking noises! Then she'll want feeding before settling down for a nap.

She's free to come and go as she pleases and spends lots of time outdoors so she's not bored it's just one of those things she does.

The funny thing is, when the dog's having a bit of fun and playing, the cat will stare at her with a look of disdain on her face as if to say "how childish"!

Have you tried a scratching post for them so they keep off your wallpaper?

MacCavity

They sound like fun cats to have! Have you considered maybe a climbing frame or something like that? My cats love heights and to climb things, you can buy a frame from pet shops or make your own using old carpet bits and wood then attach to a wall.

Or plain old cardboard boxes provide hours of fun for my furbabes - one will often hide in a box and ambush the other!

Definitely try and place more scratching posts in strategic places.

tishywish

I think they stop acting like kittens at around 19 or 20 years old. At least, my mum's two were still acting like kittens until very late teens and my cat is far worse behaved than when he was a little kitten! I think they may actually get worse as they get older, be warned

rachiee

I think its just personality! I have 5 my self and they are all quite apart from 2 one who is a tripod cat (3 legs) shes mental and uses my vinyl wallpaper as a post! And the other a 3 year old male whos been nuetered but runs down the stairs over the leather couch.. and up the vinyl paper and hangs on and i try and get him down and he bites me!!! We have hops above the fire and they get such a battering

lowis

i have two 'kittens' they are now 14 and 15 years old...!

bluestarrz

I have 4 cats- 2 are 6, two are 5. They were originally house cats for the first 3 years( only 2 years for the youngest two obv! lol!) and I will say they calmed down so much when they started going out! Before they climbed curtains and doors, scratched evey chair to pieces and I think it was just boredom. I know this isn't an option for you but it really helped mine.
How about playing with the girls for about a solid half hour - an hour with toys attached to string - clearing an area of floor so they can jump and run? This tired mine out enough that they wouldn't climb the walls so frequently... But it is time consuming!
Alternatively I used to sew up some catnip powder into felt and hide them all over the place for the cats to find throughout the week (one very few days or whatever) just to keep them from being too bored throughout the day!
Good luck!