Tips for calming hyperactivity in cats

Tips for calming hyperactivity in cats

hyperactivity in cats

Cats are generally very quiet animals, spending much of the day sleeping. However, some cats exhibit unusual behaviour, with an excess of activity that may be considered pathological. Hyperactivity in cats can depend on age, the animal’s personality, and on a health problem that must be detected in time.

Does your cat also have moments of madness and you don’t understand why it behaves this way? Find out when this over-activity is considered normal and what hyperactivity is in cats, so you can take the  correct action when your animal is not feeling well.

What does feline hyperactivity look like?

An over-active cat can exhibit all kinds of nervous behaviours. Running around the house, jumping between furniture, chasing humans and other pets, attracting attention through mewing and hitting, and even compulsive licking.

Most cats tend to display this type of hyperactivity as a measure to alleviate boredom or to release pent-up energy. When pets spend too much time alone in the house, or after a long period of rest, they need to move, and can do so frantically.

It may seem strange to you that your cat goes from a peaceful slumber to suddenly running and jumping all over the house. This is far more common in puppies, but some adult cats do it more or less frequently.

Cat Zoomies

Cat zoomies is when a cat goes crazy for no apparent reason. Suddenly the animal adopts an attack stance, the hair on its back and tail stand up, and it starts to move around, running and jumping.

After a few minutes of mindless running, the cat calms down and goes to rest in its favourite corner. What is wrong with the cat? Don’t worry, it’s normal and happens to most of them, with an episode of this type almost every day until they get older and the zoomies occur less frequently or in a milder manner.

When does hyperactivity in cats become a problem?

As mentioned above, hyperactivity in cats can also be a symptom of stress or anxiety. It is in these cases that it becomes necessary to seek professional help, to detect and treat the problem.

If your cat has a strange daily activity that you can’t identify, the first step is to look for a physical problem or disease. You can do this yourself at home, but if you can’t find the cause, don’t delay going to the vet for a physical examination.

When a cat is usually quiet and suddenly starts displaying more active behaviour, accompanied by other symptoms such as weight loss, lack of appetite, hair loss and so on, it may be due to a serious health problem.

Treating hyperactivity in cats

Cats that are naturally hyperactive, without signs of a physical or mental illness, need to be stimulated more often. Have you been to the vet and been told that your pet is fine? Then what it needs is more playtime so it can release all the pent-up energy in its little body.

There are some guidelines you can follow for treating activity in cats:

  • Spend several minutes a day playing with your cat and making it burn energy.
  • If your cat spends many hours alone in the house, enrich its environment by providing fun toys.
  • The company of another animal in the house can be very stimulating for your cat. Perhaps it’s time to adopt a new family.
  • Spraying feline pheromones into the environment can help relax cats.
  • In the event of a very serious case of hyperactivity, the use of medication prescribed by your vet may be helpful in some cats.

Hyperactivity in cats is a fairly common behaviour that takes you by surprise when you are not familiar with it. At Sepicat we care about the physical and mental health of all our pets, providing them with a comfortable environment to reduce stress as much as possible.

22 Comments

  1. mag says:

    the product catnip does reverse to my female cat. It makes her tooo hyper like shes on a load of caffeine. Is there anither herb that works?

  2. Aviva Shavit says:

    I live in a rural settlement with firests and outdoor animals. My cat has a cat door. She has vecome extremely hyper vigilant snd any nouse or sudden movement gets her going. There are akso neughbirhoid cats that freqyently enter my backyard. How do I calm her down? Would keeping her at home for a while do the job? She has scratched.ne several times in play ir irritation- I can not allow this…

  3. Verica VanMiddlesworth says:

    we have 17 months old Maine Coon Cat who appears to be hyperactive and sometime acts like crazy for no apparent reason (like runs around furniture, try to clime up wooden post and starts to howel when he stops running like crazy)
    He is also unfriendly when we try to pet him and tries to nip me with his teeth or scratch me.
    He also scratches furniture and we call him “a distroyer”
    When he wants, he can be very loving and buts my face with his. He is very beautiful cat. We let him go outside but now that we have snow on the ground, cold temperature and more predatory animals nearby, we keep him inside.

    How do we help this guy to calm down, be friendlier and protect our floors and furniture

    • Sebas says:

      If he is scratching, you can try buying a cat scratcher and placing it very near the furniture that you cat usually destroys. At the same time cover that furniture so your pet is forced to use his new toy.
      Part of their instinct is to scratch, this means that he can be lovely and friendly but still have this bad habit. Learn more about this here, https://sepicat.com/how-to-prevent-your-cats-bad-habits/

    • Heba says:

      My cat is v hyper active he runs after us around home and keeps mewoing hysterically he wants to. Lick my hands i donno how to calm him down hes chasing even small flies jumping over wall units at kitchen steeling food.. very nosey wants to know every thing happening around him screaming infront of my brothers room to let him inside… he was 70% more active when he was less than a year old but the same time hes v kind and sleeps beside me cleans the fur of his friends and sleeps beside them if any of them are sick so plz let me know how to calm. Him down coz hes teasing my family the whole day

  4. Connie Whiteside says:

    My cat had 6 kittens when she was 6 months old. She’s always been a little hyper, but she settled down and was a good mommy. When they all grew old enough, I had the kittens and mommy spayed. I thought this would calm her down. Nope. She’s wilder than ever. Runs constantly, jumps, climbs and just looks for things to get into. What can I do?

    • Sebas says:

      This could be due to the hormonal changes in her body, be patient, she will surely go back to normal behavior once she regulates. You could try buying new toys that are more dynamic, in this way she will discharge her energy and stay calmer throughout the day.

  5. I can’t afford another cat that’s all you keep saying it’s not fare I have one cat hipper bites and vet said yesterday call SPCA

  6. Stephanie chavez says:

    I adopted 2 six month old cats about 5 weeks ago. They act like they are on speed more then half of the time. The race through my house knocking things over, they jump on my tables and counter tops knocking my flower vases over, after chewing and eating on my flowers in the vase. They flip their food and water dishes over. They sit and play in the litter box and track dried up poop and litter on my furniture. They will hit the lid flap down that is on the cover of their litter box and into their feces. They go crazy at night. I’ve had to start shutting my bedroom door when I go to bed, or I will be up all night. They fidget with everything , run across the bed and my face. Get into the trash or play in my closet and get their claws stuck on my clothes that they insist at pulling at. So I lock them out of my room and wait to see my house in the morning and what they broke or mess they made. I’m 48 years old and have had cats on and off my whole life and never had cats this hyper. I’m seriously ready to take them back to Pet-co because they can’t settle down or behave. I’m not going to play with them all day long to try and burn their energy. THERE IS 2 of them, they are far from lonely or board. I’m tired of them flipping their water dish over and cleaning it up. So I’m just tempted to not put water back in their dish after they spill it, for a good part of the day. Maybe then they will stop spilling it. I’m not putting tape on my countertops or table and ruining them, I have no problem squirting them with a squirt bottle and them seeing me as the aggressor, to get them to stop being such a nuisance and to get down off of stuff. They also pull at every cord that goes into an outlet. They won’t leave the cords behind the Tv alone. What can I do?

  7. Liz says:

    I have a 10 month old British shorthair who needs CONSTANT stimulation. I have sooooo many toys(that I switch out), play with her multiple times per day and she still wants attention. She is chasing my poor older (13 yo) cat and nothing I do stops her trying to hunt her. – no aggression, just wants to play but old cat hissing and growling all the time. No claws.
    At my witts end! I have feliway, calming treats and even calming cat food but nothing seems to work.
    HELP!
    🙁

  8. […] that cats are responding to nepetalactone as a pheromone, but there is no clear explanation. Cat hyperactivity is common in addition to catnip […]

  9. […] from infection. The rapid loss of weight can be a sign of serious health problems in cats. Hyperactive cats require more physical activity and exercise in order to release their excess energy. Furthermore, […]

  10. Candice says:

    I adopted my cat a year ago she was 2.5 years at the time. She has significant behavior issues. When I bought her I bought all of her belongings to help make her feel safe. It seemed to help. She bonded quickly with my partner and I and was exploring the house on day one with a confident posture.

    But after a while the novelty wore off for her and I discovered some issues.

    Biting
    She bit her former owners it seems. Hard enough to draw blood. She has never bitten me and has only lightly (scraped teeth on my partner).

    Hissing and growling. She turns positively demonic when confronted with anything she doesn’t like. As 1/2 ragdoll I did not expect this level of hostility.

    She hates other cats and is immediately aggressive to all cats even friendly cats. We were told she could get along with other cats and animals but she hates every animal she has ever seen she even sits in the window and growls at deer in the yard. Accept for my partner and I she is slow to warm up to people but she does not hiss or growl, she is more indifferent.

    Moderate to poor hygiene
    She does not always bother to clean herself properly (she does have tremendously long fur so it is possibly a challenge) and she does not always use the liter box (though it might be that poop is getting stuck in her long fur as I haven’t seen her squatting outside of the box). I have not seen or smelled any marking behavior, I do see her grooming she just isn’t very effective and comes in from outside extremely dirty.

    Separation Anxiety
    She cannot stand to be alone and talks a lot. She scratches everything. Sneaks food, even human food that is vegetarian (literally does not matter what it is, just so she can eat it). Bites cables.
    She screams at the door at night and is extremely disruptive to sleep

    Hyperactive
    She is very active and enjoys going outside (mostly together, everything together) and can go for walks (she follows exceptionally well). The winters where I live are horrific and long. When she can’t or does not want to go out due to the weather her behavior is even more wild. I buy a variety of toys for her and she plays with them enthusiastically. My partner who is also energetic plays all sorts of active games with her but unless she can get out she does not seem to work it all off.

    She goes through heat non stop in the winter and almost not at all in the summer and spring. This seems backwards to me.

    If anyone has ideas let me know

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