Expert: Ali - 3/4/2009

Question
I recently adopted two cats - a kitten who is now about 3 months old (female) and a male who is 1.5 to 2 years old- and they fight (I assume its playing) for the duration of the night, causing significant lack of sleep. Initially, the kitten would not go near the older cat, and if he came near her she would hiss and growl. They've finally adapted to co-habitation, even sleeping together - but certainly not at night. Is this behavior something that will go on forever, or can I expect that the nocturnal battle will end at some point?  

Answer
Michelle,

Cats are somewhat more active at night, this is when they would hunt if they were wild. It may be a bit simplistic to suggest that you just deny the cats access to the area around your bedroom at night, but it certainly is an option. Cats are fairly easily trained once you find what motivates them, for some cats it's praise, affection and human company, for others food, play or grooming makes them happy. If your cats have specific quirks in terms of humane consequences that they absolutely dislike you can certainly use this to your advantage when they are behaving inappropriately. Some cats hate to be wet so squirting them with a water pistol or spray bottle will get the point across that they've upset their human caregiver. Most cats will respond quickly to a can of compressed air because the hissing sound that it makes coming out of the container is fairly universally understood by cats. I use the cans of compressed air normally used for cleaning electronics and computer equipment, but I recommend that you make sure never to actually spray it in the direction of the cats' faces or bodies as there are gases used as propellants in these products that can cause serious injuries due to extreme cold.

It's also worth trying something as simple as separating the two cats at night, after all they can't play fight if they can't touch each other. The problem with this solution is that some cats will become quite vocal which defeats the whole purpose of separating them or do things like claw the carpet or scratch the paint off of either side of the door in an effort to get to each other which can result in substantial property damage.Since cats are quite intelligent predators that normally hunt at night you can provide them with some sort of entertainment that fulfills their psychological needs by bringing out their predatory side. The cats get to hunt and stalk their prey which ends up being things that they enjoy, some are edible others are to play with. I've found that a good treasure hunt tires most cats out which helps them to be quieter at night. I have found that a treasure hunt of dry cat food, small dishes of minced chicken breast, dry treats, catnip and toys works well to keep cats quiet and occupied on nights when they don't seem to want to settle for the night.

My cats are pretty good, most nights they're in bed before we are and they usually sleep in the beds with us. Most of the time my cats aren't generally loud or overly rambunctious when it's time for bed. You may want to consider installing a bird feeder outside one or more windows that the cats spend time looking out of and fill the feeder with seed meant to attract small song birds, there are even great perches that are comfortable for the cats and they are quite sturdy and easy to install. Most cats will enjoy watching the birds in the early morning and at different times throughout the day, however if you live in an apartment the property management company may not permit tenants to feed the birds. There is a great dvd series geared towards entertaining our feline friends, there are three videos in the series as far as I know and the series is called Cat Sitter DVDs. These videos have some wonderful footage of small prey animals and birds and it's filmed in a way that cats really enjoy. If you do decide to try these videos out I'd recommend that you pull a chair or sturdy scratch post with platforms for the cats to sit on up fairly close to the television and clear any sentimental or breakable items from off of the top of the tv which will prevent the cats from accidentally damaging anything they shouldn't. These movies are meant to be played when there aren't any humans around to distract the cats so they're perfect to play at some point during the day when you are at work or running household errands. You will have to figure out what works best for your schedule and which of the three movies your cats prefer because all of them have slightly different footage and features for your cats to enjoy.

I would also encourage you and other members of your household to spend time engaging the cats in interactive play, toys like kitty teases and kitten mittens are a great start. You can also consider picking up small catnip filled toys that your cats can enjoy on their own time, one thing that I generally recommend when shopping for cat toys is to think seriously about what the toy in question will sound like in your home at 3 am, cats are often far more alert than we are at that time of morning and believe me they're quite good at hiding the toy from a flustered human so that it can't be found when we are bleary eyed, exhausted and frustrated. I think that playing with the cats for a couple of hours in the evening to tire them out before you normally go off to bed is a good idea and it works well in my household. The trouble is that if you don't play with the cats consistently you might be annoyed at the pursuits they choose to entertain themselves.

Cats are very intelligent animals and they have the capacity to learn simple commands like "sit", "down" and shake a paw, but this takes time, dedication and patience to teach them and also to find out what motivates them. Some basic training might stimulate the cats enough to have them use their obvious intelligence in other ways that just don't keep you up at night. All in all I suspect that most of why the cats are wrestling and play fighting during the night is that they are bored and they simply have no other way of entertaining themselves. You could try having a pet sitter come in for an hour or two during work days to play with the cats, it may help to drain some of their energy and it just might be a good start towards settling these cats down at night.

It's worth noting that your two cats are still fairly young and they will settle down some in time. I don't want to promise that the cats will stop their night time play fighting at a specific age, but as they mature and figure out where they each belong on the household hierarchy they just might stop being quite so rambunctious at night. Cats are creatures of habit and they love routine so establishing a routine that encourages them to burn off excess energy earlier in the evening and settle around the time that you normally go to bed. Obviously it will take some time, patience and consistency but I see no reason why you can't have a good night of uninterrupted sleep sometime fairly soon. As I mentioned earlier in this answer, by providing the cats with entertainment that appeals to their nature and making sure that they're stimulated regularly throughout the day you will help to ensure that the cats' energy levels diminish later in the night and you just might find that they go to bed when you do. I'd certainly be interested to hear about how things are going and what your cats enjoy if you decide to try out my recommendations.