can't deal with this crazy kitten anymore... help!

Ok, I normally post on pregnancy so... hello!
DH and I have a 9 month old kitten, we have had her since she was 5 weeks old and has always been really crazy. We figured it was just "being a kitten" and put up with it. Well, 8 months later, and she's still nuts. Practically all of the doors in our apartments have to be shut at all times because she gets into everything. She can't be in the bathroom because she eats the toilet paper and knocks over the garbage and spreads its contents all over the house. She jumps on the kitchen countertops and stove... its nasty. Not only because of obvious reasons (like she walks in her poop in the litter box) but there is cat hair on my stove and counters... gross. She eats the corners of the paper towel rolls then unravels it. She scoops the food out of her dish onto the floor then chases it around, there are food bits EVERYWHERE. But that's not the worst part... she gets in these moods where she just runs for an hr from one end of the apartment to the other, jumping off furniture, knocking things down. She usually does this in the middle of the night leaving me with no sleep. She knocks things off the dresser, climbs on top of the fridge knocking all the things hanging up by magnets onto the floor. I've just about had it. She's cute, I love her but I need sleep lol. And, we live on the 2nd floor, it must sound like elephants downstairs!

We have a 4 yr old male, who is an angel. They get along great. He's so perfect, she's the devil. Please, what can I do to help her behavior besides give her away because I can't do that, it would break my heart.

Re: can't deal with this crazy kitten anymore... help!

I find kittens don't "settle" down until 1 year old.

To stop the running around in the middle of the night, I play with them before I go to bed to wear them out completely.

To stop the other things, do a firm no, or a loud noise when they are doing it. My cats still do things like jump on the table etc., but they know when they are wrong. I also find my cats are "bad" if they aren't getting the attention that THEY need.

It gets better trust me!

Re: can't deal with this crazy kitten anymore... help!

This is 100 % normal. She will calm down.

Our cat was like that as well. I can't tell you how many days I came home to a bathroom littered with shredded toilet paper or to some wire chewed to pieces or the freezer wide open because he pried it open out of boredom.

He still has his moments - I think its because he's couped up in an apartment all day. The running back & forth at various times of the night is normal.

DH will play with the cat for 10-15 minutes to get the energy out of him. It def calms him down - to the point that he's only running around the apartment for 15 mins instead of 25 min...

Don't get stressed - she doesn't know better. Do you leave toys for her to play with so she isn't occupied with the items in the bathroom trash can?

Cats are curious creatures, it is definately in their nature to be in everything.

Message edited 5/17/2010 10:00:00 AM.

Re: can't deal with this crazy kitten anymore... help!

She will calm down- it just might take some time.
My kitties are over 1 year old now and STILL have a lot of wild spells throughout the day.

You can try confining her to a room when she gets like that- to prevent her from running amuck and getting into everything. And maybe at night you can confine her to one room- with her food and liter?

Just know it will end soon...and she's still a baby and a bundle of energy!

Message edited 5/17/2010 12:08:38 PM.