The Midnight Crazies – How to help your cat keep calm at night

The above was a reader query about ‘The midnight crazies’ first answered in the print edition – Christmas 2021 MyMeow Magazine

You’re all ready for bedtime, and your cat – who has spent most of the day sleeping, starts bombing around your house / apartment in spurts. Between the hours of Eleven to Midnight it turns into a demented roadrunner. It trips over wires, cuts off your internet and telephone connection, then when you try to sleep, it won’t let you. What’s going on??

Midnight crazies – why cats get hyper around 12am

Going bonkers at bedtime is what’s known as The Midnight Crazies – a common behaviour in cats, particularly younger ones. It’s all down to their ancestry. Even if domestic cats are reared according to human habits,  they retain the instinct of those in the wild, who hunt prey during the night.

These spurts of frenetic activity tend to be more common in less common adults, but that is not to say grown ups don’t behave like this. They can do.  

Obviously these behaviour can be pretty annoying, especially iif you have to get up early the next day, and you are starved of sleep.  Here then, are some things you can do to try and curb this night-time frenzy. 

Midnight crazies – steps to reduce the commotion

• Provide opportunities for daytime play. for your cat to play during the day.  This can include toys that encourage activity. MyMeow monthly deliveries provide a range of toys and treats

• Confine to a particular room: It is really helpful to have a space that your cat can go to in certain situations . For example, this could be when if there are guests around, and where your kitty is likely to feel anxious. If your cat gets particularly boisterous during the late hours. then it can be helpful to have such a room. This should be one in which they will be unlikely to upset electrical chords.
• Offer food.  Hunger, or lack of it, can change behaviour. If you opt for number 2, then you could also leave some food in there. There will always be something in a MyMeow box that you can use for his.
• Have more cats! A companion is more likely to keep your pet active during the daytime.

One more thing to consider – in a minority of cases a cat will be doing this because he/she is unwell and wants your attention. If you think this could be the case, contact your vet as soon as you can.

Looking for something Meowvellous to treat your cat with? Try our themed monthly boxes.