My kitten is now about ten months old. This is the first cat I have ever been around so I don't know what is normal behaviour. When he was younger, he used to play all day with all sorts of stuff including his kitten ball. I noticed that after he got very sick after I had him spayed, his playing changed. He spends most of his time outdoors. But when he is indoors, I no longer see him playing with every little thing in sight nor with his kitten balls. Is it normal for cats to outgrow their kittenhood this quickly and stop playing with every little thing they find on the floor? During the little bit of time he spends indoors, he spends his time lying around and cleaning himself. Sometimes he jumps on my dog's face, but my dog ignores him.

I don't know if this is normal or whether he never regained his normal energy level.

Thank you

Behaviour often changes considerably, esp. after spaying/neutering of both sexes at or around puberty, but also possibly at a later stage ......please see :

http://www.fabcats.org/behaviour_kitten.html

W.

__________________
Homeopath for people and animals.
(Sorry, Wim no longer works here.)

Pat, my kitten is about the same age as yours, and she is changing a lot right now, especially now that she is spayed.

She still plays a lot outside - I see her chasing leaves and pouncing on imaginary things - but now she doesn't play much with her indoor toys.

Even though she has a bell on, she has still caught a couple of birds - one was a small falcon! - which she brought inside and put with her other "toys".

She is a much more "serious" cat these days. She still wants affection and will still play some, but not like she did when she was more of a kitten.

Our kids are growing up, and more changes to come as they mature!

Tracy

Thanks, Tracy,

Your prediction is correct about more changes to come as they mature.

Today, is the first day my kitten has ran off for almost 12 hours. I've been walking around the neighborhood looking for him. I ran into a cat that looked a lot like mine but he wasn't. He did come when I called him though. He would have come with me if I would have let him.

I noticed this is the first time he didn't eat any of the food I left out for him to eat during my sleeping hours.

All I can do is wait and get used to his dissapearances and his growing up.

Thanks again.

Well, it looks like the kitten got tired of eating at home. The last time I saw him was when I got up at 4 a.m. to give him some wet food and to fill up his bowls with dried food. When I woke up this morning, all the food was still there. Normally, he leaves the 3 plates empty. It is now almost 8 p.m. I have spent most of the day looking for him. I hope that where ever he is, he gets food he likes.