WHY IS NIGHT TIME THE RIGHT TIME FOR KITTY PLAYTIME? (For the kitty, that is.)

We're all probably very familiar with this scenario:

It's 3 AM. You're startled awake by a crash and a galloping sound coming from the living room into the kitchen. With bleary eyes you get up and stumble sleepily around in the bedroom wondering what you would do if there were a real live burglar in the house. Ugh! You're starting to wake up now.

You courageously flip on the lights in the living room and what do you discover? Lo and behold, it's NOT a burglar, thank goodness, it's the cats! One of your little darlings is sitting on one of the end tables with his tail puffed out with your favorite lamp - shattered to pieces - beside him. The other furry culprit is crouched under the coffee table, with only his swishing tail visible. Obviously they had just been playing - but a bit too enthusiastically!

Why on earth would they pick the middle of the night to be so rambunctious?

Well, our dear little feline friends are nocturnal creatures, meaning they are active at night (no kidding!) Humans, of course, are diurnal, or active during the day. (Well, most of us are; I can name a few exceptions!) Every instinct your cats have tells them that nighttime is the right time for playtime since for felines, this is their natural prime

hunting time. Since your cats have already slept away

the day while you were gone, they've got plenty of energy

to burn on nighttime activities.

Kittens and young cats are more prone to these nighttime

frenzies. To combat this tendency of theirs, try to spend a bit more interactive playtime with your cats during the daytime hours. I highly recommend keeping some wand toys or motion activated toys around and spending a while playing with your cat. You'll be glad you did! (And so will they!)

Pleasant dreams!