Question

I have been through your Instagram and your alternate account of your cat. Looks like you’re a cat lover! IVY, cute name. I too have a adopted a cat from a pet adoption exhibition. It seems she is always hyper active and she always runs around the house. Even she sometimes sleeps for a longer period. When i take her for a shower, she just runs away and hates me for the rest of the day. I sometimes feel like putting her up for adoption but still i cant as i have developed an emotional corner for her. She’s cute.

-Shreya Patil

Answer

Dear Shreya,

First of all thank you so much for following Ivy on Instagram. Second of all, congratulations on being a feline mother! I don’t know the age or the breed of your cat, so I’ll be general here.

Younger cats tend to be hyper active in their early ages, their hyper-activeness stems from the sudden change in environment, the fact that she runs around a lot means that she’s exploring. That’s normal and you should not restrict that behavior. However, from personal experience I would suggest you keep your windows shut if you live in a high rise apartment so as to reduce the chances of her jumping out of it. Since she’s a female, if she’s about 7-8 months old, her hyper activeness could be due to her heat (puberty) cycles, unless she’s spayed.

Also, you should understand this that- CAT’S DO NOT TAKE SHOWERS. So her anger is justified, unlike dogs, cats will periodically lick their whole body as a cleaning mechanism. You can at most take a lightly wet towel and run it on top of her fur occasionally.

I understand the anxiety you’re going through as I had the same feeling when I had Ivy initially. Cat’s are high maintenance and take a hell lot of patience to tame. Buy her some nice toys, feed her well, give her time and rest assured she’ll make sure you’re the happiest mother alive.

Make sure you also get her nails trimmed, and get her vaccinated for added protection.

Love and care,

The Brown Girl.