Cats seem to do the oddest things at times! For instance, mine would run up and down the stairs and dart in and out of rooms at full speed, letting out loud meows at the same time, then repeat this several times before returning to their usual calm selves. I call this the mad half an hour. Perhaps this is the way cats let off steam? Do any cat owners notice similar behaviour patterns?

i know the mad half hour!harvey doesnt so much as he is old but the two girls certainly do

Yes, glitter, seems all cats have a ´mad half hour´!! My two mainly have that time outside just before dusk! Constantine runs madly round the garden with his tail curled in that funny ´sideways´ way! Lucky Brooke is too old now for ´mad half hours´ but when playing with her tape measure, she goes nuts!

OMG yes usually lasts more then a half hour and it usually happens in the wee hours of the moring (when we are all sleeping)

My cats all do it (cept Bellamy coz he´s grumpy), when I come home! They´ll run all through the house chasing one another or by themselves making chirps as they do it. It can get a bit much after a while though! And all I can hear through the house is Gallopa Gallopa Gallopa!

mine have "cactus hour" (as we call it in our household) at about 6pm every night it is sooooooooooooo amusing! They get that crazy look in there eye and start tearing up and down the hallway leaping and bounding attempting to climb walls,furniture or anything in there path.

I love it! Many a classic photo oppurtunity!

Ginger has his moments too, when ever he stumbles upon a ball or his pet mouse he looks at me and then looks at it,and pounces...He runs after things so fast I have to be on my toes, because if anything goes under the furniture I have to retrieve it straight away, or he pats me to get attention, I usually join in the fun though and wait for such times and quickly keep the game going, If its one of his smaller balls, I throw it and he fetches it just like a dog.. I say fetch and he gets ready to run and gee he is quick to put the ball at my feet ,and wait for the next throw... Who said cats can´t be trained cause they sure can be..Ginger is very obedient too he knows he is not allowed on the furniture and often sits looking up at the sofa, so I just quietly say no, and he turns and gets into his bed,I always say thats a good boy and stroke his head to let him know I am pleased with him...He brings so much joy into my life I feel blessed

i dont know about anyone, but Twiggy´s going through one right know, jumping at nothing, running through the house and running into things Its very cute and funny.

Tuffy has his "mad spurts" of energy I call them. He will come running down the stairs at full speed, run into the diningroom and leap on window ledge. I think he is going to fly through the window, the speed he his going. Then he leaps off the window ledge, runs through the hallway and skids around the corner, up the stairs. A few seconds later I hear a screach out of Cinderella and I know that Tuffy is attacking her. Those are Tuffy´s "mad Spurts". Cinderella runs around and plays and yowls while she is doing it. Sometimes I hear a commotion and Angelica is chasing Tuffy down the stairs. Timing of this is usually early evening. Cats are crazy!

Desmond everyday has is "mad" half hour!! he starts running and we play to chasing him... he actually loves it!! we know when is going to start when he attacks the mouse cable and then runs away!!

Oh boy.. Mercedes does.. She has a few of them but the worst is right before bed.. we call it the cat crazies and she just runs around and jumps on everything and acts like a wild cat until she tires herself out

Oh yes, my cats go crazy at least once a day! They are running like they have tails on fire. They seem to enjoy it, especially when we have guests coming. It´s so nice to mess around and curve all carpets. This energy burst isn´t wonder because they sleep so much!

Oh, Yes he does.. Exactly 11.30 to 12.30 at night like Count Dracula. He runs like hell around the house, and within a few seconds he finds himself from a chair to another, from a shelf to another, from the mirror to the computer... And he makes a sound like "rrrrrrrRRRRRrrrrrRRRr" during his mad hunting of invisible ghosts and preys.... Some times he stands still like a statue and suddenly he runs like hell again. My sister and I call this "the hour of Madness"

Sunny is the only cat I´ve ever met who doesn´t get the "cat crazies" - maybe he´s just too old and too dignifed!!

Angie NEVER meows and always moves very slowly but every week or so in the wee hours of the morning, she lets out a long blood-curdling howl and starts to tear around the apartment at full speed, bumping into everything because she can´t put the brakes on!! She´s like a cat possessed by the devil!! After a few frantic minutes, she´s back to silence and slo-mo until the next episode.

LOL! It never lasts a whole half hour, but I call it "scampercat." When there´s more than one of them, and especially if there´s a wooden floor, I call it, "Thunder, Thunder THUNDER-CATS!"

Oh, yes. Either he goes out alone in the garden at night and run like crazy in al directions flying occasionally on trees, or he challenges the dog to a mad pursuit around the house. In one of such mad hours he just had torn down a siamese cat lamp I bought 20 years ago in California - I was really mad at him that time!

My darling Tigress and Azura do that though it is a dangerous time. Yesterday during it I was sitting on the lounge and I ended up with my head as the safe zone.

Spike does it when he´s been outside...he comes running in making a noise..jumps on the beds in the spare room..attacks anything on the floor and then runs back outside again....freak.

Yes, Dylan used to do the up and down the stairs thing every evening about 10pm, though now I don´t have stairs. But he still runs back and forth for no reason. The others usually join in. Percy has his ´spaz´ time, but it´s usually only a couple of minutes. (He IS the laziest cat on earth ya know lol). xxx

Yes, Mishkin has her "mad half hours" and she usually tries to get me involved by running round the house like a lunatic and then upon seeing me, she puffs herself up and approaches me with ears back, tail puffed and at an angle like she is taking on some life threatening monster. When I approach her to play with her, she gives off a chirrup and dashes off again.

I wonder... Does this happen to cats that don´t hunt much? Like indoors cats? Could it be some kind of releasing "hunting energy"?