Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Perhaps you can help me decode my 11-month old male cat's behavior. I brought home a 16-wk month old male kitten (same breed) on Sunday. My older cat is big, about 14 lbs while the kitten is small, about 3-4 lbs. We started to keep them separate but the kitten is fast and snuck out of the bedroom. He wanted to play around the 11 month old who reacted immediately with hissing, meowling and going after him. We've kept them separate at night, swapping cats so one night the older cat is in with me while the kitten explores "his" territory, and then the next so the kitten gets to cuddle with me in the bedroom and the 11 month old stays out with my mom (he normally sleeps with me).

Since the 11 month old meows pitifully outside the bedroom door we've allowed supervised visits during the day. While I'm at work, my mom says they have moments where they seem ok and will just regard each other, but then the kitten starts to move around or my cat just gets the inspiration to pounce on him. The kitten is no dummy, however, and while he growls and hisses like a tiger at my older cat, he can't do much else and just curls into a ball when the older cat comes to check him out.

The older cat has gotten much praise/petting when he lies next to kitten not doing anything but what starts as a curiousity tap quickly becomes a heavy paw-beating. I don't want to make my older cat feel unloved but I don't want to encourage this behavior! I also don't want to harm the kitten socially. He's spunky as anything if he's in the bedroom (his 1st room) and even in other parts once he knows the older cat is gone. But whenever the older cat comes near him he growls, and flattens, with reason! My older cat is purrfectly content even in the kitten's presence, but it's like once he remembers he's there, he feels the need to put him in check, and the kitten isn't doing anything, often sleeping!

Btw, he spent a month with a foster brother before and after 3 days of sorting differences, they were fast friends. But they were evenly matched by size; the foster was EVEN an UNneutered male. Help? Hope?

Julie

Actually things are going fairly well. Unfortunately the only thing you can do is allow the big male to assert his dominance the way he is doing. It doesn't sound like he is actually injuring the kitten, so unless you are concerned about physical damage don't interfer too much.

Do continue to separate them and do all that you have been doing. If you can get a cat tease wand type toy and involved both of them in playing with it that could also help make things go a little smoother.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Well, I'm not SURE if he's not hurting the kitten. Even if the kitten is physically built to withstand the paw-beatings (I've seen fur fly), the size difference concerns me, especially when my big boy goes to pounce onto him or hunches over him and starts treating him like he's one of the crickets he normally bats to shreds.

On a couple of occasions, if growling and hissing didn't keep my older cat away, the kitten just closed his eyes and started trembling or he'll usually flatten or ball up even more. Sometimes the older cat will become disinterested and walk away. Sometimes he just keeps coming back for more like it's a game. It's as if he's trying to settle differences as though the kitten were his size; but he isn't. Is there any point at which a visit should "end"? Should the visits continue or should we keep them totally separate for a few days?

Are both the kittens neutered?
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

My older cat is fixed; the little guy will get fixed when he's more settled. I'm not sure how much of a difference this would make since I fostered a direct brother of my older cat who was NOT fixed. They were both 8 mos and his brother matched him in size. It took 3 days of taking care of cat business but afterward they were fast friends.

I think in this case perhaps my older boy KNOWS he has a size advantage, and that due to that they can't be allowed to just get it over with and get on with things.

I let them meet again tonight and it went ok, I think... They were sitting/lying a foot away several times just looking at each other. No hissing, growls, no fur up, ears normal. I even got them to play in FRONT of each other (not together b/c if the kitten played, the older cat stopped to watch; then the older cat would only play if I was NOT playing w/ the kitten who watched like he wanted to join in, but if he made a move toward us my older cat advanced on him).

They were doing well until curiousity or temptation got the best of my bigger boy who decided it was more fun to chase the kitten under the bed and antagonize him there a few minutes. Of course after the 1st time, even though the kitten came back out, he growled/hissed and flattened into a defensive stance whenever my big boy approached him, even if he didn't chase him. If he did get comfy enough to start wandering around, the older cat chased him again. I'm not sure if my older cat was trying to play or using his advantage again. After the 5th time I ended the visit to let the kitten eat and have a break for the night.

Thoughts?