Kiara almost blinded her sister...

After a good 30 minutes of Da Bird playing, I decided to feed both sisters a treat. Kiara is always a lot more energetic and Sarabi holds back, she's a little scared of Dabird I believe. Kiara just jumps everywhere like a crazy cat. She's also the whiniest

Anyway, so I put a few treats on their pillow and they start eating them. Kiara was so agressive that she kept pushing Sarabi out of the way, which I think is ok. But then she really gave Sarabi a strike with her nails out, and one of her nail got stuck on Sarabi's forehead MILLIMETERS away from her left eye !

I freaked out ! I was sure Sarabi would be blinded from one eye. She cried a little and Kiara just went away to eat the little grudge I put her in the bathroom alone for 5 minutes, which she always hates.

I clipped her nail but she sharpens them back in a few minutes anyway... they usually get along fine but Kiara is just a bad sharer. Should I keep punishing her when she gets angry like this again or is this the normal way of things?

Playing is ok, but claws in her sister's eyes is a NO NO!

Ohhh, I think I would make sure to seperate them when you're giving them treats! It sounds like one of them is the Alpha cat, and normally how it goes is Alpha cat eats first, rest later! She's establishing her dominence! Im sure someone on here should be able to help you!

Kiara is the biggest and the most agressive/energetic.

But the fights they get in turns out 50/50 as far as I've seen, and Sarabi is actually the one who "takes care" of the other. She sleeps on top and since Kiara is the one courageous one to go out and explore, she often gets stuck in places, she cries out and Sarabi finds her within seconds.

So it's difficult to establish who's the alpha cat, but I'll seperate them in the future when giving out treats. I've ordered in some softpaws as well, because I am scared if Kiara plays too rough she'll tear through one of her sister's eye - that'd be so sad !

They are still just little babies and are playing. There will lots and lots of play fighting and squealing for these kittens, its how they teach each other what hurts and what doesnt hurt. Its very important that you let them work this out otherwise they will miss out on some important lessons.

Also, they are too young to be punished with these time outs you are giving them. You have to remember that they are just babies now.

I don't mind letting them find out what hurts or not, but not at the price of one of their eye... or if she does get a tear through her eye, I'll be told "That's how nature goes?" ...

That will not happen. 4 of my 5 cats were born at my house and they played rough all of the time. None of them got hurt.


Here is an article on punishing ....written by Hissy who is a member here.

http://www.thecatsite.com/Behavior/4...-Dont-Mix.html

I did read the article and found it a little... well... naive.

I read a book where it says either slap, water sprayers or harsh sounds are not he way to go for their risks and fear association, but that isolation or timeouts work better, especially with very social breeds.

For instance, today, Kiara kept jumping on the table. I kept grabbing her to put her back on the floor, sometimes raised my voice, and when she came for attention right after didnt give any to her, but she kept coming on the table.

How else am I to make her understand that the table is off limit? 5 minutes in the bathroom did the trick (for now at least). Isn't the kitten stage the BEST moment to teach them the correct things? Isn't breaking bad habbits much worse then showing them the correct ones at first?

Discipline and cats can be tricky. I have a ragdoll kitten and even if he's the sweetest thing ever, it happenned he got out of control. The time out is useful to calm down, and make a social breed realise that certain behaviors mean they wont be around you. In this case though it might be better, as suggested above, to separate them. I'm sure you've seen this in books: often you can't modify the behavior, but you can modify the environment. Cats don't really have sharing instincts. It's probably easier to give treats separetely, in an equitable fashion.

I did try the spray (gently) but quickly noticed it didnt get me anywhere. It just seems like suddenly, you're acting out! As per the table, well that's an ongoing battle here. So far, as dumb as it sounds, what works best is to gently put the cat down and not panic. Trying to act quickly (with the squirt or just to put him down) was seen as me wanting to play (oh, yeah you're chasing me!!!). I even tried to put upside down carpet protector which is supposed to be uncomfortable for the cat. Well, it turned out to give him paw massages, and chewing the plastic was also a treat. In the end, patience is the only thing that seems to work! I'm sorry I don't have a better trick but hopefully things will adjust

I tried the spray bottle thing too. What happened was I could never get to the spray bottle fast enough and they never really know what they're getting squirted for! I think all people punish their cats differently and sometimes as it is with people, different things work for different cats! If you found something that works that isn't hurting them, MORE POWER TO YA! Good luck, keep us posted!

I'd give them treats a few feet apart from eachother. I've always done that with my cats and dogs too. I don't know that time-outs helped with any of my cats really, but I think that can depend on the cat. It just seemed that even if they were unhappy to be in the bathroom or their kennel, they didn't connect what they did that was wrong to the punishment. I usually go for a firm and loud no in a deeper voice. That being said, cats will still do what cats want to do sometimes. Goodluck with your 2 lil ones!