Kitten Dominance?

xastion

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I know that one of the signs of cats showing dominance over another cat is by mounting them and biting the back of their neck, but is it usual to see a kitten do this? This evening as we're watching Isis, the 11 week old kitten, play with Mischief, my almost two year old cat, we witnessed her several times jump on her back and mount her biting Mischief's neck. At first I thought that it might just have been just playing, but staying on Mischief's back is not easy for Isis who is quite a bit smaller then Mischief. But she wouldn't give up. She jump on her back, slip off, jump back on her back, and slip off again. Mischief just laid there wagging her tail back and forth.
 

lorie d.

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Snowball had a companion cat for 10 years named Midnight (now deceased).

When Snowball was 6 months old (the age when he was neutered) we saw similiar behavior. He was suddenly more aggressive toward Midnight in general, and was also repeatedly mounting her. He didn't actually bite the back of Midnight's neck because she didn't tolerate this behavior and kept standing up and quickly moving away. A week or two after he was neutered, we realized Snowball was definately in charge and had become our alpha male.
 

hissy

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it is kitten play and it will fade when Isis gets spayed.
Isis will probably be your dominant cat though, sounds like it to me. Out of all my 18 cats, my leader is my smallest female Ripster. She keeps everyone in line, thus living up to her nickname. Her real name is Ripley.
 

princess purr

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blizzy (my RUNT!! from snowwhites litter) is 6 weeks old today and starting to do that with her brothers and even granet and marble (two 8 week old rescue kittens) The little devil thinks she is in charge! I always figured it was her trying to show them who is boss. I don't think my big cats (moe and neo) have figured out how is in charge yet
 
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xastion

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Yea, Isis doesn't seem to care that the other two are larger then her. I find her doing things that I am amazed that Niko allows considering Niko won't allow Mischief to do the same. Like the cat tree. Niko won't let Mischief climb to the top. That's seriously against the rules. And Niko has a thing that when I am at the computer my lap is for Niko and Niko alone. But Isis has repeatedly ignored these things without any repercussions from Niko. heh.
 

missy&spikesmom

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My Spike did that to my little white kitty, Missy. She was, however WAY bigger than he was then!! Missy was 6 1/2 years old then, and Spikey was about 12 weeks old!!!! She would just about roll her eyes at him, and basically ignore him, as he'd jump on top of her while she was TRYING to take a "beauty nap"!!!
He did stop it within a month of getting neutered at age 7 months (WHEW!!!)
 
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