Playing or Fighting?

About a month ago I brought home a new kitten, and for about two weeks kept her in a seperate room, while slowing introducing my older cat to her. Well, it appears that he still doesn't like her (as there are occassional growls and hisses), and every time they see each other, Amber (kitten) rushes at Jake and they get into what is seemingly a battle. Problem is I don't know if it really is or if they're just playing with each other. Sometimes during these encounters, Amber will squeak (which I take to mean Jake is hurting her)and Jake will back off, but then she goes in for more. They'll also sit there for a minute with ears back and tails swishing before Amber makes the next lunge.

There is never any blood, but I don't know if I should just let them battle it out or break it up, as I can see that after a while Jake gets quite annoyed (wouldn't you if someone was constantly jumping and grabbing at you?), and I can take only so many squeaks before I get concerned. What do you all think?

Well, I'm inclined to think that a month into the relationship, you're doing pretty well. Jake probably does get a little ticked off at this little upstart teasing him, but the fact that no damage is done and he keeps putting up with it, when he really could either give her a wollop, or remove himself, suggests to me that he doesn't mind it all that much. Younger siblings of any species are a pain you-know-where, and usually you don't need to interfere much. I'd say just keep an eye on them. If it looks any more serious, often a sharp "Break it up, you two!" is enough to let them know that the human doesn't approve. They're working out a relationship, and they seem to be doing OK.

I recall bringing a pair of seven-week-old kittens into the house, and introducing them to our (then)13-year-old neurotic Siamese -- on much the same time-frame as you have followed. At first, he was a little wary of them, but before long they were ragging on his tail (which had at least 9 lives of its own), and he'd just take it, for the longest time, then give a slightly grumpy meow over his shoulder at them and wander off. Eventually, when they tussled, you could see him pulling his punches and letting them win.

I think your pair will be fine.

It sounds like that Jake and Amber are playing. And it also seems that when Amber squeaks, Jake realises to let her go. My two have been together for six months now and they still love to wrestle.

There isn't any need to break it up if you don't hear any growling or screaming of pain.

As long as there is no blood shed, there is nothing to worry about.

I had the same problem with my new kitten and her older sister. I was glad to see I wasn't the only one with this problem and was comforted by the replies you got. Good luck.

Yeah.... I'm one of those over concerned cat owners and when we got Mythie, zooey kept playing pretty rough with her and it always looked worse than it actually was...

I reckon they'll be friends soon.
You can always keep a towel at hand to throw over them if it gets out of hand... Hissy suggested that to me... just passing on some useful info....

Thank you all so much for your replies. It's funny because sometimes Jake will just run away from Amber, but other times you can almost hear him thinking "Okay that's enough, you're in for it now little one", and in he goes for the smackdown. It did get a little more rough last night with Amber sqeaking quite a bit, so I had to clap my hands and say "HEY"! to get them to seperate (thanks for that info rapunzel47), but of course that didn't stop her for long.

I hope that as Amber gets older they get along better, because I hate seeing Jake so annoyed all the time, and always running for the door to escape his baby sister.

So when do we get to see some pictures of your kitties?

my 2 4 month old girls love to wrestle with eachother, and there has only been blood shed once, but I'm sure it was an accident, and hasn't happened since. They constantly wrestle with eachother, but they also like to try to wrestle with our 2 other cats (2 years, and 1 year), and they don't take it as well.. the 2 year old will just swat at them and sometimes growl then walk away.. but the 1 year old will fight with them occasionally.. but all in all they're just having fun. If they don't want to fight they let eachother know, and they all seem to respect eachother.

Well, since you asked Yzma...here they are.

A rare moment

Lying in wait

Jake showing who's boss

Kitty wrestling/biting/etc. is normal kitten behavior. I like to get kittens in pairs so they can duke it out together. My two fosters are about the same age and the smaller one sweaks a lot when wrestling; but he loves the scraping and always comes back for more.