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Is my new kitten a BULLY?

post #1 of 8
12/9/10 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
I just adopted a 9 week old female tabby (2 weeks ago). I have an 8 year old male tabby. I assumed that he would exert his "alpha male" power right away, but he seems AFRAID of the kitten. She always "rushes" him, all puffed up, stiff legged, and he runs away. As a last resort he'll bat at her and growl, but she is unfazed. She chases him all over the house about two times a day!

She sleeps a LOT and she's not ALWAYS bothering him - he has plenty of "no kitten" time. But I'm worried. She seems so sweet with me and my husband, but I really want my 2 cats to be friends. Will she always dominate him? Is there anything I can do? She even lashes out at him if he tries to bat at her toy or sniffs at "her" food bowl.

...but maybe this is just the way kittens are? I've only had 1 kitten, and it was a long time ago, and never with another cat.

Thanks!
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post #2 of 8
12/9/10 at 3:17pm
I think your kitten is just trying to play with him. He's probably not interested in playing. Lynxx was 9 when the kittens came here. Luna knew enough to back away when Lynxx growled at her. Midnight didn't, and he would chase Lynxx all over the house, we always stepped in and stopped him. We always kept a close eye on Midnight, we didn't want him bothering Lynxx at all.

I think that if Lynxx hadn't been so sick, or if he had gotten better and lived, he'd have been friends with Luna. I don't know if he'd have ever been friends with Midnight sick or healthy.

A suggestion we got when it came to Luna was to get another kitten. That way the 2 of them would play and leave Lynxx alone. We got her Midnight only he's way younger than her. Of course now that the 2 of them play together all the time Lynxx is gone.

If you were to get another kitten, make sure their close in age.
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post #3 of 8
12/9/10 at 5:45pm
You might find out that the little one is the alpha in the bunch.
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post #4 of 8
12/9/10 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
So it might not be "just a kitten thing" but her real personality? I guess I always assumed an older male would be alpha.

Hopefully he'll just give in and start playing with her soon!
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post #5 of 8
12/14/10 at 8:07am
Iv had the exact same problem, my new kitty kept beating up my older kitty but now it's all changed, stella finally got sick of it and fight's back now when kitten attacks. Give it more time, it worked for me
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post #6 of 8
12/14/10 at 5:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyGananoque View Post
Iv had the exact same problem, my new kitty kept beating up my older kitty but now it's all changed, stella finally got sick of it and fight's back now when kitten attacks. Give it more time, it worked for me
I'm glad to see this! I remember when you were posting a similar situation with Fable and Stella.
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post #7 of 8
12/14/10 at 7:10pm
it may just be personality. our littlest kitten - and the only girl cat in the house - is totally our alpha cat. she bosses all the other cats around something fierce, and is the most vocal cat when they are playing rough and tumble.
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post #8 of 8
12/15/10 at 12:24pm
Kittens are kittens, regardless of gender They haven't learned boundaries and think everything is a toy for them, including older resident cats. My GF has a 5 YO male, Sammy and introduced a 4 MO female, Daisy. Sammy is a big boy and Daisy is a little girl, no matter though. Daisy will torment Sammy until he reaches his limit. He then takes off after her and they pinball around the apartment. They exhaust themselves and fall asleep inside/on top of each other They are inseparable!
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