Kitten acting bizarre

Hi guys. I'm not new to keeping pets or cats. I have two kittens, not littermates but they get along famously well (usually).

They're eating mostly Nature's Variety wet food and some dry for a snack but not much. They're both males, and the same age.

They cuddle together every night in their crate (i have a crate big enough for a mastiff which is where they stay while I'm sleeping or at school). They're let out to play 4 or 6 hours or more every day in a large kitten proofed room.

One of them, Gary, who is bigger than the other kitten (Hank) seems to be a little unusually unpredictable. First he began bullying hank over certain types of toys so I took them away for a little bit to keep the peace between them.

Now he seems to randomly puff himself and arch his back angrily at hank. They're both 4 months old. They have been together since they were tiny babies. He has only done it two or three times in a 2 week span. Should I have reason to be concerned?


Of course he also puffs during play, but the two or three times weren't play. They were just instances of aggression. I have no idea what the trigger could be since Hank really doesn't anger him when they play. They both have a great time. Could it be overstimulation? Redirected aggression? It's just very bizarre he seems to switch on and off.

Hi @peacefulchaos and welcome to TCS!

I would be really tempted to get them neutered.  I know it's early, but I prefer to err on the side of caution with these things.

Are they getting enough stimulation?  (games, dabird toy.. that kind of thing?).

You mention the kittens average 4-6 hours out of the crate every day, sometimes more...
This really doesn't offer them much stimulation. At 4 months, they really are big enough to have free-roam, though you do still need to kitten-proof the house.

If you really aren't able to kitten-proof the whole house, at least do so to a bedroom or other room so that they can burn off all their energy. Behavioral problems can simply be due to lack of stimulation/exercise.

BTW, we'd love to see pics of Gary and Hank!

I'd have to agree with Cat Pack. That is not nearly enough time out of the crate. It should be most of the time out of the crate at their age. We had our kitten in a large crate for the first few weeks we had her, but after that (when she was around three months) she was able to free roam no problem. The kittens can't get their energy out in that amount of time so they will become restless and potentially aggressive. 

Aggression can also be caused by testosterone. At their age they could easily (and safely) be neutered which would also cut down on aggression. Extended playtime and more free roaming can be tried first if you prefer to wait for them to be neutered. 

No, I said they get out 4 to 6 hours or more. 6 hours is the least amount of time theyre out of a crate, as in they are out of the crate over 6 hours a day on a usual day.

The vet refuses to neuter them until the end of January. I personally think Gary is more than ready.

My house is also not very large and a lot of the rooms are conjoined (as in no doors). There isn't exactly one room that is small enough to entirely kitten proof. But when they're out of the crate they exhaust themselves so they are getting plenty of stimulation. Really all they do in there is sleep.

What is happening during times when the one kitten is being aggressive toward the other? Are they playing or eating or does it just seem random?

Is their time spent out of the crate in one solid block or is it a few hours at a time throughout the day? What pieces of your house might be easier to kitten proof? I know that for us we had to tape cords up out of the way. Unplug anything not necessary and put cord protectors over the cords that had to be used. Since she had a lot of interactive toys there were no problems with her messing with things she wasn't supposed to. Other than a non poisonous plant that we eventually moved out of reach. It takes a bit of time to kitten proof even a large room, but made it so that she no longer had to be crated at all.

If the vet doesn't want to neuter yet that is okay. But that would help with aggression. Admittedly not right away though since it takes a while for the hormones to die down. 

It's really just while using any soft toys. Anything soft and he is protective of it. It's mostly stopped.


They are let out 3 or 4 hours in the morning, 6 hours during the day and 2 or 3 hours at night. 4 to 6 hours was meant as a minimum - meaning, on a day when I am busier than normal (which isn't the case now because I am off from school and it's too cold to go anywhere), they're let out 6 hours a day. However, generally, they're out by 10 AM and put back in the crate at 1 AM. I'm going to work on either a bedroom or the room they're in now.

It's stopped primarily by me taking away the soft toys and and just stickkn with harder toys. Ie, plastic balls and mice and feathers. But anything you would consider stuffed he is aaggressive over. Would neutering help that?

That sounds great. It sounds like they're getting to be out a good amount of time outside of the crate. 

I know that my cat is protective of certain toys and won't let the kitten use them. He is also very protective over catnip that I sprinkle in a box for them. He will growl at her if she goes anywhere near it. I basically solve this by making sure that she gets to play with other toys that he doesn't care about and giving her some catnip of her own to play with. 

Not sure if neutering will help with this specific example, though it may help with aggression in general.  You do need to get them neutered as soon as possible though.  You definitely do not want two tom cats sharing a small space.  They will start fighting and spraying to establish their territories soon.

Can you simply take away the soft toys?  They may be overstimulating for him, for whatever reason.  Maybe catnip is in the soft toys?

For now yes I've taken them away and all is well again. Do you recommend I keep them away permanently to keep things from escalating?


Hank also basically lives to play with Gary at the moment. He is also very attached to me but he goes into a bit of a shell if Gary is playing on his own. So for now I'm keeping the soft toys away and have toys they can share - so gary can play himself but hank can too.


Good protocol so far I hope? lol

I'm also thinking the random puffing was a symptom or remnant of the soft toy issue. I had only just taken them away and Gary hadn't forgotten his grudge.

I think taking them away at least for now sounds like a good idea. You can try bringing them back later to see if there are any residual issues.

Yes, no harm done by taking them away permanently if needed.  There are plenty of other toy options!

Again, please do have them neutered before this situation escalates though.

I'm going to neuter them as soon as the vet allows it. I cannot make him neuter them.

I adopted two 8-week-old boys in July and had them neutered at 13 weeks. I wanted that done and over with ASAP. Your vet is just going by his personal preference (which is of course allowed). It is generally accepted though that they can be neutered as early as 8 weeks as long as they are over 2lbs. My boys were 2.5 lbs at 8 weeks and 4.5 lbs at 13 weeks, so they were definitely big enough. My vet had suggested 5-6 months, but I also saw how much they charged. I went to a spay/neuter clinic in the city. Much cheaper and when they told me how soon they could neuter them, I planned it to coincide with when they needed their 2nd distemper shot, which they got (along with rabies shot) the day they were neutered.

If you don't want to go the route of that kind of thing, that's understandable. Just saying it's an option though if things get really bad.

It seems the protection has extended to any toys on a string. For now I'm just keeping the toys around it doesn't happen with. Going to call the vet and see if he will neuter sooner.

Just my two cents...
We have a few cats in the rescue that are protective of certain toys and/or treat them like prey. This behavior seems to have more to do with personality than anything else (All cats are spayed/neutered and have always exhibited this behavior. Three cats are 18 mo old and are from the same litter, another is 4.5 yrs old.)

I have removed toys that caused fights (Da Bird and similar toys are a no-go for the siblings) but, toys that they grab and growl with that don't cause fights are allowed. I try to have multiple of favorite toys available (1 for each cat, plus an extra 1 or 2.)

Have you told the vet about the aggression issue? If s/he won't neuter, probably another will.