Foster kitten charging at resident adult

My 5 month old foster kitten has seen my residents through a baby gate placed in front of the bathroom door where we have been keeping her. When she first saw my resident, she hissed and charged the baby gate. It seemed aggressive. But she still continues to charge at him, even though it feels more like play now. I have been playing with her with the baby gate separating them. She does get growly when the cat dancer toy lands close to my resident. But then she moves away from him at that point with her toy in mouth.

We let her out into the living room for the first time today and she was fine with our other resident. She later hissed at the other guy as he was smelling her, but she let him be. Few minutes later, he was trying to play stalk her and she charged at him. There was no damage done, but again, it seemed aggressive, so I put her back in the bathroom.

I find this odd though cause to me, aggression is growling, ears flat, lots of postering, unable to distract. This is just downright "CHARGE!" So I am left wondering is she really being aggressive or just trying to play? Maybe a mix of both? Thoughts?

It sounds to me like she is just trying to play. I think you should give them time to work it out. Let the kitten charge and allow the residents to react.

My guess is that your resident cats will not hurt the kitten, but they will not let her get the best of them either. It shouldn't take too long before they all become friends. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

She escaped from the confines of the bathroom earlier after this first encounter, found my resident and was cordial with him. There was some sizing up and some play as well. She even trilled at him and ran towards the perch he was sitting on at one point. And she hid under the chair and was batting at him a bit. Then she turned sour and charged him about ten minutes later. But she was growling as she pinned him down.

I think she is bipolar!! lol!

It sounds like normal kitten behavior!

Pinning the kitten down is how cats teach manners to kittens. This is all good! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Even when it is her doing the pinning??

I'm confused. The kitten pinned your adult male cat?

How long are you keeping the foster kitten?

Yeah, she tackles him and is growling while doing so. My resident just runs from her when she does this.

I am not sure exactly how long we will have her, but I imagine she will be gone sometime next week. She has some interested adopters coming to see her Saturday.

If that's the case, there is no reason to upset your resident with attempts at socialization. Sounds like a feisty little kitten! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

So I was not really sure who was actually making the growling sounds... I was going to keep them apart, but my resident kept playing with her paws under the door... So I decided to give it one last shot and let her discover our bedroom for the first time, where the boys were. They actually interacted a bit better. They chased each other playfully through the house, hiding around corners and popping out at each other. My resident has decided that he feels safer and less threatened if he jumps up onto his bed or a chair. He doesn't feel the need to get defensive and can continue on playing. There was a slow motion tackle by the kitten and I was actually able to see the growls coming from my resident. I do not know if it was solely him or if it was a mix of both. I only had to intervene a few times. My resident put her in her place with hisses and such, and she backed off at these mostly. Just a few times I felt the need to shoo them away from each other.

My other resident just sat on the bed, watched, and ignored her. She didn't pester him too much; she kind of realized he wasn't going to be much of a playmate.

I have to make the observation that I think it was pathetic that my resident got so defensive at the tackles!! haha That is part of play! I have seen the look on his face when he was younger and his brother started getting more confident and taking the dominant side of play. The look on his face was just... he was so offended that his brother would tackle him!! He never growled though.. But it seemed to pour over into his view of the kitten as well. He just does not like to be tackled?? As a kitten, he was sick and his brother (not his current live-in brother) bullied him by suckling on his back. So I wonder if that doesn't have something to do with his confidence and dislike of being pinned. But then again, his brother did not really care for being tackled by her either. I just find it silly that he would love playing tag and chase, but tackles were a big no-no for him! Oh boy!

Anyways, she went to get her spay surgery today and is up in the shelter for adoption! They get a reprieve for a bit till I get the next one.

I hope she gets a wonderful forever home! Thanks you for the update! [emoji]128522[/emoji]