Male cat growls and hisses at kittens!

I have a neutered male cat (he is mine) and have adopted a stray mother cat and her kittens. For the first 3 weeks he pretty much ignored the kittens, but this last week (they have been running around in their kitten room which is also my male cats food room and the only access in and out of the garden) he has been growling and hissing at them!

The mother cat has been pretty patient with him, and has avoided a confrontation at these times, but this last time, she growled back at him until he slunk away from the room.

He needs to come in and out of the room to access the garden, and its also the only room in the house thats good for the kittens (conservatory so tiled, heated, WIPEable! floor, also where food and litter trays are normally kept), so moving the kittens is not an option. We have moved his food tray out of the room to next door so will see how that goes, but in the meantime, how shall I deal with his aggression? I feel sorry for my poor lad as he is probably feeling very neglected, so do not want to make things worse by shouting at him

There are new little critters in HIS territory, he is probably trying to teach them who is boss. He really should be kept seperate from the mother and kittens especially since the babies are so young.

Originally Posted by Jen

He really should be kept seperate from the mother and kittens especially since the babies are so young.

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Why??

Pity he is not more friendly to them. Many males, and especielly many castrates, are very friendly to kittens. Some actually being like extra moms.
This is not here.

He may accept them in his way - and saying who is the boss like Jen says.
He may be afraid of them. Happens quite often,.. Now, they are protected by their mom, so it is probably no danger for the small ones. But pity the situations feels a little unsecure for the ex-ferals.

Do you cuddle and pet your home-cat extra much? Very important.

And do pet and handle the small ones too, so they get domestised easier.
It is now the "window" for socialisation is wide open.

And if the mother lets, pet much the mother too now she is inside and lets you...

The kitten-room is also a passage in-out for your male cat yes?

Could you use a window as a in-our passage in time being? So the small and their mom are less stressed and feel more secure?

Chupi....I agree...he is probably upset with this new little family in his territory. I hope mom cat doesn't have access indoors/outdoors as she can go back into heat and then she would end up pregnant again..so that would be something to watch out for. I also hope you boy is UTD on shots as I do not recall whether you have had mom tested for any diseases yet. He will probably continue to hiss at the kittens....but it sounds like the mom cat has made a pretty strong stand back.

Katie

Because like I said, the mother and her kittens came into his territory. If he is already growling at them, I wouldn't risk the fact that he could harm them at that young age if he isn't happy with them benig there.

He should definitely not have access to the room with the kittens if you are not home to supervise their interactions. If he wanted to, he could harm the kittens. Once the kittens are a little bigger and you know he won't hurt them (even if he doesn't actually like them), then you can give him free reign again.

ok thanks, I will definitely keep an eye on him til the kittens are a little bigger - but while he does growl and hiss at them, he seems to be more scared of them than they are of him - they spit and hiss at him too! He will always check that the coast is clear before walking into this room, and he doesn;t spend any time there at all like he used to.

The mother cat doesnt have access to the outdoors as I haven't given her a magnetic collar to open the cat flap.

And I have been paying extra attention to my boy, I can tell hes feeling a bit left out as he often comes meowing to me when we are in my room!

Thanks!

Chupi, don't worry. Just give him extra attention and love. As you may ne aware, I rescued a kitty last week and she was only a week old. One of my boys, Maximo, doesn't care a lot for attention, but Montgomery does. The first day was horrible, as they were both hissing at the kitty and at ME! I bought Montgomery some treats and started giving him extra TLC and now he's fine. He loves Matilde, the kitty and when I'm feeding her, he sits next to us. Cats have different personalities and Montgomery is a difficult guy, but with a lot of love and patience, things will be normal very soon! Also, cats don't necessarily have to like each other, but they will learn to tolerate each other!

Originally Posted by chupi

The mother cat doesnt have access to the outdoors as I haven't given her a magnetic collar to open the cat flap.

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I hope you don't give her one until she is spayed and vaccinated as well

Originally Posted by Jen

I hope you don't give her one until she is spayed and vaccinated as well

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Yes I understood this from the previous posts...that was the point

My male cat is still hissing at the kittens, but runs when they start hissing at him! I think he knows who is boss, the poor love.

Still hes been spending a lot more time with me now, in my room so he gets plenty of cuddles, and Ive resisted the urge to shout at him when he hisses at the kittens. The mum cat is kind of ignoring it too now..

And Ive now moved his food, and started encouraging him to use the kitchen window to come and go, so he has less contact with the kittens. I have heard though that they often gang up on older cats when they get a bit bigger - not looking forward to dealing with that!

I foster year round so there are always new babies in and out of here. My resident girl hates it and grumbles for a few days to a few weeks depending on her mood at the moment. New babies always are quarantined in a large kitty condo, and gradually let out supervised to be integrated. This last group took about 8 days before I could leave them alone with the resident kitties and not worry. However... I also have a male foster who is over a year old that two of my resident cats torment, so he is sequestered in the safety of dd's bedroom at all times. I *almost* had hope for my girl as I was lying in dd's bed tonight snuggling Cowboy, Love Bug came in and sniffed at him for about 5 minutes while I was there, but as soon as he tried to move away from her she tried to go after him. *sigh* She's lucky I love her so much the little brat LOL

I have a similar problem with my "alpha cat," Thisbe. She was a very cuddly, affectionate 'lapcat' type before I rescued two other cats. Ever since then, she will come to me but only on her own terms. She is always 'on guard' around them, and while I try to give her extra loving, she fights me if I touch her a lot of the time. It's like she'll never forgive me for not letting her be an only cat. lol I really would have been fine with just her, but these other two were life or death rescues. Any ideas?