Getting my kitten to not play aggressive with my older cat

Hi,
I'm trying to stop my kitten from playing aggressive with my older cat. The older cat gets very scared when the little one tries to play with her?
We have been using a quirt bottle to distract him from playing with her, but that stops working if we turn our heads for a second.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get our kitten to back away from the older cat?

Note: both cats are "fixed"

Originally Posted by cornetml

...using a quirt bottle to distract him from playing with her,

Click to expand...

Quirt bottle? Is it a toy? Or you mean you squirt water?
Play fighting is a very normal behavior for young cats especially kittens. I don't think your older cat is actually "scared" of the little one. More of she doesn't want to hurt him. Believe me that when she's had enough, she'll discipline him her own way.
Oh, and if you are squirting water, please stop!

Young cats just suffer from an overabundance of playfulness. Older cats aren't scared by that, they're just not enterested in joining in.

Punishing your kitten for doing normal kitten things isn't going to help anything, though. You could adopt another kitten, or separate the two cats until the kitten is older and less energetic, but you can't train a kitten not to be playful.

Okay- you guys are probably right.
Thanks!

Just let the kitten play with your resident cat because she'll soon let the kitten know when she's had enough of her by giving her a bop on the head, or a hiss at her.

My older cat already hisses a lot and has swatted our kitten several times. Now, the kitten waits for her to go to sleep in her favorite chair and then pounces on her. Or he catches her when she's not looking and charges across the room at her. She hisses, growls and then runs away. If she doesn't run away she gets in her defensive posture, her eyes get as big as saucers, and she just looks terrified.

Oh that sounds perfectly normal, and the kitten will settle down eventually.

Heres a couple of pictures to show you what my two were like when Sophie was a kitten

Rosie going to give her a bop on the head for tormenting her!.



Sophie climbing all over Rosie

I'm by no means an expert on this, but I just went through the same problem with my new kitten constantly harassing my 6yo. What seemed to turn it around for them was me clipping the kitten's claws. Before, every time the kitten jumped on my 6yo, she'd freak out, hiss, growl...etc. Once I clipped the kitten's claws, I guess the kitten's attacks were easier on my 6yo, and the 6yo stopped growling, hissing, and now actually seems to like tussling with the kitten. At first the 6yo tolerated, but got really mad whenever the kitten attacked. A couple days after clipping the lil guys claws, he attacks her and now she just wraps her arms around him, bites his head, kicks a few times...then starts licking him.

This probably won't be the only solution...but clipping your little one's claws may help at least a little. It certainly helped my big girl realize that the lil kitten only wants to play. Good luck!