Scratched face

Molly has been tolerating Willow pretty well. They have been eating near to eachother and generally it has just been Molly hissing and growling at Willow when he gets a bit too close.

She has also been confronting him with her head to the side slightly and chin pulled in to her chest which is generally when she will attract him towards her and she'll swat his legs.

Today, Molly chased Willow and when I found her (sitting calmly on the window ledge) she had cuts on her face I have bathed them with mild antiseptic wipes.

Molly is now in the kitchen acting normally and Willow played for a short time and is now sleeping upstairs.

I'm still in shock and was wondering if there anything I should be doing?

All advice is greatly appreciated!

sounds like Willow is the new addition to the family. When I would get new cats i would separate them by a screen in a door jamb and let them safely get used to each other scent. It sounds like they have gotten to this point but Molly is still aggressive. I guess I would be very surprised if the agressiveness increased. Most cats will adopt to a new cat in time, and welcome them as a friend. However I would be concerned about the safety of Willow if Molly is scratching Willow on the face. Maybe they should be kept apart for the time being to allow Molly to adjust more. Molly is just shwoing Willow who is the boss in the house, which is normal, but you dont want Willow to get his eye accudently hurt or something like that. Good Luck!!!

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, Willow is the new addition - he has been here for seven weeks! We followed the introduction stages and everything was ok in that respect. Molly has been a little nervous, I believe, because she is the smallest of the three and the only girl.

Sorry, I didn't explain very clearly, that although it was Molly who chased Willow, Molly was the one who was scratched. I don't think that Willow intended to hurt her, he is just a little rough!

Since it all happened, everything settled back to 'normal' very quickly. They even ate their meal together too with no problems!

Could it be that Willow hasn't yet discovered how hard he can play?

i guess Willow is sticking up for himself! Its ok, again, as long as neither cat gets their eyes hurt. Once a cat gets their eye scratched it is an injury that can haunt them literally for years, sometimes requiring surgery because the uylceration in the lens of the eye doesnt heal on its own sometimes. Maybe as a precaution you might want to clip Willow's nails, just to take the real sharp tips off them. Cats who are just playing with their friends usually won't scratch like that. So again you might want to keep a real careful watch on what is happening between those two. Good luck

I'm worried about how my kitties are going to play together too, because Cupid manages to get scrapes all over him (mostly his neck) from who knows what all the time. I'm thinking about getting some Soft Paws just in case. Have you considered those?

& for your kitties!

Thank you!

I do clip their claws on a regular basis but am still trying to acclimatise Willow to the process of this! He's a kitten and pretty squirmy - so it's not his kind of thing! I don't think that any of them would tolerate the application of soft paws but if we have another episode of this, it might be worth looking into!

From what I noticed last night, it is Willow innitiating the chasing and things - he will growl at Molly which will make Molly defensive! Do you think that when he does this, I should stop it somehow?! I squeeked a toy yesterday when he did growl - and Molly appeared to be anxious - and the incident was stopped!

I was also wondering how I can determine who is alpha?!! Is it possible that Willow is trying to take a place from Molly in the pecking order?!

Originally Posted by Sar

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, Willow is the new addition - he has been here for seven weeks! We followed the introduction stages and everything was ok in that respect. Molly has been a little nervous, I believe, because she is the smallest of the three and the only girl.

Sorry, I didn't explain very clearly, that although it was Molly who chased Willow, Molly was the one who was scratched. I don't think that Willow intended to hurt her, he is just a little rough!

Since it all happened, everything settled back to 'normal' very quickly. They even ate their meal together too with no problems!

Could it be that Willow hasn't yet discovered how hard he can play?

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Gibby and Paige do this, I bought nailcaps and put them on Gibby Monster so that when they played, Paige wouldn't gat all scratched up. I think as a kitten he still doesn't have the fine control on his claws to realize that those are not meant to be used for play!

Thank you, Denise!

I think you're right about the lack of fine control with his claws!

Molly's cuts are healing well now and things are exactly as they were before the incident!

From what I have observed, it is Willow intimidating Molly. He will start it and encourage her to chase him.

I am worried that with this happening, I may not be able to get him to settle Do you think he could be trying to take the Alpha position and is trying anything and everything to do it?

I'm just rather confused as Tibby and Willow seem to be getting on okay yet Willow won't even give Molly a chance!

I wonder if he thinks Molly is another kitten because they're the same size? My best guess is that he thinks tibby is an old fuddy duddy, and that Molly is more on his level? I don't think it's an alpha behavior, It's just that kittens play rough. Gibby smacks Paige about the head, but she certainly gets him back playing king kong kitty.

Maybe you should try distracting him when he gets to playing too rough with Molly, because he's not *getting* that she doesn't want to play rough.

Originally Posted by turtlecat

I wonder if he thinks Molly is another kitten because they're the same size? My best guess is that he thinks tibby is an old fuddy duddy, and that Molly is more on his level? I don't think it's an alpha behavior, It's just that kittens play rough. Gibby smacks Paige about the head, but she certainly gets him back playing king kong kitty.

Maybe you should try distracting him when he gets to playing too rough with Molly, because he's not *getting* that she doesn't want to play rough.

Click to expand...

Thank you again, Denise!

Hmmmm, maybe it is because he sees Molly as a kitten - she is smaller than him and that would make good sense to a kitten! It sounds like Gibby and Willow are pretty alike in their rough play!

I'll try distracting him today and see what happens! Thank you for your help, it really means a lot to me!

Molly and I spent some girly time having a walk yesterday and she came back in feeling much more confident! I think I will try this again tonight and take Tibby too this time!

Edit: Willow and Molly had another spat today. They were looking at eachother through the voile curtain in my studio and Willow was growling at Molly (whose tail was poofed) They Molly went for Willow They were fighting on the window ledge and were trapped by the curtain. I freed them from it and all was normal again very quickly.

I am also worried as when these spats happen, Tibby becomes nervous for that time - yet is back to normal again once things calm down.

I will receive another Feliway plug in tomorrow and some FeliFriend that I hope will help with the situation.

I also read in another thread that Calico (Tortie and White) cats have Alpha tendencies. Molly wasn't the Alpha cat before Willow's arrival, do you think she's trying to be Alpha over him though?