Kittens Of Different Ages Together

[sambodigiorno]

Hi all. Long story short, I've managed to end up with two kittens who are biological siblings but from different litters: there's about 4 months, give or take a week, between them. The younger one is currently 8 weeks and his older brother is about 6 months.

At the moment, the younger guy spends most of his time in a large puppy playpen - when he comes out to explore the rest of the house, I put his older brother in another room. They've interacted plenty through the mesh of the playpen - they even "play" with each other through it, the baby jumps and crazy-faces around in his pen and his older bro hops around the room in sync with it.

My problem is, when I've let them be out at the same time together, the older one plays very rough. He goes pretty much straight to grabbing hold of the little guy, biting the neck, and doing the feet-kicking thing. There doesn't seem to be any aggression or hostility in it - there's no growling or hissing - but it just seems like the older one is very over-stimulated by having his little brother out and can't resist grabbing and kicking him. So I've broken it up straight away and separated them.

My question, for any of you with experience of this kind of scenario, is whether I'm doing the right thing here or if I'm being over-protective of the little one? I know that there can be a tendency to assume they're more delicate than they really are - and it may be that playtime with his big brother, even if rough, is fun and good for him. But my gut feeling is that it's too much at this stage - the older one is 3-4 times the younger's body weight and it just seems like there's too much risk for accidental injury.

So am I doing the right thing to keep them separate, and if so, at what stage do you think the size-gap will be closed enough to allow them to play together?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[Pjg8r]

Could you try playing with the older one for 15 minutes or so before you put them together? I would try something that doesn’t get him too riled up but drains some of his energy.

 

[susanm9006]

Another four weeks will make a big difference in your little ones ability to handle play with his older brother. I would wait until at least then before giving them much time together and even then you may need the time supervised but it all depends on the personality and interactions of the two cats when they are together.