ls my cat hurting my new- kitten by playing too rough-video-attached

[stevie_rae]

Hi all,

I have a 2.5 year old male neutered cat. Due to his separation anxiety we decided to try and introduce a young female kitten. We did the introduction slowly (different rooms, through glass, through cage and face to face). Because of his anxiety we expected a very long process that may not ever work out. To our surprise, within a week they were face to face 24 hours a day. I do not feel this process was rushed. Hissing and growling settled within 2 days and they were playing with each other through the cage before introduction. After meeting face to face, there were a few occasional hisses from the older male when he wanted to sleep and she kept chasing his tail, but nothing too serious. He tolerated a lot of her kitten-related behaviour.

It has been about a week and a half now and they are being left alone together with no problem. Last night, we realised our older male was 100% confident with her and really started playing rough rather than shying away when she wanted to wrestle on the ground. All of a sudden, we heard her cry out so we rushed in, clapped loudly and he backed away. After observing a few more times we realised he was pushing her onto her back and pinning her down, sometimes laying on top of her. He didn't appear to be biting her, and she didn't appear injured after these bouts - she just seemed stressed about getting pinned down and she cries out very loudly. We separated them until they calmed down and everything was fine until morning - they just slept next to each other. When they started to play again in the morning, it happened straight away. This time she appeared less tolerable and didn't appear to keep going back to continue playing with him. Her cries were also significantly louder and extreme. The last time it happened she ran under a cupboard let out a big hiss and a swipe. He backed away and has left her alone since.

I am worried because it appeared to come out of nowhere after we thought the hard yards were done. If it was just a one off I would feel okay about it. But it happened probably about 5 times last night within a 2 minute period, and twice again this morning within about a minute. I don't think he is trying to hurt her, his body language appears positive. However, I am scared that he won't know his own strength and either suffocate her from laying on her, or injure her neck. For the time being we have decided to not leave them alone together over the next few days.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I have no idea why he is suddenly doing this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[StefanZ]

Im sure its a dominance thing.  Now when the intros are done with, and she is accepted by him as family member, he must show who is the master cat here, and who is not.

He is doing it a little more roughly than some others, but the process as such is entirely normal.

Keep an eye on them, and if he overdoes, separate them gently.  Dont do big fuss, have perhaps a hand between them and  shove him gently aside with the hand if he overdoes.

Its OK!  They are learning from each other!

Good luck!

 

[stevie_rae]

Thank you for your reply. I am pretty sure its dominance related as well. Do you have any idea how long this usually continues for?

 

[mservant]

Hi.  I agree with StefanZ: this sounds like reasonably normal behaviour as they sort out their boundaries.  Adult cats playing with kittens will wrestle them on to their back, and they will also sometimes bite (not hard) and even lock jaws in simulated fighting but it should not get to a point where either cat is being seriously hurt, frightened screaching, chunks of fur pulled out or blood drawn: at such a level it is very stressful to see.  My boy's mother would routinely do this to him up to when he was adopted (about 15 weeks of age).  He would go back for more until she got serious and told him enough was enough at which point he would walk or scarper off. With a male cat not related I would expect it to be a little more showing who's boss but not dissimilar.  I would continue to keep an eye on them and not let it get too serious for her but generally I think you will see them sort out the boundaries themselves. 

One of the most important indications of whether a fight is play aggression or more serious is your cats' body language as this is how they communicate with each other.  One useful source of information on cat body language can be found on WikiHow: How to communicate with your cat.

If you are worried and think a real fight is starting or in progress be careful as you could also be hurt.  This is a thread that gives some advice on how you can intervene safely for both you and your cats.  At this stage I do not think you should need this but it is always worth knowing about.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/breaking-up-cat-fights

 

[stevie_rae]

I definitely agree. The older boys body language is fine - no hair standing on end, ears are not pinned back and no hissing or growling on his part. I am quite certain it is not a serious fight. I am more concerned that his 'playing' will hurt her. I am not sure of differences in severe screeching in pain and her making these noises. It sounds like she is screaming, but again, when I separate them she doesn't often run away and goes back for more playing. I am just worried about the noises she is making when he gets her onto her back. She seems distressed, although she isn't physically hurt as far as I can tell.

Thanks I will definitely keep an eye on them until she gets a bit bigger and can fend for herself easier.

 

[mservant]

Although his mum would not be as big, Mouse's mum would totally flatten him, lay on top of him and bite in to his neck!  They were completely silent when they were wrestling but with any other cats I expect there would have been a good deal of squealing, especially from the kitten! Mouse would go back several times and get pasted again but eventually his mum would have a more serious go at him and he'd slink off. He was about 1/3 of her size at the point I took a video of them but they had been doing this for quite a few weeks before that and he would have been much smaller.  I do think the adult cats tend to know how much pressure they need to use.

I think if your kitten was being squashed hard by the weight on top the squeals would be even more frantic and he would probably give your other cat a pretty sharp bite, but do watch them.  My worry if you intervene too much is that your adult cat may start to resent the intervention and either redirect aggression to you or be more likely to resent the little kitten.

 

[stevie_rae]

 

[sivyaleah]

HI Stevie - I'm going to ask one of the moderators to merge the two threads in order to avoid confusion.  So if this one disappears, it has just been attached to your first post.

 

[rosiemac]

I've merged your posts 

It looks normal behaviour to me. Your older cat is just making sure the kitten knows who's alpha, but keep a close eye on them just incase it gets out of hand.

Your doing the right thing by clapping, because l used to do that when Sophie cried out as a kitten, but the minute Rosie walked away Sophie would chase after her!!