Older Cat Picking Up Kitten By Nape And Hurting Her?

[PAPAIMPOSSIBLE]

So recently I adopted a new female kitten 2 days ago at the age of around 4 weeks. Long story short she was left in a box on the side of the road but that's besides the fact. I introduced her to my 1 year old female cat that's going through puberty atm and has been acting like a lost mother to the kitten(running to the kittens crys, grooming the kitten and always keeping a watch over the kitten). Today she just started this weird behavior of picking up the kitten by the neck (I know it's common behavior by mothers to move their kittens by the neck). But thing is my 1 year old female cat has been holding the kitten in her mouth for about 5 minutes with the kitten yelping and squealing. Initially I thought this was normal but the kitten kept crying and struggling on the ground. So i decided to seperate them and my cat had a pretty hard grip on the young kitten so it was difficult to seperate them but she gave and I moved her out of my room. Is this normal behavior? Is my older cat trying to breed with the younger kitten but not know it's gender? Is this just an act of dominance to the little kitten? I honestly don't know but if you guys can answer this that would be great.

 

[catsknowme]

Welcome to TCS and bless you for rescuing that baby!
Your older cat is still young at 1 year and is perhaps over enthusiastic with the kitten. It sounds like she might be treating the kitten like a toy as well as fulfilling her nurturing instincts. Have you tried giving your older cat some extraordinarily rousing play sessions to burn up all her pent-up energy? A session or two with a laser or a teaser such as DaBird until she is panting might be in order. But also be firm with her about not biting the kittens neck - I sternly tell kitties,"Too rough!" followed by a "pischt" sound (sorta like hissing) and separating them. If that doesn't work, I increase the harshness and volume in my voice.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

catsknowme has pretty much given you, almost word-for-word, what I would have advised if I had gotten here first. I suspect that your older cat isn't actually hurting the kitten, just ticking her off royally.

It does not sound like mating behavior, nor does it really sound like dominance...or not beyond what a mama cat does in training her own kittens, which does have dominance as a factor.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Is your older cat spayed yet? She’s well past puberty, and really does need to be.

 

[jen]

The older cat is not going through puberty, that happened MONTHS ago. She may be in heat though. Any reason she isn't spayed yet? I would get that done asap. If the older cat wants to mother her then let her, she will teach the baby how to be a cat, how to act, how to not play too rough, and she will do all this with vocalization and behavior, and the kitten will probably react with LOUD vocalization which is a GOOD THING. Let this happen so you have a less neurotic cat when she grows up