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- May 8, 2010
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Four years ago, two feral mothers (who were littermates) had a two litters of kittens under my deck. One feral mother disappeared, the other abandoned two of the kittens when they were about four days old. She took them out and left them at the door to my crawl space. I took kittens to vet and bottle raised them, introduced them to my other cats, no problems.
That left twelve kittens under my deck and one feral mother. Couldn't get to the kittens, can't crawl under deck so I supported feral mother with lots of food offerings left on the deck. When kittens were independent, worked with our no-kill rescue to get them placed. No problems there either. Feral mother had now decided I was a great guy and wanted to stay. She was about 14 months at the time. Worked with her all summer, got her "tame", took to vet, had her fixed and she ended up inside too. Long, long, long introduction phase to both her kittens and my other house cats. But, after a few months all was good. She took to my existing house cats quickly and became very close with them, sleep together, eat together, etc. Never got close with her kittens that I raised. No fighting, but they ignore each other.
My existing cats were quite old at the time, between 18 and 22. Over the last 2 years they have all passed with the exception of one. The remaining "original" is an 11yo tom who is the post-ferals absolute best friend. They love each other.
And three paragraphs in - I get to my problem (sorry, didn't mean to write a novel) The kittens (who are now four) have started bullying their mother (who they never really liked anyhow). The male kitten stares down his mother until she begins to growl and when she turns to leave he jumps out at her. She hisses, then the other kitten (female) jumps in to it to back-up her brother. No biting, no blood, just pawing (mostly at the ground), hissing, yowling. But, it's very stressful for the mother who's taken to hiding in her litter box whenever she sees the kittens.
Most of this is misinterpretation - the kittens play aggressively, jumping on one another, howling and hissing. They hiss at me during play. I read somewhere that bottle raised kittens frequently don't learn that hissing is meant for serious stuff and not for play.
So, the male kitten has "tried" to play with his mother by jumping out and hissing - she thinks he wants to attack her. So now, every time she sees him she growls. And he thinks she's going to attack him. And, the female kitten jumps-in (very upset) every time to protect her brother.
The problem has gotten worse as the number of cats in the house has decreased (weird) - The older cats were more tolerant with the kittens and more receptive to their mode of play.
The post-feral and her 11yo tom best friend have a separate litter box, feeding/watering station, cat-tree, etc. So, there's not an issue with sharing of resources.
I've Feliway'ed the house with 3 diffusers, feeding Composure treats to the post-feral. And, I've separated the kittens from their mother and allow the 11yo tom to spend 1/2 a day with the kittens and 1/2 a day with her (kittens love the tom too).
Since the aggression starts with the male kitten, I'm reintroducing the mother to the female 2 hours am and 2 hours pm in isolated room with me, feeding tuna and treats.
Anyone have any pointers/suggestions/comments? And thanks for reading my long post! Sorry, but backstory may help.
That left twelve kittens under my deck and one feral mother. Couldn't get to the kittens, can't crawl under deck so I supported feral mother with lots of food offerings left on the deck. When kittens were independent, worked with our no-kill rescue to get them placed. No problems there either. Feral mother had now decided I was a great guy and wanted to stay. She was about 14 months at the time. Worked with her all summer, got her "tame", took to vet, had her fixed and she ended up inside too. Long, long, long introduction phase to both her kittens and my other house cats. But, after a few months all was good. She took to my existing house cats quickly and became very close with them, sleep together, eat together, etc. Never got close with her kittens that I raised. No fighting, but they ignore each other.
My existing cats were quite old at the time, between 18 and 22. Over the last 2 years they have all passed with the exception of one. The remaining "original" is an 11yo tom who is the post-ferals absolute best friend. They love each other.
And three paragraphs in - I get to my problem (sorry, didn't mean to write a novel) The kittens (who are now four) have started bullying their mother (who they never really liked anyhow). The male kitten stares down his mother until she begins to growl and when she turns to leave he jumps out at her. She hisses, then the other kitten (female) jumps in to it to back-up her brother. No biting, no blood, just pawing (mostly at the ground), hissing, yowling. But, it's very stressful for the mother who's taken to hiding in her litter box whenever she sees the kittens.
Most of this is misinterpretation - the kittens play aggressively, jumping on one another, howling and hissing. They hiss at me during play. I read somewhere that bottle raised kittens frequently don't learn that hissing is meant for serious stuff and not for play.
So, the male kitten has "tried" to play with his mother by jumping out and hissing - she thinks he wants to attack her. So now, every time she sees him she growls. And he thinks she's going to attack him. And, the female kitten jumps-in (very upset) every time to protect her brother.
The problem has gotten worse as the number of cats in the house has decreased (weird) - The older cats were more tolerant with the kittens and more receptive to their mode of play.
The post-feral and her 11yo tom best friend have a separate litter box, feeding/watering station, cat-tree, etc. So, there's not an issue with sharing of resources.
I've Feliway'ed the house with 3 diffusers, feeding Composure treats to the post-feral. And, I've separated the kittens from their mother and allow the 11yo tom to spend 1/2 a day with the kittens and 1/2 a day with her (kittens love the tom too).
Since the aggression starts with the male kitten, I'm reintroducing the mother to the female 2 hours am and 2 hours pm in isolated room with me, feeding tuna and treats.
Anyone have any pointers/suggestions/comments? And thanks for reading my long post! Sorry, but backstory may help.
