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I have a 10 month old male kitten who is pretty much full grown now but still a very playful,rambunctious kitten. We also have 2 adult females who are around 6 years old. We have had the kitten since he was 6 weeks old. Right away, he was very confident. Since he was a rescue from outside,We kept the kitten isolated for the required 12 weeks until he could be checked for disease by the vet as they check for the main stuff then. It's a good idea to keep the healthy cats apart from a new kitten to make sure everything is good to go. We let them meet a few times a week while he was in a cat carrier so they could sniff but not touch and get used to smells so when the big meet and greet finally came, things might go smoother. We have had cats all of our lives and are pretty good with the whole introduction process......bu this is our first newborn kitten. Things are different with one this young. Usually when we get a new cat, we rescue adults.
Everytime he sees the older girls, he goes into stalk and jump mode. He is being a kitten of course but the girls dont love it and they are getting anxious and stressed when he is around. He does not try to hurt them but a few times, he got a little too excited. Usually they hiss and run away and of course he thinks its a game and off he goes after them.
When Emma(our maine coon) is in the litter box, he will come out of nowhere and try to annoy her in the box. We have 4 boxes and she is starting to get weird when she has to go.....like she is nervous.
I thought after he was neutered, he would calm down......nope. Lol.
Dont get the wrong idea......he is not nasty or mean. He is just a kitten. Its not always an easy transition to bring a kitten into a with older cats. We do try to divert his attention with toys when he starts acting up with them. Other times, he can be very calm and not do anything to them......but usually it's more the other way. Lol.
I think they grow out of this behavior around a year or 2.
We are thinking of things to keep things calm......Feliway? Anyone ever use it? Anyone have any calming tips?
My cats have always sorted it out on their own. Unlike dogs I've never had an incident where I've had to intervene with my cats or had to clean up blood when they've injured one another severely. Cats figure it out on their own, although it can get loud at time.
I agree with Orion2. They should, and most likely will, sort it out on their own. If & when your older cats have had enough of his pestering, they'll start being more 'firm' with him... and it may take more than just a little smack on the head. You don't want a full-blown fight, of course, and may need to intervene if things get too serious. But the older cats need to be able to teach the young one boundaries.
Your young cat is basically going through the 'Terrible Twos', and his kitten pushiness should start to subside around 1.5 to 2 years of age.
Agreed. It never gets to be an all out bloody asault. Emma, our main coon was the dominant cat and Luna, the calico is the submissive one sp Ozzy(the kitten) threw off the balance and it seems he is winning the war of who is go to be the dominant one. Luna has no problem being on the bottom but Ozzy senses this and targets her more than Emma.Both older cats will give him a good smackdown but he doesnt seem to get it yet. Lol.
Charcoal is now two......and he is STILL hasn't outgrown his kitten ways. Drives Lily crazy. He still sleeps in his own room with the door shut at night, otherwise neither Lily or I would get any sleep. All he wants to do is pounce and bounce all night long.
One of our kittens also doesn't understand and will constantly run up to the the older ones and won't leave them alone. If they get water he rushes to their side to get water too, the big guys will run off and he will run after them again. Then the big guys hiss and sure enough he is right back running after them trying to do whatever they are doing. He doesn't really stalk them like his does his littermate (the playing stalk and pounce thing). He is just socially awkward and doesn't get the signs the bigs boys are sending him (hissing etc). And it scares me because if I don't divert his attention (usually by tapping a wand) he will keep pestering them and I'm afraid that he will get hurt. He's so tiny compared to them (even at 7 months) and has a disability. I know I need to let them work it out even if it means a little fight but I'm just too scared.
I ordered Feliway for another situation. I have an older cat with the same disability that has severe gagging and vomiting whenever he sees or smells the kittens so the vet suggested i try it. Still haven't received it (ordered online with a prescription that took a bit to get sorted out) so I can't report back on how it works yet. As soon as I have a chance to use it i will report back but hopefully by that time you will have your situation resolved :-)
Orion is a big cat, and was even bigger at one time weighing about 17 pounds. A large stray, he must have weighed about 14 pounds, showed up when my brothers' cat was in heat. Needless to say he and Orion, who is neutered didn't hit it off at all. Orion for all his superior size and being alpha kitty before the new guy showing up wouldn't fight, he would just hiss and run away. The new cat gave chase for a while. Things settled down once the new cat was also neutered and my brothers' cat spayed.
The two guys were never friends, it'd be too much to expect for two alpha males especially when one invaded the territory of another but eventually they learned to co-exist. They had an occasional spat but mostly avoided one another.
Cats are very slow to change their behavior. My Joe lived with my dog for about six years before he would stay on the bed if she was on it and he still hisses at her sometimes when she jumps up to sleep there.
I have basically the same issue and wanted to mention that I got a Feliway diffuser for litter box problems and it helped that, but didn't seem to have any effect on my younger cat pestering my older one. Trying to distract my younger cat and get him engaged in something else works, but sometimes only for a few seconds.
Trying to distract my younger cat and get him engaged in something else works, but sometimes only for a few seconds.
Yep, this happens to us too when we try to divert his attention from the older cats.
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