My husband and I adopted a new kitten about 6 weeks ago. He is approx. 6 mos old. We also have 2 other cats who are 3 years old. The new kitty loves to attack the other two. One was terrified of him at first and hid but now she at least comes out, but if she runs he chases her down. How do we determine what is kitten playfulness and what is aggression? I think he just wants to play but he is almost as big as they are and we are trying to break this habit before he gets larger. (They are not amused at all when he 'jumps' them.) He has numerous toys and loves them, but nothing will divert his attention when he is in attack mode. We have tried attaching a mouse to a string and my husband and I take turns letting him 'hunt' the mouse and chase it to get out some of his energy. We bought a stuffed animal about his size hoping he would wrestle with it, but to no avail. At the moment we say "No" as soon as he attacks and we put him in timeout. He will do good for a few days then the next day he may be put in time out 3 or 4 times. He knows that he is doing wrong because as soon as we say "no" he runs behind the tv to hide. He also bites and/or scratches as we are carrying him to timeout. (I'm not sure what a reasonable time period is to see if the discipline is working, is knowing that he is doing wrong at least a start?) Also, I don't know how he treats them during the day. They are all together in the house while we are at work. For the first few weeks he was in a room separate from them, until they got to know each other. Now, if he is in his room too long, his behaviour is worse because of all of the energy he has built up.
We are at the point that we may have to give him back to the adoption center. The well being of our first two cats takes priority and right now they aren't free to play and roam without being ambushed. I would appreciate any feedback and other methods of discipline that we have not tried. THanks for your help.
Kitten play or aggression?
Re: Kitten play or aggression?
Doesn't sound like play to me. It sounds like a power hirarchy is being established. It is impossible to say how it will settle down after some time. Could get better, could get worse. 6 weeks isn't long enough though to give up trying.
Is he already neutered? If not, this should be done asap as it will change his behaviour. Then see how it goes.
Do they all eat together, or are there tensions between them when food is given?
Do they hiss and growl and fight, or is it 'only' the chasing?
As far a I can tell you did all the 'right' and recommended things so far. You might want to try a squirt bottle as well.
How much time every day do you play with him? A 6 months old needs A LOT of wild play.
Yes, the fact that he knows he's doing wrong is a start, but young cats are less likely to start obeying, if at all. That's just how cats are.
How long do you put him in time out each time, and for how long have you been trying this method? And for how long has he been chasing your other cats?
Is he already neutered? If not, this should be done asap as it will change his behaviour. Then see how it goes.
Do they all eat together, or are there tensions between them when food is given?
Do they hiss and growl and fight, or is it 'only' the chasing?
As far a I can tell you did all the 'right' and recommended things so far. You might want to try a squirt bottle as well.
How much time every day do you play with him? A 6 months old needs A LOT of wild play.
Yes, the fact that he knows he's doing wrong is a start, but young cats are less likely to start obeying, if at all. That's just how cats are.
How long do you put him in time out each time, and for how long have you been trying this method? And for how long has he been chasing your other cats?
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salemgirl1999
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 10:08 pm
Re: Kitten play or aggression?
To answer some of your questions. Yes, he is neutered and the girls are both spayed. There is no aggresssion associated with food. They all eat together, usually taking bites out of each others bowls. His chasing is primarily to the one that is skittish of him. Occasionally he will ambush the other one but she will usually hiss and/or whack him on the head with her paw and he backs off. The shy one however just bolts and the chase is on which makes him worse. Yesterday however she popped him in the face and he stopped. One other note: he is not declawed but the girls are, so they can't defend themselves. That is another reason why I would like to deter this behavior before he gets larger.
There have not been any full blown fights. When he first came, as they were all getting acquainted, he would go bouncing up to them as if to say 'I'm new and I want to play', but they often responded with a hiss, just because they weren't sure what to think of him.
While they are in 'sleep' mode they all get along and are usually at least in the same room napping (occasionally on adjacent couch cushions). We have a 6' kitty condo that they all run and play on together. The chasing is worse at night when they are all wound up wanting to play. The main problem however the girls can't fully play because when they do, he attacks. This is when we retrieve all of the mice and balls out from under the fridge and let him go to town on the hard wood floors. He 'hunts' them and totes them all over the house. We also have a panic mouse which he loves and a mouse on the string that he chases. There is also a stuffed Tigger that we move around on the floor to encourage him to wrestle with. There is at least an hour of hard play each night. We usually play with him until he can't hold his eyes open and he falls asleep on the couch. During the day they all have full reign of the house so he's not pent up in a room somewhere. They are all free to run and play all day.
We have been doing the timeout for 3 weeks. After the first week, he went one complete week without being put in timeout. In the beginning, I wasn't sure how long he should stay there. Then I saw on a website to go no longer than 10 minutes, so for past few days that is what we've done. As for the water bottle, I tried that to deter him from jumping on the counter and he just sat there and stared at me, as if he liked getting wet. So haven't tried it anymore.
I apologize for the length but I wanted to give enough information so you could get more of feel for this situation and what might work for us. Thanks again for suggestions.
There have not been any full blown fights. When he first came, as they were all getting acquainted, he would go bouncing up to them as if to say 'I'm new and I want to play', but they often responded with a hiss, just because they weren't sure what to think of him.
While they are in 'sleep' mode they all get along and are usually at least in the same room napping (occasionally on adjacent couch cushions). We have a 6' kitty condo that they all run and play on together. The chasing is worse at night when they are all wound up wanting to play. The main problem however the girls can't fully play because when they do, he attacks. This is when we retrieve all of the mice and balls out from under the fridge and let him go to town on the hard wood floors. He 'hunts' them and totes them all over the house. We also have a panic mouse which he loves and a mouse on the string that he chases. There is also a stuffed Tigger that we move around on the floor to encourage him to wrestle with. There is at least an hour of hard play each night. We usually play with him until he can't hold his eyes open and he falls asleep on the couch. During the day they all have full reign of the house so he's not pent up in a room somewhere. They are all free to run and play all day.
We have been doing the timeout for 3 weeks. After the first week, he went one complete week without being put in timeout. In the beginning, I wasn't sure how long he should stay there. Then I saw on a website to go no longer than 10 minutes, so for past few days that is what we've done. As for the water bottle, I tried that to deter him from jumping on the counter and he just sat there and stared at me, as if he liked getting wet. So haven't tried it anymore.
I apologize for the length but I wanted to give enough information so you could get more of feel for this situation and what might work for us. Thanks again for suggestions.
Re: Kitten play or aggression?
Unfortunately, I don't have any more suggestions. Maybe you brought them together too early in the beginning, but if that was a mistake it's a mute point now.
The fact that they eat together and relax close to each other is encouraging though I think. It shows that the girls are at least not completely freaked out by him. Hopefully they will in time learn to stop him. I think he's just a wild, young tomcat and there's really not much you can do to change that. Hopefully he will calm down after some time.
Maybe someone else here has another good strategy for you to try.
Could you put him in a seperate room with his toys during nights so that the girls can have a break?
The fact that they eat together and relax close to each other is encouraging though I think. It shows that the girls are at least not completely freaked out by him. Hopefully they will in time learn to stop him. I think he's just a wild, young tomcat and there's really not much you can do to change that. Hopefully he will calm down after some time.
Maybe someone else here has another good strategy for you to try.
Could you put him in a seperate room with his toys during nights so that the girls can have a break?
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dancinbelle2001
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:52 pm
Re: Kitten play or aggression?
I have a new kitten too! She did the exact same thing. However, I didn't interfere too much with how the cats interacted with each other. They worked it out. Noone has been hurt. Now they even sleep together! My suggestion is to just give it time. Your older cats will get tired of his pouncing and put him in his place soon enough.