Just playing too rough or trying to hurt?

Emily LeBoeuf

Bagheera and Oliver's mom here, they are getting along very well now. The only concern I have is that they tend to wrestle and bite each other A LOT! It seems like Baghi is hurting Oliver when they do this. He never makes any noise when he "meows" except when Baghi has him in a headlock biting him. My husband and I are constantly having to break them up because we are afraid she'll hurt him. We also are aprehensive about leaving them alone together. We want to go out of town for Labor Day weekend but don't feel we can if they are still going at it like this. Does anyone have any suggestions or words of wisdom to share?

Megan Everett

The general thought I've heard on this is that if there isn't any noise, there isn't a problem, but as you said there's noise I felt the need to respond. I had a similar problem with my two kittens, Ayla and Chandran. Chan is much bigger than his little "sister" and he liked to put her in a headlock and bite her head. It scared us so much at first! She made the most horrible noises, all later determined to be out of frustration. We decided not to interfere, even though we wanted to, because it only encouraged Chan to do it. After awhile, Ayla began sticking up for herself and Chan decided it wasn't that much fun anymore. I don't know if relaying that story helps at all, but I guess what I'm saying is it probably isn't a big deal. The little one is probably only making noise out of frustration and not pain, so it really shouldn't be anything to worry too much about.

Unknown

I looked at the pages for your kitties. Even your grown-up kitty is young enough to be pretty playful and this is how cats play with each other. Cats play games that exercise the survival skills that they would need in the wild. They practice hunting with toys and they practice fighting with each other. There\'s no harm in it, unless they are drawing blood or ripping out tufts of fur. I know it looks horribly violent, but they are actually having fun.

Emily LeBoeuf

That's kind of what I thought but it's so scary! I'll keep an eye out for "flying fur" and blood shed. I also kind of think that Oliver is only making noise to be dramatic and get attention. They are doing this a bit less thank goodness. It used to be every second they were together they would "fight" like this but now they do take some breaks from it. We may try letting them be alone all night tonight and see how things go.

Unknown

If your kitten where really in danger from the adult cat, he would get away from her. Think about the relative difference in the sizes of your kitties. If she were really hurting him, he would squeeze into some tiny space where she can\'t get to him. If he\'s not doing that, he may actually be inviting her to play with him. Like, Cleo will roll on her back, in the \"touch my tummy. I dare you!\" position in from of Alex. If he doesn\'t react to that, she starts poking him in the face with her paws until he pounces on her. Alex is definitely my alpha cat but Cleo has a lot of control over this game. I agree that it\'s scary to watch. I think part of it is that we think of cats as being like human children. We sure wouldn\'t let our kids wrestle on the floor, kicking and biting each other.