He is 6months old & still tortures my older cats

I have posted before when our newbie was 3 months old about the fact that this new kitten was terrorizing the 2 eight yrs old and have tried EVERYTHING I know, using many tips you folks have given us. Ok now he is 6 months and still just brutally running full force to his older bros and attacking them, the grabbing him by his scruff and re-directing has worn off. I still do it and usually get bit as he hangs on for dear life. My concern (and guilt feelings) is how my older cats are taking this behavior from him and growling, hissing and hiding. I am staying calm as possible but I see their lives have changed and not in a good way. I find wads of fur from these fights after being gone a few hours. I do realize he is still a kitten, but in all my cat experience over the years, have never had a "kitten" bite hard and completely ignore all my attempts to re-direct or step in the minute I see him about to pounce. I guess I am just hoping someone knows of some New way to handle this!

Has he been neutered?

Welcome to my world!  I have a now 2 yr old and he's been torturing every other cat in the house since he arrived at about 10 wks! 
 

Have you tried hissing or blowing on his face (he should squint when you do this)? When do you grab him by the scruff? Is it during his "rough playing" with the older cats? 

My little devil( I mean angel ) haha. Is neutered . I think he is just over- amped most of the time. He plays very hard and loves very hard, everything he does is intense even eating. I do grab his scruff when he pins down the other cats and have tried the human version of hiss, blow in face and separating from the cats getting beat up. This works for about 4 days, then ignored completely. I then tried using the Dog Whisperer "shussss" sound, that worked about 5or6 days. I also play with him ALOT, and enjoy doing it. He is smart , taught him sit and stay- shake paw for a treat and ball fetching and it only took about 2 days for him to master. If I can re-direct him in time I do usually with the da-bird , or tossing a mouse. I keep a box on my coffee table full of toys and my house looks like a agility
Course with lots of boxes and crackling paper . His favorite box is a Rolling Rock beer box, ( my husbands favorite too lol) .thanks for any suggestions

I have a "tyrant" just like him named Tyrion.... He's about 8-9 months old now.  He's a red tabby boy.  Very small and petite and I rescued him as a young kitten on the side of a hwy where he had been dumped with his siblings.  A couple of his siblings had already been run over.    He was the only survivor.  He is very healthy and happy but he has always had a mischeivious streak!!  That is saying the least and the nicest.  He's very loving and affectionate and such a sweetheart.  Very smart, too.  Too smart sometimes. (I call it the red gene!) But he also terrorizes my others at times.  They have learned how to cope.  However, there are times I have to get on to Tyrion still.  I usually say a "NO"  or if I catch him about to do something I say "Tyrion, don't do it!" in a warning tone.  Sometimes it works, others it does not.  Mostly, I refocus him and I have him play with me, or I grab a toy like the Kick-a-roo and act like I am attacking him.  That seems to work the best.  Just refocusing him.  Other times, I will just pick him up without a word and remove him from the situation.  He gets slapped at by the others a lot.  I basically let them work it out.  He has to learn.  But, he does have so much energy still even after his neutering.  It's a myth that cats personality change after "fixing".  It is just his personality.  He may mellow with age, he may not.  We have learned to deal with it and accept and love him anyway.  LOL!! 

P3 & the King,
Tyrion sounds just like Stevie, the wonder cat! I do believe red cats have special personalities .... And you are right, we love him so much despite his ornery ways!

Three cat night said:

P3 & the King,
Tyrion sounds just like Stevie, the wonder cat! I do believe red cats have special personalities .... And you are right, we love him so much despite his ornery ways!

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He just tried starting in on one of my other cats a few minutes ago.  What I recommend is a teddy bear or stuffed animal or the kick-a-roo like I suggested earlier and having it "attack" him instead (softly of course).  It refocuses him and if he could  talk, I am sure he would go on and on about the psychotic teddy bear that tries to throw down with him all the time! 

But, I had to remove him because after he was done with teddy, he went after Morgan La Fay.  He is now sitting on the computer desk and chasing the cursor.  One of his favorite things to do.... I know what you mean... Tyrion never winds down either!  I do love him, though, and so do the other cats.... Most of the time.  Give it time.  Your older cats will just learn over time that it's his personality and how to get around it.  It's a good thing they're so cute!  The red gene... Gotta love it!  *Sigh*

P3 and The King said:

He just tried starting in on one of my other cats a few minutes ago.  What I recommend is a teddy bear or stuffed animal or the kick-a-roo like I suggested earlier and having it "attack" him instead (softly of course).  It refocuses him and if he could  talk, I am sure he would go on and on about the psychotic teddy bear that tries to throw down with him all the time!  :lol3:

But, I had to remove him because after he was done with teddy, he went after Morgan La Fay.  He is now sitting on the computer desk and chasing the cursor.  One of his favorite things to do.... I know what you mean... Tyrion never winds down either!  I do love him, though, and so do the other cats.... Most of the time.  Give it time.  Your older cats will just learn over time that it's his personality and how to get around it.  It's a good thing they're so cute!  The red gene... Gotta love it!  *Sigh*:lol3:

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Stevie aka Weasle, has a stuffed tiger doll about three quarters his size and this thing is in shreds having had the kicks kicked out of it so I got him two more and he does regularly pound them and carry them all over the house. It's just he does what your Tyrion does, when he is done with the toy my
Other cats are next in line for a good thrashing. I have been trying to let them work it out mostly because nothing I do is very helpful. Still trying though and hate it when my older cats make those dreadful sounds. Wish they would just smack him a good one, but then again they do swat him right in the face and he just keeps coming. As long as there are no wounds, I am the one that has to learn how to hyper down, haha

Three cat night said:

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Stevie aka Weasle, has a stuffed tiger doll about three quarters his size and this thing is in shreds having had the kicks kicked out of it so I got him two more and he does regularly pound them and carry them all over the house. It's just he does what your Tyrion does, when he is done with the toy my
Other cats are next in line for a good thrashing. I have been trying to let them work it out mostly because nothing I do is very helpful. Still trying though and hate it when my older cats make those dreadful sounds. Wish they would just smack him a good one, but then again they do swat him right in the face and he just keeps coming. As long as there are no wounds, I am the one that has to learn how to hyper down, haha

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Yes, he's gone through about 5 kick-a-roo's... The teddy bear is starting to show some wear definitely!  It'll be time for a new one soon.  Yes, it is good to let them work it out themselves most of the time.  The times you have to intervene is just to keep a balance and to keep the little devil from getting killed!   At first, and don't judge me, but I would crate Tyrion because he wouldn't stop.  I felt horrible enough about doing so but I didn't know what else to do?  But he would cry and throw a fit.... It just wasn't worth it.  I thought about re homing him.  But I would have to be super selective.  Not many people would be willing to keep a kitty with his personality and energy, no matter how loving and sweet he could be... But, it worked out.  Mine accept him and even love him now.  They just slap the crap out of him when he's crossed the lines now.  Does it help?  Not usually.  He still goes for it.  But, they know to run to mom when they've had enough and mom will take care of it and refocus him or just remove him.  They do eventually figure out that when you remove them, they have been bad and if they don't want to deal with it, don't do what they were doing.   Don't give up!

Our cat, Chopin, has been the terrorist in my older cats life for 4 years now...  He arrived (as a feral kitten) at 5 weeks of age. From day one he has been fearless- sat him down on the kitchen floor, he looked around for a minute and then walked right up to our 65 lb. dog. They have been the best of friends since but he chases my older cat all the time to the point of her emitting some serious hate and discontent sounds. I don't think there is any hope this will ever change.

I forgot where my reply was going, subject wise.. For the past month or so Chopin has been carrying around a stuffy while crying and then he will bring it into whatever room we are in and begin to knead on it vigerously. wondering what it means? Otherwise he never touches the toy.

carolynmerrill said:

Our cat, Chopin, has been the terrorist in my older cats life for 4 years now...  He arrived (as a feral kitten) at 5 weeks of age. From day one he has been fearless- sat him down on the kitchen floor, he looked around for a minute and then walked right up to our 65 lb. dog. They have been the best of friends since but he chases my older cat all the time to the point of her emitting some serious hate and discontent sounds. I don't think there is any hope this will ever change.

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Were your cats introduced properly?  It doesn't sound as if so if you just put him down on the floor as soon as you got him and let him have free reign.  Cats do not do well with change right away.  It needs to be gradual.  You can try a reintroduction and see if it helps.  There are plenty of threads on how to do this if you are interested.  If not, you can try the Rescue Remedy or some people have good luck with Feliway.  But this about cats that were introduced properly.  Every situation is different. 

Well we will just keep trying and hope he grows out of it someday, the sooner the better

Sounds to me like he is very bored, and maybe also not introduced carefully enough - how careful depends on the cats, it's not that there is one right way to do it and all the others are wrong.

I think you need to start playing a lot with him, Da Bird and similar, and if he eats dry food start putting it in places for him to find, so it takes time and effort for him to feed.  Play a couple of times a day for 10 minutes or more.  Consider clicker training as well - troublesome cats are often not only bored but bright.

I would also think seriously about separating them for the time being and doing a long slow introduction.

Orientalslave, this is an ongoing problem.  The OP has tried all of that.  This cat is just high strung, like my Tyrion.   They are very smart and willing to pick up on a new "game." I agree on that point.  But they are also easily bored and just ornery. 

So what is the OP going to do?  They have an energetic bored kitten that is making life hell for their older cats.  You way they have tried "everything" - maybe they need to try a cat shrink, a properly qualified behaviourist.  Or maybe they need to do some rehoming.  So far as I can see it's not an acceptable situation at present - the kitten is running riot, and since there are clumps of fur around it sounds like it's on the verge of serious fighting.  Putting it down to the cat simply being "high strung" to me offers no hope to the OP.  My gut feeling is he won't grow out of it, he will get worse as he gets bigger and stronger.

I actually have been in the same situation as her.  I don't know if this will help.  A lot of people, when they are not home worry about their cats.... Do they leave a radio or a tv on?  Can anything help mellow them out besides medication?  Yes. 

I have found that the sleep machine musics or whatever really work with cats, too.  Mine seem to favor the ocean sounds or the really mellow classical music one.  I have noticed that they seem calmer and more relaxed when I get home as if Tyrion the tyrant was less of a pain.  Tyrion himself seems calmer.  You can try that, too, to see if it helps. 

A behaviorists will recommend the same thing if you are not OK with medicating your cat.  Many don't for personal or financial reasons.  Medications can be expensive. 

The above isn't a fix all, but it can help a lot.  As long as the sounds aren't scary and are calming and soothing.  A lot of the things that work for us, will also work for cats.

I have a new kitten who is doing the same with my two older cats. One be won't mess around with so bad...because my boy cat stands his ground and let's him know when he's had enough..

My female on the other hand. She's declawed. So the only defense she has is her teeth. And she won't bite. She smacks him pretty good...but he isn't phased at all. And it doesn't stop him from chasing her to the point she is on her back while he's mauling her..and she's screaming.

I love this cat. But my cats will not be terrorized. I give him a few more weeks. If he can't learn then he's gotta go.

Dear Pandora Bear,
I totally get what you are going through , and I hated having to yell no all he time , but there is hope. My big cat is finally 2 years old and it's much better than ever before. My other 2 are 12 and find him quite annoying BUT I learned some helpful tips: always feed the hellion last after the older cats and about six feet apart, order a toy called "da bird" on Amazon , this is the best ever toy , when the kitten starts getting friskie take him in another room and play with this toy with him until he is panting, no kidding. He will jump higher and higher and this will buy some peace in the house. It only took about 10 minutes to get his crazy out, but you have to remember he IS only 6 months old right now. But I leaned yelling never worked only redirection to anything from laser lights , he has more toys than all my ( over the years) cats had together.
But it did get better around 1 year and he is still a maniac , but not to my other cats. btw what does your kitten look like? I'm curious if he is a red head head . I work at a cat shelter so I have learned a lot this problem so please let me know if I can help you.
Good Luck.
3catnight