10 week kitten and 9 month kitten introduction

[Lorraine97]

Long post to give some context, so bare with me! I have a 9 month old, 5.3kg desexed male kitten called Atlas. He's very friendly and outgoing, very playful. About 5 days ago I rescued a 10 week old kitten Feyre and am hopeful they will be close companions.

I started by feeding them on either side of a closed door and swapped their blankets. Both of them were really interested in the other outside the door, and neither of them displayed any signs of aggression. I was prepared to go very slowly introducing them to each other, but they both seemed OK so I've had the door propped open an inch or so with weights and they sniff each other, eat closely to the door in each other's line of sight, often they've been playing through the gap and under the door too. I am certain it's play, neither have growled or hissed, they take turns swatting and there's been no claws. I do feel like they've been fairly accepting of each other fairly quickly and both seemed quite interested to be in each other's environment. I have had them swap spaces to explore independently and again, all seems good, no aggression, just young Feyre exploring and playing the rest of the house and Atlas tends to just lay down and snooze in her room. Basically, I know it's early days but so far everything has seemed to be going well.

Where I'm not sure to go next, is face-to-face introductions. Atlas appears to desperately want to play and play rough every time he has access to her. Sometimes Feyre seems unbothered, and just wrestles back. He does tend to chase her a little, but she will find a small space and from there, I have observed Atlas back off, sometimes he will even start rolling around on his back, and Feyre will wriggle her bum and pounce on his head, so she is initiating as well. I'm just not sure what to do when they're playfighting and she squeals out. I've been pulling Atlas off her as it sounds as if he's hurting her, but she will either just lay there and keep wrestling him anyway or run away somewhere she can hide and swat at him with cover.

My gut is telling me Atlas isn't truly trying to hurt her, he's just a bit of a big boofhead who hasn't been around another cat since he was 2 months old and is still learning to listen to her when she squeals for him to stop. I guess I just need to some outside thoughts on the situation? Am I doing the right thing, I know 4 days is very soon but everything I've observed has been so positive. Atlas has never hissed or growled at Feyre, ever. She's hissed a couple of times at him but hasn't for a couple of days now.

Do I continue with what I'm doing, allowing short periods of supervised time together? Is it OK to let Atlas play a little rough as long as Feyre's squealing doesn't progress to hissing/growling and there's no drawing blood/fur? As I said, I am positive it's play behaviour from both of them as there isn't always squealing from Feyre and reciprocates and initiates a lot of the time too. I'm just not sure where to draw the line with roughhousing? It's confusing when I separate them and they just want to go back to each other. I don't want Atlas to accidently hurt Feyre so obviously I'm not leaving them alone unsupervised yet, but I also don't want to keep them separated when they do genuinely seem to want to be with each other. Thoughts?

TL/DR - I'm on day 4 of introducing a 9 month kitten to a 10 week kitten, they've both been displaying really positive interactions with eachother. When they meet face-to-face, my older kitten plays quite rough and the younger kitten squeals as if she's in pain. Sometimes older kitten lets go, sometimes he doesn't. Neither kitten is hissing or growling, no blood or anything. The younger kitten reciprocates play too and will even reapproach the older one again after I separate them. I've been removing the younger kitten from the older one's grasp when she squeals, do I continue doing this? Is some squealing normal part of play? Thoughts?

 

[kashmir64]

I really don't know how to help, but don't want to leave this unanswered. Let me call the person who may help.
Sarthur2 , any ideas?

 

[susanm9006]

Young cats like your two almost always become quick friends, and as you have discovered, wrestling buddies. Kitten play can get pretty rough and it isn’t unusual for there to be some screaming and squealing. Then they take a break and go right back to it. If your younger isn’t running away and hiding she is enjoying herself. The likelihood he would actually hurt her is almost non existent.

She is considerably younger though so he can get the better of her pretty easily. You don’t need to separate them every time she squeals but maybe after prolonged play try to distract them with a wand toy or a treat just to give her a breather.

 

[Lorraine97]

Young cats like your two almost always become quick friends, and as you have discovered, wrestling buddies. Kitten play can get pretty rough and it isn’t unusual for there to be some screaming and squealing. Then they take a break and go right back to it. If your younger isn’t running away and hiding she is enjoying herself. The likelihood he would actually hurt her is almost non existent.

She is considerably younger though so he can get the better of her pretty easily. You don’t need to separate them every time she squeals but maybe after prolonged play try to distract them with a wand toy or a treat just to give her a breather.

Thank you for the reassurance! I can definitely see how rough they can get, sometimes I get nervous watching That is one thing I've been trying to do and haven't successfully yet. I can distract the younger kitten with a toy, but my older kitten isn't interested in any toys or treats I offer him, he just completely focuses on her. Can this mean he's a bit overstimulated by her? I'm not sure whether I should keep allowing short supervised interactions or spend a bit longer with the door open a fraction so he can see her but not get to her. They're certainly making it challenging though, this morning the younger kitten has decided to squeeze through the gap and comes out on her own anyway.

 

[susanm9006]

She is his new playmate and he is obsessed with her. Actually keeping them separated probably makes his obsession worse. If you have a time when you are around, I would leave them together for longer periods. What should happen after hard play is they do some mutual grooming and take a nap together. If she were just a couple months older I would be comfortable that no supervision at all is needed.

 

[ArtNJ]

I call what Susan is talking (separation time making over-eagerness to play worse) about the "its Christmas Morning!" effect. With cats of these ages, you dont really need to ever separate them -- rather, at most, if the kitten seems particularly miserable and cant seem to disengage on its own, you can gently distract the older cat. Don't think of that as your job, its not needed with cats of these ages, but if you happen to be around and see the kitten seeming miserable, gentle distraction is good.

 

[Lorraine97]

She is his new playmate and he is obsessed with her. Actually keeping them separated probably makes his obsession worse. If you have a time when you are around, I would leave them together for longer periods. What should happen after hard play is they do some mutual grooming and take a nap together. If she were just a couple months older I would be comfortable that no supervision at all is needed.

Oh wow, I hadn't actually considered that perspective- separating them making his obsession worse. I think that is probably the next thing to do, leave them together for longer and see what happens after they tire each other out.

I call what Susan is talking (separation time making over-eagerness to play worse) about the "its Christmas Morning!" effect. With cats of these ages, you dont really need to ever separate them -- rather, at most, if the kitten seems particularly miserable and cant seem to disengage on its own, you can gently distract the older cat. Don't think of that as your job, its not needed with cats of these ages, but if you happen to be around and see the kitten seeming miserable, gentle distraction is good.

That does make sense, making the obsession worse and the excitement and novelty of it. The younger kitten does have some spots only she can fit into to give herself a breather from the older one, and she just goes right back to swatting him/playing tootsies so I assume that means she's not actually too stressed. I have never been able to successfully distract my older kitten when she's out, not with toys or treats or anything, he just completely focuses on her. Is that OK? Or maybe if he spent more time with her, it would be easier to distract him if he started getting too rough because it would lose that 'Christmas morning' effect?

 

[ArtNJ]

I say to gently break it up, because you dont want to discourage play. But at these ages, discouraging play is mostly impossible. In any event, sounds like its not needed. Your 100% right, you can trust the kitten's judgment. If kitten takes a little breather and comes right back for more, that is a clear sign that all is well. Cats of unequal size is an issue that sometimes never goes away. I have 12 and 8 pound middle-aged adult cats now. They like each other and play daily, but the 8 pounder always wants to stop first, and sometimes makes protest noises or runs off. What is different between my pair and yours is that your size difference is greater, and 9 month olds are especially bad at moderating their play at all. When mine were young, the bigger one was 4, and had some ability to moderate that you dont generally get with cats around a year. With a cat of around a year and a kitten, its totally common to look at it and think it looks scary and that the older one needs to chill, but its normal, and not dangerous unless the kitten is a good bit younger and smaller than yours (they gain about a pound a month as young kittens, so plus or minus 4 weeks matters a ton).

 

[Lorraine97]

I say to gently break it up, because you dont want to discourage play. But at these ages, discouraging play is mostly impossible. In any event, sounds like its not needed. Your 100% right, you can trust the kitten's judgment. If kitten takes a little breather and comes right back for more, that is a clear sign that all is well. Cats of unequal size is an issue that sometimes never goes away. I have 12 and 8 pound middle-aged adult cats now. They like each other and play daily, but the 8 pounder always wants to stop first, and sometimes makes protest noises or runs off. What is different between my pair and yours is that your size difference is greater, and 9 month olds are especially bad at moderating their play at all. When mine were young, the bigger one was 4, and had some ability to moderate that you dont generally get with cats around a year. With a cat of around a year and a kitten, its totally common to look at it and think it looks scary and that the older one needs to chill, but its normal, and not dangerous unless the kitten is a good bit younger and smaller than yours (they gain about a pound a month as young kittens, so plus or minus 4 weeks matters a ton).

Thank you! I thought I'd give a little update, so over the last couple of days I have allowed them to spend more time together. I think it has worked! I do feel a little bad, obviously the older kitten was just so eager to play but they're doing much better now. I'm doing some study in my office and letting them have roam of the house, and their play is usually pretty quiet now too- bit of running around obviously, but less squealing. They've started napping in the same room as eachother, so hopefully with a bit more time they'll be all good to leave themselves while I'm at work. Thanks everybody for the perspective that the older one was really over-eager to play, I do think that was it because now he is far less obsessed with her and can be distracted by something else if need be as well.

 

[susanm9006]

My goodness, she is just the cutest!

 

[Lorraine97]

I started this thread less than a week ago and look at them now! To be honest there were no real dramas, their play does get a bit rough but they've never hurt each other and now they're quite cuddly together. The start of a lifelong bond

 

[susanm9006]

Yes. She belongs to him now.

 

[Lorraine97]

Yes. She belongs to him now.

So cute