Adopted new kitten

[CJ1980]

Hi all! Back again. I’ve noticed on occasion, my big cat will be wrestling with her and bite her stomach and she yelps. Especially when she’s in “his spot” on one of the cat trees. The other day I actually couldn’t get him off her for a minute. She’ll then run under the bed, but 5 minutes later she’s ready to play again and goes in the same exact spot and it starts all over.

I’ll be working outside of the house soon and I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her badly. Does this sound like normal play and I’m worrying for nothing? Thanks for all of the advice thus far.

 

[rubysmama]

Hi all! Back again. I’ve noticed on occasion, my big cat will be wrestling with her and bite her stomach and she yelps. Especially when she’s in “his spot” on one of the cat trees. The other day I actually couldn’t get him off her for a minute. She’ll then run under the bed, but 5 minutes later she’s ready to play again and goes in the same exact spot and it starts all over.

I think that would mean she's fine with him, and that when she yelps he's just playing a bit too rough for her.

 

[ArtNJ]

Hi all! Back again. I’ve noticed on occasion, my big cat will be wrestling with her and bite her stomach and she yelps. Especially when she’s in “his spot” on one of the cat trees. The other day I actually couldn’t get him off her for a minute. She’ll then run under the bed, but 5 minutes later she’s ready to play again and goes in the same exact spot and it starts all over.

I’ll be working outside of the house soon and I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her badly. Does this sound like normal play and I’m worrying for nothing? Thanks for all of the advice thus far.

A stomach bite in play wrestling is play. If the 3 year old was biting for real, you'd see wounds. As compared to play biting the neck, its a bit more likely to hurt a bit and possibly leave a mark because the stomach doesn't have the extra protection a cat does in the neck area (which cats have to allow mother's to carry kittens). So you get a protest noise. But usually the adult is just not biting very hard, and there will not be a mark even if you get a protest noise. You can certainly check for a mark, but this is almost certainly just big brother / little brother nonsense and not a serious injury risk. In human terms its equivalent to many of the things big brothers do to little brothers, such as a head noogie.

 

[Meowmee]

Hi all! Back again. I’ve noticed on occasion, my big cat will be wrestling with her and bite her stomach and she yelps. Especially when she’s in “his spot” on one of the cat trees. The other day I actually couldn’t get him off her for a minute. She’ll then run under the bed, but 5 minutes later she’s ready to play again and goes in the same exact spot and it starts all over.

I’ll be working outside of the house soon and I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her badly. Does this sound like normal play and I’m worrying for nothing? Thanks for all of the advice thus far.

As long as he didn’t injure her, I’m sure everything is OK. And she would not keep playing with him if it weren’t imo- if you’re worried, you can keep her isolated in the bedroom or something until she gets a little bigger.