Aggresive brother

[shadoww]

Some of you may know, Scrappy (runt of litter) almost died with distemper and is really well on his way to recovery. Yaaay Scrappy!! He's been isolated from his brother for a week so he could recover in peace, but now however since they are back together, Scooter is really giving him a hard time. All they wanted when they were separated was to be together, now all Scooter wants to do with him is fight. It starts by playful rough and tumble when Scrappy doesn't want to, then Scooter gets more aggressive and then they are rolling over and over fighting. Scooter is not being gentle with him and has made him yowl. I've separated them over and over and then finally end up putting Scooter in a room by himself for a bit. I realize that when they were separated they each got undivided attention, and Scooter may be jealous so I've tried to give them equal attention. But it keeps escalating until I have to put them in separate rooms like little children! Both were ferals that I rescued and I don't want them to become scared of me again by me being after them. My question is this: Should I just let them have it out, or keep them separated or how do I handle this? HELP!

Mary
shadoww

 

[hissy]

I would still be keeping then separated for at least two more weeks. Scrappy has been through a lot of stress with this disease, and he doesn't need the added stress of his brother picking on him. Even if it is just regular rough and tumble kitty play- Scrappy *smells* different now, as sickness makes kitty's smell funny. I would just take it easy, and keep them apart, and when you do put them together, use the vanilla extract trick to help them get along and smell the same.