Cat is too rough when initiating play

Perxian

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Hi everyone, We have a 3 year old orange boy who is having some behavioral issues and it's causing the other cats in the household to not want to interact with him.
Panko is a good boy overall. Not food aggressive, very sweet on people, and just a generally laid back guy. He is front declawed (previous owner's doing) but doesn't seem to have much discomfort in the way of that.
Over the past month or so he's been exhibiting what we call "middle child syndrome" behaviors. He will go to where another kitty is sitting and chomp on them to get them to move. Additionally, when one kitty wants to initiate play he immediately crawls on top of them and starts biting on their shoulder and neck. Upon observation the other cats will frantically kick and punch him to get away, and that usually gets him to back off, but sometimes I will be in the other room and hear a desperate scream and a loud scurry, then come to see Panko has a sizeable tuft of hair stuck to his mouth. Even just a few minutes ago I was sitting across from him and our littlest cat walks up and grooms his head. He enjoys it for a solid 2 minutes then when she gets tired and stops he goes for her legs to bite her.
The other cats are noticeably avoiding being close to him in fear of him lashing out or playing too aggressively. Is anyone familiar with teaching older cats about gentle play?
I should add we do play with all of our cats every night to try to dump some pent up energy. It doesn't seem to affect his behavior though.
Any advice appreciated!
 

Furballsmom

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Hi
Is everyone spayed/neutered?

Would you have a way to take him for walks? Also, have you had him in for a wellness check recently?
 
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Perxian

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Hi
Is everyone spayed/neutered?

Would you have a way to take him for walks? Also, have you had him in for a wellness check recently?
Everyone is spayed and neutered!
I'm not sure if he'd enjoy walks as he has no interest in going outside. We leave our screen doors open for him to look out of on occasion and he has never showed interest in going any further than the doorways.
He went to the vet about a month ago for routine distemper and rabies vacs and they said he looked good.
 

sanfran_kitty_lady_21

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I think you have a cat that's both a) has too much energy and b) on the sensitive side. I would add a morning play session specifically for him to get out some more energy. I think that will immediately help with the situation.

But I also want to point out, cats who are playing, even playing rough, won't come out of it with fur in their mouth. Not saying he's aggressive, but this definitely less like play and more like annoyance. I think a morning play session will help a lot.
 

maggie101

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Possibly, panko has his own play time and does not want to be bothered by the kitten or he's territorial. The older cat's are defending the kitten. My cat Maggie got bit hard because peaches does not want to play. I had to take Maggie to the vet for antibiotics. Before that I had my old cat josie to break up a fight
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