Cat playing with kitten rough?

[Bajwa]

Hi everyone,

I recently just got a second kitten. My first kitten is 7 months old (pheobi) and she accepted the new kitten fairly well (carlos). She hissed on the first 2 days alot but by day 3 no hissing and by day 4 they could eat next to eachother.

However my new kitten is 8 weeks old and he is very adventurous but i think phoebi may think hes playing and something dives into him. How do i know when she is hurting him? Sometimes he seems like he is backing away but he is never making any sounds. Would there be some obvious sound or something if pheobi was hurting carlos? It seems like wrestling but sometimes it looks like phoebi is bitting carlos ear. I dont kno if phoebi is bitting or doing that cute nibble?

It does seem like they are playing but he is just so small

Any advice would be appriciated

Thanks

 

[susanm9006]

Eight weeks old is still really young and it is possible for an older kitten to hurt him. So I would only allow the two to be together when you can supervise and separate them when the older gets rough. Otherwise i would keep the kitten in a separate room.

In another month or so the kitten will be bigger and more able to handle the play.

 

[ArtNJ]

I certainly don't think Susan is wrong -- 8 weeks is definitely borderline. However, I've not heard of an injury occurring in this situation, so I'd skin it a little differently. With a big size difference like this, squealing and running away by the smaller kitten is super common, and seems to mean the kitten is under head noogie level discomfort. You don't have any squealing, and haven't even mentioned running away. So I think we are good! Even if the small kitten runs, by coming right back and acting like nothing happened, the kitten confirms that all is well. Its not ideal that the older kitten plays a little too rough, but he won't truly hurt the kitten and things will get more equal in time.

Again, 8 weeks is borderline, but you don't even have squealing or running away by the kitten, so I'm not troubled. If you do get some squealing/running, watch whether the kitten comes back in a few minutes and acts like nothing happened, and even initiates contact with the big kitten. Thats your clue all is well.

If in doubt, a video always helps. Host it elsewhere and link to it in your post.

 

[Bajwa]

Thank you both for your replies.

He does sometimes seem like hes running away so i quickly and camly tell pheobi to stop, and she does .. but then little carlos will sometimes run back to her himself which makes me think hes ok.

I dont keep them together at night. They sleep in seperate rooms and are only together under supervison. I will make a video and share it later just for your opinions as i never ever had a cat and now have 2 after 7 months!

They can eat next to eachother which makes me happy and today i woke up to them both meowing at either side of there doors.

Thank you all for help. Will post vidoe to follow