Five month old kitten playing too rough with six week old kitten?

[freyaandzelda]

So I rescued a six week old kitten from some dogs earlier this week, and she and my older kitten have began to become more comfortable with each other, and have started playing together. They will chase each other around the house and pounce on each other, which is fine, but the older kitten, Freya, is getting more and more rough during play time. She will pounce on the younger kitten, Zelda, and hold her down while biting at her and clawing at her, and roll her around on the floor. She seems to be really rough when she's clawing at her and pinning her down. She'll also roll Zelda over onto her back while doing this. Zelda cries and growls when she does this, but doesn't have any compunction about starting to play again. Is Freya being too rough, or should I just leave them to their play?
Zelda

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• freyaandzelda
• Aug 15, 2015

Freya and Zelda

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• freyaandzelda
• Aug 15, 2015

 

[Norachan]

How old is Freya? She looks quite a bit bigger than Zelda. Even at just a few months older Freya will be much stronger than a six week old kitten, so it's probably not a good idea to let them play together unsupervised yet.

Rather than letting them wrestle together could you try playing with them both with a wand toy? That way they'll become good friends without the smaller kitten becoming the "prey" for Freya's hunting games.

Thank you for rescuing Zelda, the poor little thing sounds like she's had a rough start in life.

 

[freyaandzelda]

Freya is five months old. I've been keeping Zelda in the bathroom while I'm gone, even for the shortest amount of time. I've been concerned I'm being over protective. I try to entice them with a wand toy, but the only one interested in it is Zelda. It was previously Freya's favorite toy, but I think Zelda is her new favorite. She peeks from behind different objects while Zelda is playing, just waiting to pounce.

And yes, Zelda had a rough start. When I found her she had been chased to the tippy top of my lilac bush by some dogs, no momma or litter mates in sight. Surprisingly, the experience doesn't seem to have freaked her out too much about my dog. So that's a plus!

I'm actually getting Freya spayed on the 24th of this month, so I'm wondering if that will calm her down a little bit with her play?

On an unrelated note, rescuing this kitten was a little serendipitous I suppose. I had been planning on adopting a cat from the animal shelter after getting Freya spayed and giving her time to heal. Of course, I was wanting a kitten that was at least Freya's age, and was leaning more towards a male kitten, but we don't always get to choose our pets I suppose, sometimes they just choose us.

 

[Norachan]

Yes, it sounds as if you were chosen this time.

Spaying usually does calm them down a bit, Freya may just want to snuggle for a few days after she's been spayed. 

I've had 10 week old foster kittens and six month old kittens at the same time. A bit of supervised play is a good idea. How about making some hiding places that are too small for Freya to get into? A cardboard box with a small hole cut into it? If Zelda has a hiding place where she can get away from Freya if the game gets too rough it will give her a chance to do the stalking and ambushing part of the game, rather than being the one being pounced on all the time.

Freya looks so much like my girl Lizzie.

 

[freyaandzelda]

You know, now that I think about it I do have an old box that Freya used to play in before outgrowing it, I bet I can pull it out for Zelda. She also hides under the couch, which Freya recently became too big for.

Not often, but every once in a while, Freya will shoot across the house with Zelda not far behind. It's a pretty funny sight.

Freya is basically a big snuggly baby when playtime is over, I'm hoping Zelda follows suit. She hasn't shown much interest in cuddling with Freya yet, and it kind of bums Freya out when she tries to groom or snuggle Zelda and just gets hissed at.

 

[Norachan]

It will take Zelda a while to get used to her. I had a kitten dumped outside my house about a year ago, he was about the same age as Zelda. He was terrified of the other cats at first. (I've got some very big males who like to play rough) but after a few weeks of careful introductions and supervised play he was comfortable with them.

I wonder how Zelda ended up there? Do you think she was a feral kitten or could she have been dumped?

 

[freyaandzelda]

She was probably a feral kitten. I live way out in the country and have many irresponsible neighbors. They get one cat or dog and don't spay or neuter it, and before you know it the place is just crawling with strays and ferals. She doesn't seem to have had much human interaction. She was frightened of me at first and still gets easily startled if someone walks past her, but she warmed up to me relatively quickly and is comfortable as long as the person is sitting down. I don't know if that's normal for a feral kitten, or if it's just because she's so young she's a little more accepting of new things.

 

[freyaandzelda]

Freya's behavior has changed a bit today. She will grab Zelda with her forepaws and do the bunny kicking thing, often while biting Around Zelda's neck area. She will generally at least try to pin her and hold her down, and after pinning her for a few seconds will step back off of Zelda. Zelda then kind of wiggles on the floor like she's trying to get her bearings (she's often been rolled onto her back at this point), but she'll usually begin playing again right away, despite the protests when Freya has her pinned. I really think it's a dominance/mothering display and I've just been overreacting, but I will continue to keep Zelda in a separate room while I'm not there until she's a bit older, just in case.

Actually, when I came home from work today and opened the door Freya came running around the corner from where Zelda's room is. I think she was waiting on her to come out and play.

 

[Norachan]

That's sweet. As long as you're there to keep an eye on things and Zelda isn't getting injured they're probably doing a lot of bonding with these play fights.

I had to share a picture of my cat Lizzie, on the right, who looks really similar to Freya.

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• Norachan
• Aug 16, 2015

The kitten is Lizzie's half sister, Bea. They are both from the same colony that I TNR'd. Bea and all of her litter mates were re-homed, Lizzie and her brother and sister still live with me. Lizzie's sister is a Freya too! 

 

[freyaandzelda]

Oh my goodness, how sweet! They do look a lot alike! Freya is my first cat, so I've become pretty partial to grey and white tabbies.

A couple of minutes ago Freya held Zelda down pretty forcefully so she could groom her, it was actually pretty sweet to watch! Of course, she then started biting at Zelda's ears and face, which ticked the baby off so much she ran away, but not before getting in a few growls and swats of indignation.

 

[freyaandzelda]

This was nearly two years ago!! <3 If anyone cares, my girls are nearly inseparable now.

 

[Norachan]

That's great news!

Any pictures? We love to see pictures of inseparable cats here.

 

[freyaandzelda]

 

[Norachan]

Awww! They look so sweet together. I'm glad they ended up as best friends.