HELP! Are my kittens fighting too rough?

[elicat]

I have a 5 month old domestic rescue kitten who is wonderful, except for his biting habit (which the vet assured me was a phase kittens get) and last Saturday I adopted a 2 month old ragdoll kitten. Both of our kittens are male. 

Now the ragdoll is about half the size of our domestic kitten, so when we introduced them the domestic immediately pounced on the ragdoll to play... but after two days (separating them at night, play is always supervised) my older kitten seemed obsessed with the ragdoll kitten and won't leave him alone. Even when they play it's quiet for about 2 minutes and then I hear the kitten crying, and when the kitten is bathing the domestic kitten jumps on him for more play. 

On a side note the domestic kitten has gone a bit off his food, he never eats all of it on one go like he used to. 

Should I try Feliway? Separating them for a longer time? When it is okay to intervene in playing? 

 

[red top rescue]

It sounds like your domestic kitten is just over the moon about having a playmate, and like most kids, he isnt all that sensitive to the needs of the playmate.  One thing I recommend in cases like this is to get a DaBird toy and play with your larger, stronger kitten ALONE with the toy until he is so tired he is panting.  Then let the boys have playtime together.  Eventually your Ragdoll kitten will be bigger and stronger than your domestic kitten and it will probably work out just fine.  Do not let the relationship become unbalanced early on.  When Ragdoll seems like he has had enough, separate them. 

 

[elicat]

Okay, first day of new routine went well. I woke up and played with my older domestic cat until he was panting and then let them play together. The playing still got a bit rough after a while until the ragdoll kitten started hissing and then I tried to feel them together, but my domestic was not interested in the food and more interested in the ragdoll kitten. Had to feed separately. Lunch was much the same. Domestic kitten makes trilling meows when he is seperated from the ragdoll kitten, sounds kind of like a pigeon. I tried to google what this means but couldn't find anything. Domestic kitten is otherwise a very quiet cat. What did you mean by letting the relationship become unbalanced? Do you mean having the ragdoll always loose play fighting will make them unbalanced?

 

[red top rescue]

Yes, you can't leave the two together unsupervised right now, just like you wouldn't leave a 3 year old child and a 2 year old child unsupervised playing together.  Right now the Ragdoll is smaller and younger, so you need to keep the balance so that they will be playmates later on.  Obviously your domestic would like to use the Ragdoll for his own personal toy, and because one is smaller and younger right now, that is what I mean by "UNBALANCED."  They will never be exactly the same age, but the Ragdoll is likely to be larger than the domestic eventually, and by the time they are the same size, they will be balanced.  The domestic may always have more energy and want to play longer.  Right now he could wear out the Ragdoll baby, since he doesn't take NO (hiss!) for an answer, so you need to be the one who calls an end to the playtimes until Ragdoll is big enough and mature enough to do it himself.  It sounds like it went well for awhile and that's great.

The trilling noise is how kittens call to each other, and how their mother calls them to her, and also how a non-neutered male sings love songs to a female.  It's a friendly "come hither" invitation, and your domestic is calling the Ragdoll to come play with him.  He is definitely crazy about this new kitten and if you make sure the little one doesnt get bullied so he develops a resentment and fear of the domestic, you are going to have perfect buddies here. 

When kittens are raised together with littermates, they learn to communicate with each other.  If one hisses or screams, the other learns to back off.  If one stops to wash, that's body language for "hey, let's take a little break," and the others learn that too.  If your two were the same age and size, they could work it out, but it sounds like your domestic may have left his family too young to learn things like NOT BITING TOO HARD and giving a washing sibling a break.  When the proper signals don't work, the Ragdoll resorts to hissing, which means he is a little intimadated, and you need to protect him.  He's really just a baby, while your domestic is like a pre-teen, and they both have rights, but your domestic is not respecting his baby brother's rights.  He has to learn that baby brother is not his personal toy!

You didn't say if the domestic is neutered yet, but if not, he is at the age that he SHOULD be neutered, and that will help also.  Like most teenage boys, he's getting a surge of testosterone at this age.  Even if he is neutered that will happen, but not nearly as strongly.  You just have to be the vigilant mom here because there is no mother cat to rescue the baby (and she would, mom cats break up kitten fights that are too rough).

 

[catspaw66]

This is how littermates play.


They are about 6 months old. They are now over 3, and still play the same way, just rougher sometimes.

Hopefully, this will help answer your question.

 

[elicat]

Here is a video of our domestic kitten being a bit rougher with the ragdoll: 


The end of the video is when I usually break them up, taking the ragdoll into my arms and separating them in different rooms. 

And here is how they play the rest of the time: 


To answer Red Top Rescue's question, yes our older kitten is desexed, he was at 12 weeks. And yes, he also was separated from his mother too early, he was a rescue at 6 weeks old and I adopted him at 8 weeks. He has never had any issues except for the occasional bite and now this rough play. After a week of supervised play sessions and joint feeding they seem to be getting along well, but if left together long enough they do resume their rough play. I don't detect this will be an issue when the ragdoll gets bigger, however we have got a few months until that happens, or I think so, I do not know how fast ragdolls grow. 

I did also get a DaBird toy and my domestic loved it... for a few days, he is less enthusiastic now which is a shame. Back to the lazer pointer it is. 

 

[elicat]

Just witnessed this a few moments ago guys! There is hope yet! 

 

[catspaw66]

Better watch out! When they get to be good play/snuggle buddies, they gang up on YOU.