Hello,
So a week ago I got a new kitten, she's about 7 weeks old now. A bit too young to be separated from her mother, but we had no choice as the owner of the mother was giving away the kittens, not wanting them in the house anymore. So instead of having a 6 week old kitten go to the pound, we figured she'd be better off in a home. Anyways, we already have another cat as well, he's a little under 2 years old, but still acts like a kitten, over hyper, always making chirping noises here and there, grunting, etc. We try to play with him, but he doesn't tire out even after two hours straight. And his sleeping patterns are very much human like, I never see him napping during the day, but he sleeps all throughout the night with us.
Now, onto the problem. When we got the kitten, we set up our own screen door, put the kitten in our room, let the rest of the house be the adult cat's room, and the screen door was outside our bedroom door, so we can have the door be open, but there still be separation between our adult cat and kitten. We did the whole never letting them interact, but bringing them to the screen and feeding them to introduce each other with the joy of food, associating them with a happy thought. Well, we thought, after a week, it'd be ok, as our adult cat really didn't pay much attention to the kitten whenever we were feeding him right outside the screen door. Immediately he rushed at the kitten, but then started to do the strangest thing, he began to groom her. But like....furiously, like he couldn't lick her fast enough. And he seemed extremely obsessed with licking her anus, much like a mother trying to stimulate her kitten to go to the bathroom.
The real issue though is the playing, or at least what I hope to god is playing. It honestly looks like he just doesn't know how to hold back since she's one tenth his size, she doesn't make noises or anything when they do play, and she always seems to want to play more. However, it still just looks too vicious, and he always goes for her, like never leaves her alone. It makes me extremely nervous to ever leave those two alone until the kitten is close to being his size. When they play he bites, goes for the back feet, goes for her stomach, one time he tried to bite the front of her face, and a couple of times he's tried to scruff her. There was one time when she did make a loud meow, and I stopped them. Other than that one instance, there hasn't been any sounds, no hisses, nothing. So it's hard to tell if he's being too rough, being just right, or if he's actually attacking her.
So a week ago I got a new kitten, she's about 7 weeks old now. A bit too young to be separated from her mother, but we had no choice as the owner of the mother was giving away the kittens, not wanting them in the house anymore. So instead of having a 6 week old kitten go to the pound, we figured she'd be better off in a home. Anyways, we already have another cat as well, he's a little under 2 years old, but still acts like a kitten, over hyper, always making chirping noises here and there, grunting, etc. We try to play with him, but he doesn't tire out even after two hours straight. And his sleeping patterns are very much human like, I never see him napping during the day, but he sleeps all throughout the night with us.
Now, onto the problem. When we got the kitten, we set up our own screen door, put the kitten in our room, let the rest of the house be the adult cat's room, and the screen door was outside our bedroom door, so we can have the door be open, but there still be separation between our adult cat and kitten. We did the whole never letting them interact, but bringing them to the screen and feeding them to introduce each other with the joy of food, associating them with a happy thought. Well, we thought, after a week, it'd be ok, as our adult cat really didn't pay much attention to the kitten whenever we were feeding him right outside the screen door. Immediately he rushed at the kitten, but then started to do the strangest thing, he began to groom her. But like....furiously, like he couldn't lick her fast enough. And he seemed extremely obsessed with licking her anus, much like a mother trying to stimulate her kitten to go to the bathroom.
The real issue though is the playing, or at least what I hope to god is playing. It honestly looks like he just doesn't know how to hold back since she's one tenth his size, she doesn't make noises or anything when they do play, and she always seems to want to play more. However, it still just looks too vicious, and he always goes for her, like never leaves her alone. It makes me extremely nervous to ever leave those two alone until the kitten is close to being his size. When they play he bites, goes for the back feet, goes for her stomach, one time he tried to bite the front of her face, and a couple of times he's tried to scruff her. There was one time when she did make a loud meow, and I stopped them. Other than that one instance, there hasn't been any sounds, no hisses, nothing. So it's hard to tell if he's being too rough, being just right, or if he's actually attacking her.
