So I'm fairly certain I know the answer to this and I'm just being a helicopter cat parent but please bear with me. Bit of a long post. We have four cats: Mochi and Millie, 'The Kittens,' are two and a half year old bonded female pair. Ori is the original cat and a bit of an anxious mess (helped with recent medication) - he is a 5 year old adult male. Fruit Loop is the latest addition who showed up to our house randomly - He is also an adult male. All have been fixed. The kittens are about 7 pounds, and the boys are about 12 pounds.
Ori and Loop don't get along quite yet but are making progress. Loop lives in my office for now, and when Ori is sleeping in our bedroom we shut the door to let Loop out. The kittens are fairly aloof to other cats (more interested in one another) and for the most part they don't bother with him or interact with him much. He, similarly, doesn't bother them much or interact with them much. We are to the point where I'm fairly comfortable leaving the three out and about while I tool around. We just moved, so there's LOTS to be done and I'm comfortable going outside with them in the house and stuff, and they will all be out for several hour stretches (up to half the day).
The move has done wonders for progress, because it's easy to let Loop have free roam time in this house, and it was a blank slate with neutral smells, and it's done a lot of good to get the boys used to each other as well. (that's a whole other story, but we are making progress - Ori is slow due to his anxiety but since he was medicated he has calmed down quite a bit).
HOWEVER: The 'issue' I'm posting about. Sometimes Fruit Loop will, frankly out of the blue, go after Millie. Millie is a sweetheart who literally ignores him and is not instigating anything. Sometimes she's just sitting doing nothing, or laying down, or just walking past. She doesn't much like to wrestle like her sister does (unless it's with her sister). Loops will sometimes just walk by and tackle her. the other day Millie was sitting on a box next to him on the floor, and he pulled her to the floor and tussled her. it's not a play tackle, he will flatten his ears back and there's usually a short bit of yowling or hissing. It's typically just one lunge, but the other day it was several seconds. He will more rarely go after Mochi this way. There's never claws or blood, but sometimes there will be tufts of the kittens fur tugged out. This has been happening less and less often, to be fair, and less seriously than it happened at the old house where he was a bit territorial of his space.
After, Loop will stalk away with airplane ears and seemingly discontented, lashing his tail. After these spats I have been putting him back in his room and shutting the door, especially if I catch it when it happens and I pull them apart. Loop seems to know this and will go hide afterwards (he doesn't want to go back into his room!) I'm mostly just concerned because this seems so out of the blue with no trigger. - It is never around resources, toys, food, space. I'm also concerned because Ori is FIERCELY protective of the kittens, and when they yowl like this he will immediately engage Loop in a very much real fight where he tries to draw blood. This has only happened once, where he managed to bite ME instead of fruit loop (I scooped up Loop when I saw Ori running in) and I bled considerably- Lots of lessons learned there, I tried to push introductions too fast, and Ori was not ready. This was a while ago before Ori was medicated, and I'm being much more careful with introductions now - Working on his relationship with Ori separately than his relationship with the kittens. But I don't want this to turn into a brawl some once all four are free cats. I think once Ori is comfortable with Fruit Loop, it won't trigger a genuine fight light that.
Long story short. Is this a normal part of cat life? Should I just let them be and let the kittens and Fruit Loop figure themselves out and work out their relationships? I know with four cats they're not going to get along 100% of the time but I just need to know if this is typical so I can stop overthinking it lol. I feel like the fact that it's becoming less frequent and I can leave them out for longer stretches indicates that it won't be a forever thing, but I would appreciate input regardless.
Ori and Loop don't get along quite yet but are making progress. Loop lives in my office for now, and when Ori is sleeping in our bedroom we shut the door to let Loop out. The kittens are fairly aloof to other cats (more interested in one another) and for the most part they don't bother with him or interact with him much. He, similarly, doesn't bother them much or interact with them much. We are to the point where I'm fairly comfortable leaving the three out and about while I tool around. We just moved, so there's LOTS to be done and I'm comfortable going outside with them in the house and stuff, and they will all be out for several hour stretches (up to half the day).
The move has done wonders for progress, because it's easy to let Loop have free roam time in this house, and it was a blank slate with neutral smells, and it's done a lot of good to get the boys used to each other as well. (that's a whole other story, but we are making progress - Ori is slow due to his anxiety but since he was medicated he has calmed down quite a bit).
HOWEVER: The 'issue' I'm posting about. Sometimes Fruit Loop will, frankly out of the blue, go after Millie. Millie is a sweetheart who literally ignores him and is not instigating anything. Sometimes she's just sitting doing nothing, or laying down, or just walking past. She doesn't much like to wrestle like her sister does (unless it's with her sister). Loops will sometimes just walk by and tackle her. the other day Millie was sitting on a box next to him on the floor, and he pulled her to the floor and tussled her. it's not a play tackle, he will flatten his ears back and there's usually a short bit of yowling or hissing. It's typically just one lunge, but the other day it was several seconds. He will more rarely go after Mochi this way. There's never claws or blood, but sometimes there will be tufts of the kittens fur tugged out. This has been happening less and less often, to be fair, and less seriously than it happened at the old house where he was a bit territorial of his space.
After, Loop will stalk away with airplane ears and seemingly discontented, lashing his tail. After these spats I have been putting him back in his room and shutting the door, especially if I catch it when it happens and I pull them apart. Loop seems to know this and will go hide afterwards (he doesn't want to go back into his room!) I'm mostly just concerned because this seems so out of the blue with no trigger. - It is never around resources, toys, food, space. I'm also concerned because Ori is FIERCELY protective of the kittens, and when they yowl like this he will immediately engage Loop in a very much real fight where he tries to draw blood. This has only happened once, where he managed to bite ME instead of fruit loop (I scooped up Loop when I saw Ori running in) and I bled considerably- Lots of lessons learned there, I tried to push introductions too fast, and Ori was not ready. This was a while ago before Ori was medicated, and I'm being much more careful with introductions now - Working on his relationship with Ori separately than his relationship with the kittens. But I don't want this to turn into a brawl some once all four are free cats. I think once Ori is comfortable with Fruit Loop, it won't trigger a genuine fight light that.
Long story short. Is this a normal part of cat life? Should I just let them be and let the kittens and Fruit Loop figure themselves out and work out their relationships? I know with four cats they're not going to get along 100% of the time but I just need to know if this is typical so I can stop overthinking it lol. I feel like the fact that it's becoming less frequent and I can leave them out for longer stretches indicates that it won't be a forever thing, but I would appreciate input regardless.
