Kitten bullying resident cats.....

[jolie0216]

Background info:

I rescued a pregnant mama cat from the streets around Christmas 2013.   She had 2 male kittens born in our house in March 2014.   We kept all 3 cats, and still have them to this day!   They all get along fine & we love them 

A couple months ago, an injured kitten showed up on our porch.  Probably 5-6 months old.  He was very  friendly and just seemed.....lost.   He had some kind of laceration on his back that looked pretty wide and infected.   Took him to the vet and was told it was an abscess - gave kitten a course of antibiotics and he is 100% healthy now!  He's been living with us too - confined to the spare bedroom at first, but gradually introduced to our current gang, and that all went OK.   He likes to rough-house a little more than my gang likes, but all in all, everyone gets along OK.    He got neutered about a month ago (all cats are spayed/neutered).  

This kitten really loves me haha - he lays in my lap whenever I'm sitting on the couch & follows me around everywhere.   With the other cats, he plays sort of....aggressively.....well I'm not sure if "aggressively" is really the right word -  he wants to play wrestle a lot and sometimes the other cats just aren't in the mood.  When I see this happening, I give him a wand toy or laser session so he can get it out of his system.

When he goes to play wrestle with someone. he sneaks up and gets on top and bites their neck - I thought this behavior was "mating" behavior or "dominance" behavior?   He never hurts anyone, but I don't know why he does that particular thing so much......... another thing that bothers me is at bedtime -  before he came to live with us, I used to sleep every night with both the boy cats up in bed with me.   Now that new kitten is here, if I go to bed and the other 2 boys are in bed with me, the kitten gets up on top of them and bites their necks and harasses them until they both jump off the bed 

 so kitten then gets me & the bed all to himself.    It makes me kind of  sad for the others - I try to bring them back up onto the bed, but they won't stay if the kitten is up there, and I don't blame them really - they probably just don't want to be harassed.     How can I make him stop "bullying" my other 2 boys?   And why won't they stand up for themselves and make him get off the bed?  They are much bigger and outweigh him by several pounds.......... 

I try to spend one-on-one time with each of my other 2 boy cats so they don't feel like I'm trying to "replace" them with this new kitten.   But I would really like it if, at bedtime, I could get them all to stay on the bed and stop the kitten from bullying the others away.........any ideas how to accomplish this?    I've thought about shutting the bedroom door so the kitten can't get in - but that also means the others couldn't get out, and what if they get thirsty or have to poop or something?   

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Your kitten sounds pretty much like a typical kitten.  You are doing right by distracting him when the others have had enough.  I would give him several good, tiring play sessions every day.  I think the biggest thing that will help is time. (I'm sure that isn't what you want to hear!)  Do you have any cat trees or cat shelves where the others can go to get away from some of his antics?

 

[jolie0216]

Yep, I do have a couple cat trees - and to his credit, the kitten does leave them alone if they run up to the top 

I was concerned about the "mounting" and biting the neck behavior - I thought male cats only did that to females as part of mating behavior, so it seemed strange.   My two boys never did that to each other when they were growing up.......

I guess I'm just going to have to play him out to exhaustion every day for awhile!   When my two boys were kittens, they had each other to play with and since they were the same age, they were on the same page most of the time regarding the stuff they wanted to do.  Now that they're almost 2, they are still playful, but not as much as a 6 month old kitten, so I know they aren't giving the kitten all the attention that he would ideally like to have........I just don't want my old cats to feel like they don't "belong" with me anymore and that their place has been usurped by the kitten.   It makes me sad when kitten chases them off the bed - I've just been focusing on the old cats and giving them time before bed time so they know they are still loved.    But even that is difficult because kitten wants to occupy my lap when he isn't running around like a fool!   

I do really like the kitten (Orange Juice) - he has a terrific personality and is very very friendly - I don't want him to lose that part of himself.   I just worry that the old cats are unhappy -  they don't seem unhappy, I just worry about them......

 

[clawsie]

Hi, am having similar problem with my boy kitten (just over a year old) harassing my two 11 year old girls, mainly pouncing on them trying to play rough when they just want to be left alone! I also have had to shut the bedroom at night to keep the girls on the bed with us, and I have a litter tray and bowl of fresh water in there, just in case. It's worked well so far, the girls will let me know by meowing at the bedroom door if they want to go downstairs. Good luck!

 

[dbljj]

Yep, I do have a couple cat trees - and to his credit, the kitten does leave them alone if they run up to the top :lol3:

I was concerned about the "mounting" and biting the neck behavior - I thought male cats only did that to females as part of mating behavior, so it seemed strange.   My two boys never did that to each other when they were growing up.......

I guess I'm just going to have to play him out to exhaustion every day for awhile!   When my two boys were kittens, they had each other to play with and since they were the same age, they were on the same page most of the time regarding the stuff they wanted to do.  Now that they're almost 2, they are still playful, but not as much as a 6 month old kitten, so I know they aren't giving the kitten all the attention that he would ideally like to have........I just don't want my old cats to feel like they don't "belong" with me anymore and that their place has been usurped by the kitten.   It makes me sad when kitten chases them off the bed - I've just been focusing on the old cats and giving them time before bed time so they know they are still loved.    But even that is difficult because kitten wants to occupy my lap when he isn't running around like a fool!   

I do really like the kitten (Orange Juice) - he has a terrific personality and is very very friendly - I don't want him to lose that part of himself.   I just worry that the old cats are unhappy -  they don't seem unhappy, I just worry about them......

Sounds like typical behavior to me. That was the way Opie treated Tigger when he was very young. Both makes and fixed. Now Opie is the alpha cat and this little tortie female will stare him down and lunge for his throat. She lives to bite his tail or ears and neck. At first she swatted his tail constantly and it hurt cause she still had her needle like nails. Now they BOTH attack each othr wrestle, chase thru the house. Male or female has nothing to go with it.he is 12 pounds heavier, when he has had enuff he goes off on his own. Now when he settles on the sofa for a long nap she takes over the beige rocker and naps as well. But she will lift her head every little bit to see if he is still sacked out and then lay her head back down.they are a treat to watch