Kitten Fighting

[demonyara]

Hey hey!
I know there are a ton of other threads about this but I am still confused I know most say to let the kittens go crazy untill fur is flying and the vocalisation is aggressive. But my newest kitten seems to be getting overly vocal/distressed during really tame play.

My two cats (patches 13w and dizzy 9m) seem to get on quite well. They share litter, take turns swapping food, sometimes cuddle and they share toys well. They take turns initialising play and chasing each other around and when they wrestle my older cat is quite good at playing lightly, he is very gentle with play bites and never actually bites down and his paws tap more than swipe at the kitten. But the kitten very quickly starts making angry growls and irritated chirps, his ears go back and he gets hissy. The older cat couldnt care less and just keeps going, or starts grooming the younger one.

Because the play isnt rough i assume it is more of a dominance thing and that the little kitten is unhappy about being dominated by my older cat. When they first started playing we thought the young kitten was scared due to him being a lot smaller but this doesnt seem to be the case anymore (he is a small but ballsy kitten aha). What does worry me is that the kitten then becomes aggressive even though my big kitten doesn't, and i feel that could lead to one becoming hurt or my bigger cat getting pissed of and thus aggressive back.

We were able to successfully stop this in the past by distracting with toys... but now that has become infective. Noise doesnt work either unless they think its food

So
1) do i keep trying to break this up or not
2) does anyone have other easy suggestions for how to get them to separate? Especially as their fave fighting time is when im on the loo or in bed under them

Thanks!

 

[susanm9006]

I think it is just play with your younger getting irritated because his older sibling keeps getting the better of him. I would not interfere. If the younger gets too aggressive the older will let him know that in no uncertain terms, and eventually they will get closer in size so matches get fairer.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm with susanm9006 on this one. It sounds far worse to us that it is, generally. Think of small boys scuffling. There's a LOT of "GET OFF! I SAID GET OFF!" with no damage being done at all.

 

[susanm9006]

If the two are fighting while they are in bed with you, warn them with a “settle down” or “no fighting” or similar in a loud firm voice and then set them down on the floor. If they start back up shut them out of the bedroom for the rest of the night. Then at least you will have a door separating you from their noise and eventually they will figure out that they don’t get to fight in moms bed without getting banished.

 

[demonyara]

Thanks guys!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

That's why we're all here, Darlin! One of these days, you're going to have just the answer someone needs!