Kitten Introduction: Are They Fighting, Establishing Dominance, Or Playing?

[Elizabethriki]

passwordHey everyone! We introduced our resident kitten and new kitten this morning and don’t know if they were fighting, playing, establishing dominance, or something else. Here’s what we did before we introduced them.

We’ve had our kitten Albus since he was 6 weeks old. He is now 5 months old. We decided to get him a companion about 2 months ago that was close to his age and there was hissing and growling by the door for about an hour straight. We got scared so we decided to take her back to her foster. We have been on the lookout for a kitten since then. About 3 weeks ago my cousin began fostering a cute black kitten and we decided to adopt her. She is now 11 weeks old and we’ve named her Trixie. About 2 1/2 weeks ago my cousin and I started exchanging their scents to make it easier when we brought her home. We did this for about a week and a half before I brought her home last Sunday.

Monday and Tuesday we let them play with each other’s pawn under our bedroom door. Albus growled at Trixie 3x but never hissed. Trixie hissed now and then but by Tuesday night she wasn’t hissing back at Albus while playing under the door. Tuesday night I fed them on opposite sides of the door and both cats ate right next to the door without an issue.

Wednesday and Thursday we moved their feedings from a regular door to a sliding door so they could see each other more. No hissing or growling at all from either one. They played with each other’s paws now and then. I did notice Albus would put his paw through the door more than Trixie and Trixie would try to bite it and play with it. I also noticed when she would ignore him for a while he would trill/meow (it sounded like a high pitched grrrrraau sound). We started to open the door a little more for each feeding and both cats ate without an issue.

Friday they were still playing with each other’s paws the same way. We also opened the door about 4-5 inches, enough to where they could fully see each other and Albus started to eat Trixie’s food when she “burried” it.

I recorded them this morning just in case something bad happened we could review it and see where they went wrong. To us it seemed like Trixie was trying to attack Albus or rough play and Albus didn’t want to but we don’t know if maybe we’re reading them wrong and they were just playing or just fighting. I uploaded the videos to my Smugmug page.

Here’s the link: password
The password is Trixie (the “T” might be lowercase but I can’t remember)

Any advice on what we should do next would be great and if anyone can tell us whether their behavior was good or bad that would be great too. Thanks in advance!

 

[Elizabethriki]

Oh, also. We fed them “lunch” again after about 5 hours after the 2 videos and they were perfectly comfortable with each other on opposite sides of the door.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! --I used lower case

I think you're doing a terrific job, and they're working things out, Albus caught on after a while. When it looked like it was headed to being too rough you distracted them which was perfect. You'll be able to tell if it looks like one or the other needs a break.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide

You, Your Cat And Stress

 

[Elizabethriki]

That was 1 of the articles I read before bringing her in. I’ve just been a little nervous that things might take a turn and that maybe what happened this morning meant we need to slow down the process. I’ve been letting them play with their paws through the door a few times the rest of today and when Trixie has ignored Albus he trills to call her. When I put her back in the bathroom right now for tonight, he meowed at me like hey why did you put her away and then heard her meow too right after him. She has never meowed after putting her away so I’m hoping that means she wants to continue playing with him too.

 

[Furballsmom]

Lol, I think you're doing a fantastic job of keeping them on track for a wonderful relationship

 

[susanm9006]

I think they are doing wonderfully. The food sharing could have caused a ruckus but Albus was very patient. Since she really liked his food, I would have scooped some into her dish but I think they are definitely ready to spend more time together. Get a toy out that they can both play with, like a wand and then just let them interact.

 

[susanm9006]

Just watched second video, them playing. Again Albus is being very respectful and gentle, Trixie not so much. It was all play but Albus was a little nervous about Trixie’s bravado. I definitely would not have stopped it or even called out to Albus. If they continued playing I would expect there to be a hiss or a smack from Albus to Trixie as he gets more comfortable telling her to back off and mind her manners some. He could also hold her down and you would hear her screaming or hissing like she was being tortured. It is just part of establishing their relationship and boundaries. I would not interfere unless it is many times rougher and fur is literally flying.

 

[Elizabethriki]

Just watched second video, them playing. Again Albus is being very respectful and gentle, Trixie not so much. It was all play but Albus was a little nervous about Trixie’s bravado. I definitely would not have stopped it or even called out to Albus. If they continued playing I would expect there to be a hiss or a smack from Albus to Trixie as he gets more comfortable telling her to back off and mind her manners some. He could also hold her down and you would hear her screaming or hissing like she was being tortured. It is just part of establishing their relationship and boundaries. I would not interfere unless it is many times rougher and fur is literally flying.

We got nervous the first time which is why we stopped it shortly after. We let them out together again today and the same thing happened. They started going at it again almost right away. This time Albus layed about 5 feet away for about 2 minutes at some point while Trixie was playing with my husband and then she proceeded to attack him again. After about 15 minutes we fed them to see if they would stop to feed and they did. They switched foods twice while feeding. Right after, they started chasing each other and Albus pinned Trixie to the ground a few times and we did hear her scream a bit and hiss a few times. She also growled at him when he got near her after that and he backed off calmly.

We do worry that he might hurt her since he’s about 3x bigger than her in both size and weight.

 

[susanm9006]

It is highly unlikely he would hurt her. He has the instinct to back off if she protests too much and seems to be cautious around her, so I wouldn’t worry about that.

 

[Elizabethriki]

It is highly unlikely he would hurt her. He has the instinct to back off if she protests too much and seems to be cautious around her, so I wouldn’t worry about that.

I do hope so. Only because we did rescue him at 6 weeks so I don’t think he always knows his strength when he bites her. He bites me pretty hard sometime. He’s gotten better at it but he’s still not good.

 

[Hellenww]

He bites me pretty hard sometime. He’s gotten better at it but he’s still not good.

They are both beautiful!

She'll bite him back and he'll more than likely learn the proper way to love bite. The video does show him respecting her boundaries so I don't think he'd hurt her. Do make sure they both have their nails trimmed. Kitten claws are very sharp and we've had accidental eye scratches.