Kitten refuses to leave senior cat alone

[CallieKatherine]

Hi all,
I wanted to come on here and see if anybody had any advice to offer about a 5 month old kitten who is completely obsessed with my 17 year old cat. We found our kitten (Finn) as a stray in our backyard during the summer when he was a couple weeks old. His siblings and mother abandoned him so we brought him in and he’s a sweet cat but over the months of having him he absolutely refuses to leave my older cat alone. Boots is a senior and has always been the only cat of the household so he likes his space and finn cannot understand that. I know he just wants to play but it feels like he’s really starting to aggravate Boots and nothing will stop him. I know this is a pretty common problem but I was wondering if anybody had any techniques that worked for them or around what age the kitten started to finally give up? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[stephanietx]

When this happened in my house, I would use a towel to "herd" the kitten away from my older cat and then distract the kitten with an interactive toy like daBird or something of that sort. You can also try calming agents such as Feliway or Comfort Zone diffusers to help tone down things in your home.

 

[CallieKatherine]

When this happened in my house, I would use a towel to "herd" the kitten away from my older cat and then distract the kitten with an interactive toy like daBird or something of that sort. You can also try calming agents such as Feliway or Comfort Zone diffusers to help tone down things in your home.

Thank you! I’ll look into those calming agents

 

[treeclimber]

He may or may not grow out of it. If he does it will probably be around 10-18 months, but there’s also a chance that once this is established as their relationship dynamic he’ll just keep doing it. There are some adult cats that act this way too.

Sometimes the best way to manage an older kitten whose energy and craving for stimulation are manifesting in annoying ways is to bring in another kitten of similar age. Two kittens are less than half the trouble of one kitten.

 

[CallieKatherine]

He may or may not grow out of it. If he does it will probably be around 10-18 months, but there’s also a chance that once this is established as their relationship dynamic he’ll just keep doing it. There are some adult cats that act this way too.

Sometimes the best way to manage an older kitten whose energy and craving for stimulation are manifesting in annoying ways is to bring in another kitten of similar age. Two kittens are less than half the trouble of one kitten.

thank you! I’m really hoping he does grow out of it since trying to keep him to getting at my senior cat’s tail or jumping on his back is getting to be a lot

 

[CallieKatherine]

I just realized I probably should have mentioned in the original post that it’s not just him wanting to play with Boots but rather he is so obsessed I literally have to watch for when Boots enters his litter box and then shut the door otherwise Finn will try to jump in the litter box with him. He’ll also try to eat from the same bowl as Boots while he’s eating. He doesn’t seem to let Boots do anything on his own anymore

 

[treeclimber]

I just realized I probably should have mentioned in the original post that it’s not just him wanting to play with Boots but rather he is so obsessed I literally have to watch for when Boots enters his litter box and then shut the door otherwise Finn will try to jump in the litter box with him. He’ll also try to eat from the same bowl as Boots while he’s eating. He doesn’t seem to let Boots do anything on his own anymore

How old was Finn when he was separated from his littermates?

Does Boots swat at him or otherwise try to enforce boundaries?

 

[CallieKatherine]

How old was Finn when he was separated from his littermates?

Does Boots swat at him or otherwise try to enforce boundaries?

Finn was estimated to be only about 2 weeks old when we found him. Boots constantly swats and hisses at him but it only seems to get him to run away for a few seconds before he’s right back to bothering him

 

[treeclimber]

Finn was a bottle baby?

I don’t have much experience with bottle babies, so I’ll defer to the expertise of others here who do.

But I think that might make an age-appropriate playmate even more important - he probably missed a lot of the “how to be a cat” lessons young kittens get from interactions with their mother and littermates, so maybe a substitute littermate now might help him catch up on some of his feline social skills.

Even if you can’t permanently adopt another kitten, maybe you could foster a litter for a while so he’ll at least get to spend some time with other kittens? Or arrange playdates with a friend’s kitten/young adult cat?

 

[CallieKatherine]

Finn was a bottle baby?

I don’t have much experience with bottle babies, so I’ll defer to the expertise of others here who do.

But I think that might make an age-appropriate playmate even more important - he probably missed a lot of the “how to be a cat” lessons young kittens get from interactions with their mother and littermates, so maybe a substitute littermate now might help him catch up on some of his feline social skills.

Even if you can’t permanently adopt another kitten, maybe you could foster a litter for a while so he’ll at least get to spend some time with other kittens? Or arrange playdates with a friend’s kitten/young adult cat?

I can definitely look into maybe having some playdates with other cats. Unfortunately we just don’t have the room or funds to add another pet to the house at the moment. We have an almost 3 year old dog who is very playful so I was hoping he would play with her more. He plays with her a little but he’s a lot more invested in Boots.

 

[stephanietx]

Make sure your kitty has a cat tree. That helps so much, especially when they're little. They can work off their energy by climbing the cat tree.

 

[CallieKatherine]

Make sure your kitty has a cat tree. That helps so much, especially when they're little. They can work off their energy by climbing the cat tree.

thank you for the advice! He does have a cat tree and loves to use it

 

[ArtNJ]

This really doesn't sound too bad in the scheme of things. This isnt necessarily anything worse than an old grandpa using the newspaper to swat the grandson because he needs some time and space to himself.

I agree with the cat tree. Jackson Galaxy preaches elevated spaces hard, and I've seen that yes elevated spaces do make a difference. For example, after close to two years, our rescue finally played with the younger cat for a couple of minutes sometimes, but only from elevation. Hidey holes might also be useful, and many big scratching posts have them.

 

[CallieKatherine]

This really doesn't sound too bad in the scheme of things. This isnt necessarily anything worse than an old grandpa using the newspaper to swat the grandson because he needs some time and space to himself.

I agree with the cat tree. Jackson Galaxy preaches elevated spaces hard, and I've seen that yes elevated spaces do make a difference. For example, after close to two years, our rescue finally played with the younger cat for a couple of minutes sometimes, but only from elevation. Hidey holes might also be useful, and many big scratching posts have them.

I understand what you’re saying but it does seem like it’s starting to stress Boots out and at his age I really don’t want him to he stressed. Finn does love his cat tree and i’ll have to look into some hidey holes, thank for the suggestions!