Kittens Fighting!

[Brittanydevv]

I have no idea what to do and figured I'd come here for advice. I recently adopted 2 kittens. I got them 2 weeks apart, so I figured the "resident" kitten wouldn't find it to hard to adjust to a new kitten because he's been here for such a short time. Anyway, I did the introduction process, swapping smells, sight, short play sessions, feeding on both sides of door, etc. I also have them separate resources, food, litter and cat trees. But no matter what I do they just attack eachother. When they are together I can distract them with food, but once they stop eating they just attack again. When they fight there is growling and hissing sometimes so I'm sure they aren't playing. When they do fight relatively quietly I let them keep going to see if they will get bored or just stop. But it always gets to a point where it gets loud and very aggressive and I have to separate them. But when they are separate they cry to get either in the isolation room or to get out. When I open the door to get in, one of them always bolts and searches for the other to attack. I cannot imagine giving one up. I love them both so so much. Please please help!!

 

[Kieka]

Is there blood? Is there fur flying? If the answer is no, and the kittens are under 6 months, it is probably just playing.

I know it seems excessive to you but play is cat training for fighting and hunting. It can seem overly aggressive to the outsider. Especially two kittens who haven't been together before and may have different definitions of too far. They will learn how to regulate the play given time. If they are younger kittens they will likely go until they both fall asleep, wake up, eat and repeat. My boy as a kitten was either moving, eating or sleeping. There wasn't a transition between just dropping asleep and running full tilt.

Here is a video of my two playing if it helps any.
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And here are two kitten videos of my boy just going non-stop, this was all the time.
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Oh and my girl,
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I swear kittens are boundless balls of energy and exploration.

 

[Brittanydevv]

There does tend to be fur flying sometimes. Whenever they are in the same room they cannot stop attacking, even for 1 minute, is that normal? I'm not even able to keep them in the same room for over 10 minutes because it gets so crazy.

 

[Brittanydevv]

Also they are both around 4 months, both males and both fixed if that means anything.

 

[ArtNJ]

It would be super unusual for 2 x 4 month olds to have dislike and for play to be anything other than normal. Now you did mention some growling and hissing, but its still likely fine to let them work it out. If your really unsure, make us a video. But normally you don't even need an introduction process for 2 young kittens. You put them together and they take it from there. 2 young kittens is just a super safe bet ... they are going to get along, at least until they get bigger.

 

[susanm9006]

There is a 99% likehood that they are playing, despite any hissing, growling or yelling you hear. Boys just play very rough and make a lot of noise at it. If you can post a video that would be great but I would also suggest looking on YouTube at videos of cats play fighting.

 

[war&wisdom]

My girl (Athena) and boy (Ares) are bonded, but when they play-fight, Athena regularly cries and sometimes hisses when Ares gets too rough. She scampers off, takes a quick breather, then comes back for more. Ares sometimes cries too when he gets pinned. But they adore each other, take turns rolling over/being submissive, and there's no blood or fur lost. They're teaching each other their limits.

It sounds like your boys are learning about each other too. They need the time to do that, so unless they are actually harming each other, it's best to let them sort it out and not to separate them.

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you can, I think taking a video or two of them doing whatever it is they are doing and posting here is an excellent idea!

 

[Brittanydevv]

Everytime I try to post a video it says it's too big even if it's only a few seconds

 

[FeebysOwner]

Can you extract some pics out of the videos? If not, can you take a whole lot of pics back to back, and then post the ones that depict the situation the best?

Maybe someone else who is a little more tech savvy can explain how to get the videos on here. It might just be your phone too, especially if it is a little older.

 

[Kieka]

Everytime I try to post a video it says it's too big even if it's only a few seconds

You have to compress it first, here is a walk through. How To Upload And Add Videos To Your Posts

 

[Brittanydevv]

Here's a couple photos. Obviously you can't really tell but they are fighting extremely quickly, rough, and loud.

 

[ArtNJ]

You actually can tell from the photos, 100% that is playing. Everyone is telling you the same thing, so you can relax and let them do their thing. We know its tough, we get first time owners asking the same question all the time. But it really is ok to let them do this.

 

[Brittanydevv]

So it's ok that they get puffy tails and growl? Lol I'm freaking out ahah

 

[Kieka]

If you turn up the volume on the video I posted you can hear my girl making a fuss. Some cats are just really vocal in play.

The tail is a little more concerning but they are babies and learning. Think of them like kids on the playground and sometimes one gets pushed past comfort. That's when the black one is puffing up the tail and your other one needs to learn to back off. But it's one of those things they need to learn just like kids on the playground do. As long as they can get away if they want to, there is no lasting harm in letting one yell at the other.

 

[ArtNJ]

The big thing is do they come back for more. If one kitten was being hurt or didn't like the other, there would be running away and hiding throughout the day, not temporary blips of annoyance after play got too rough.

I mean, my younger brother is 3 years younger. I used to pretend to inject him with drugs by poking him with a pen from behind. He tricked me into "the blue room" and locked me in. And 100 other examples. But we would play shortly after whatever the latest incident was. Thats how kittens often are.

 

[Kflowers]

At that age mine would throw each other on the floor. At first the thuds were a little disconcerting, but since they kept at it and their cat mom was there and okay with it we got used to it. Everyone was fine.