Okay, so I have three adult cats, female (aged 7 years, 9 years, and 11 years). We also have a dog, and a bunch of small pets (gerbils, mice, and guinea pigs) so we're at our limit for pets. But we ended up with another kitten that a friend of my sister didn't want anymore. She'd had him for only a week before giving him to us. Simon (as we decided to call him, as he didn't have a name before coming to us) was about 10 weeks old, so he's about 12 weeks old now. Honestly, I haven't had a kitten in YEARS, so I'm pretty much guessing his age. He looked 10 weeks old to me, and the personality/learning-stage descriptions fit for him. Anyway, we're just keeping him until I can get him neutered, and then I'm going to see about finding a good home for him. Until then, we're having fun playing with him and getting to know his personality (especially helpful in finding the right home). So far, he's been vaccinated and been checked over for a sprained ankle (from a mishap during exploring in which he fell from the basement ceiling and crashed into the laundry room)
Anyway, he was confined for the first week, to let himself and the other cats get used to each others' smells. When I started letting him out to roam and explore, everyone reacted pretty much the way I expected. Some hissing and spitting, followed by disgusted grumbling (and they spurned our affections). Now, though, they are starting to calm down. They don't care as much when Simon walks into the room, and they don't even start growling when he gets close. If it weren't for Simon, I think we'd be on our way to having 4 happy cats.
EXCEPT for one thing. Simon's not cooperating. When he sees my girls, he immediately starts hissing and growling. When he gets close to one, he hits and spits. He's bullied Willow and Molly when they were peacefully laying in the cat tree, repeatedly lunging and smacking them, hissing and spitting, until they finally bolted and ran off. He seems to leave Buffy alone a little bit, because, unlike Willow and Molly, Buffy doesn't accept such poor behaviour from Simon. Only Buffy is allowed to rule with an iron fist, and she does NOT take kindly to being spit on by a wee kitten. Simon has started to understand that, so while he will chase her and stalk her and ambush her, he won't bully her.
This isn't a fear thing, so far as I can tell. He doesn't actually scare too easily, but when he does, he gets puffy in the classic scaredy-cat way. When he's harassing my girls, he doesn't get puffy. He's just being a complete jerk. My impression is that he just doesn't like other cats, and that he's offended about the fact that they're in "his" territory. Part of me thinks that he's one of those cats that needs to go to a cat-free home, and part of me hopes this is just a phase and that he'll get used to having other cats around (it just can't be MY cats, since we can't keep him)
He acts the same way with my dog, a big old 14 year old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. He was skittish around Jake at first, but now he's calmer about having Jake follow him everywhere, hovering inches above him. Simon still gets offended and will turn and spit at Jake. If Simon's on a table and Jake's standing next to it, Simon goes over and starts swiping at Jake, scraping at his neck or back. Jake doesn't even seem to feel it, 'cause he stands there oblivious until he happens to look up and notice Simon RIGHT THERE (that's when Jake gets surprised and cowed and overexcited, making him squeal and run off only to come right back and stare intently at Simon). When Jake's laying down, minding his business, Simon might walk by and when he notices Jake, he does that sidewalks stalk that kittens are famous for. Jake hardly reacts (he couldn't get up and run after him if he wanted to, since getting up actually requires an effort now), so Simon keeps charging Jake in the sideways arch before eventually taking off in a run to find something else to do. I'm not sure if he's trying to be aggressive to Jake, or if he's just playing around.
So, I guess my main question is this: is this normal? How often do kittens turn out to hate other cats? Is there anything I can do to smooth things over? Other than this aggression issue, he's really a great little kitten. We haven't had a male cat in 11 years, and a male kitten in 19 years, so we're having fun with his boisterous, bold, somewhat-laid-back personality. I just wish he'd stop being horrible to my girls, who are already stressed out from his presence without being abused on top of it.
Anyway, he was confined for the first week, to let himself and the other cats get used to each others' smells. When I started letting him out to roam and explore, everyone reacted pretty much the way I expected. Some hissing and spitting, followed by disgusted grumbling (and they spurned our affections). Now, though, they are starting to calm down. They don't care as much when Simon walks into the room, and they don't even start growling when he gets close. If it weren't for Simon, I think we'd be on our way to having 4 happy cats.
EXCEPT for one thing. Simon's not cooperating. When he sees my girls, he immediately starts hissing and growling. When he gets close to one, he hits and spits. He's bullied Willow and Molly when they were peacefully laying in the cat tree, repeatedly lunging and smacking them, hissing and spitting, until they finally bolted and ran off. He seems to leave Buffy alone a little bit, because, unlike Willow and Molly, Buffy doesn't accept such poor behaviour from Simon. Only Buffy is allowed to rule with an iron fist, and she does NOT take kindly to being spit on by a wee kitten. Simon has started to understand that, so while he will chase her and stalk her and ambush her, he won't bully her.
This isn't a fear thing, so far as I can tell. He doesn't actually scare too easily, but when he does, he gets puffy in the classic scaredy-cat way. When he's harassing my girls, he doesn't get puffy. He's just being a complete jerk. My impression is that he just doesn't like other cats, and that he's offended about the fact that they're in "his" territory. Part of me thinks that he's one of those cats that needs to go to a cat-free home, and part of me hopes this is just a phase and that he'll get used to having other cats around (it just can't be MY cats, since we can't keep him)
He acts the same way with my dog, a big old 14 year old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. He was skittish around Jake at first, but now he's calmer about having Jake follow him everywhere, hovering inches above him. Simon still gets offended and will turn and spit at Jake. If Simon's on a table and Jake's standing next to it, Simon goes over and starts swiping at Jake, scraping at his neck or back. Jake doesn't even seem to feel it, 'cause he stands there oblivious until he happens to look up and notice Simon RIGHT THERE (that's when Jake gets surprised and cowed and overexcited, making him squeal and run off only to come right back and stare intently at Simon). When Jake's laying down, minding his business, Simon might walk by and when he notices Jake, he does that sidewalks stalk that kittens are famous for. Jake hardly reacts (he couldn't get up and run after him if he wanted to, since getting up actually requires an effort now), so Simon keeps charging Jake in the sideways arch before eventually taking off in a run to find something else to do. I'm not sure if he's trying to be aggressive to Jake, or if he's just playing around.
So, I guess my main question is this: is this normal? How often do kittens turn out to hate other cats? Is there anything I can do to smooth things over? Other than this aggression issue, he's really a great little kitten. We haven't had a male cat in 11 years, and a male kitten in 19 years, so we're having fun with his boisterous, bold, somewhat-laid-back personality. I just wish he'd stop being horrible to my girls, who are already stressed out from his presence without being abused on top of it.
