Older Cat Stalking/chasing New Kitten

[TommoLB]

I have a 2 year old neutered male cat who is quite big (5.5kg) who I have had since he was 8 weeks old. Most of the time he's a big softie and seems to be quite sociable with other cats - once calling/begging another neighbours cat over to him so they could sniff noses though the back garden fence and also in catteries being friendly with other cats in there.

With his sociable behaviour in mind we though it safe to get another cat to keep him company and give him a play companion. I was aware that his reaction to another cat would be different in his own house, so I didn't expect love at first sight.

I opted for a female to avoid future conflict over alpha male status. She is ten weeks old and joined the household on Saturday. She is currently <1kg, so the male cat is over 5 times her size.

The new cat has a "safe room" with toys, litter tray etc, but we let both cats meet for very brief periods in the first day or so to gauge the reaction. There was much swearing and hissing at first, with both cats setting the other off with any sudden movements. The male cat appeared quite submissive at times to the new kitten, ducking low when she hissed and backing/running off. After these very brief interactions, we'd separate the cats into different areas and then repeat the interactions a few hours later by letting the kitten out of her safe room and letting them "naturally" meet each other in house.

Today, both cats will greet each other in the mornings, touching noses and making greeting sounds. The new kitten is quite noisy and bold, she has started to use his litter tray (despite having her own) and play with the male cats toys (he hasn't played with them in years, but they lay around the house). The new kitten is slowly exploring the house and has today finally explored every room.

The problem is that when both cats aren't sleeping, or the older cat isn't outside, the older cat will appear to "stalk"/follow the kitten around when she is exploring the house. He is very keen to sniff her. He will also swipe his paw at her, often rolling onto his side when doing this, but usually when he's towering over her. She will duck away and is quite submissive to him in response, but will occasionally hiss or growl at him. The older cat will chase her is she runs. This makes me fear that he see's her as "prey".

I am struggling to understand whether this is the older cats attempt to play, or is a bullying behaviour. I am concerned to nip any bullying behaviour in the bud and worry that the kitten may get hurt by my older cat.

I have feliway diffusers; one is the friends one which is situated in the main living room, the other one is the classic which is in the kittens safe room.

One final observation - my male cat appears even keener to go outside than before - making a run for the back door when I open it, even if it's pouring rain. I'm not sure if this is his attempt to escape the kitten!

Any advice or input on my situation would be appreciated!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Congrats on the new kitten.

Generally, even when introducing kittens to older cats, it is beneficial to keep them separated for a while at first (days/weeks) and slowly introduce them starting with things like scent swapping. But it seems your 2 have sped up the process a bit.

Some hissing and growling is normal, as that is how cats communicate. The things to watch for is fighting that causes fur to fly or blood. Or if the kitten seems scared of the older cat. Or if your older cat seems stressed and stops eating, sleeping or using the litter box normally.

Him wanting to go out more, does seem like maybe he's stressed and needs to get away from the kitten.

Can you go backwards a bit and keep the kitten in her own room, and let the 2 of them "meet" by playing "footsies" under the door. Some people put baby gates to the door, and let them see each other that way.

TCS has some articles on cat introductions you may find helpful.

Here's the one on How To Introduce A Kitten To An Older Cat

And a couple general ones:
How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide | TheCatSite (this one has pics of baby gates blocking doors)
Introducing Cats To Cats | TheCatSite

Good luck. Hopefully in time they'll be best buds.

Keep us updated on their progress.

And post pics of them if you can.
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post | TheCatSite

 

[ArtNJ]

He isn't actually going to intentionally hurt her; adult cats don't do that to kittens. He will get over any lingering skittishness. However, since your kitten is only ten weeks and your resident is young, you do want to continue supervising interactions to make sure the older cat doesn't proceed to very rough play and accidentally hurt the kitten. It seems there is probably no real risk when the kitten is at least 12 weeks even if the play looks very off-puttingly rough, but at 10 weeks an accidental injury could be possible. A momma cat wouldn't allow another adult to play with a kitten that young, and playful adult cats don't always seem to know how to moderate their behavior when allowed to do so.

 

[TommoLB]

An update on the situation having experienced another 24 hours of "fun".

Most of the time interaction between my older male and the female kitten is nice. They greet each other, he has started to lick her etc. She acts submissive to him if he gets overpowering, but he seems to want to pin her down, bite her, sniff her private area and lick her private area etc. He's always interested in sniffing her tale area.

Could I be witnessing sexual aggression or is this "normal" dominance behaviour to "put her in her place"?

Either way, I find it distressing and stressful to witness.

If I break it up, through shouting or physically interrupting (just pushing him away) he is furious at me and goes to attack my arm if I am not quick enough.

The kittens reaction is to dash under the sofa and come out a few moments later and continue to play, so while she will hiss and whine during the "encounter" she doesn't yet seem to be scared of the male cat.

 

[TommoLB]

Just an additional comment - having read a lot of the literature about introducing kittens to resident cats I plan on "rolling back" the interactions between the two cats and keeping them separated for a few days and then slowly building up the interactions again. Even though both cats do touch noses, make greeting noises and when not having an "encounter" as described above, do not hiss or growl at each other, it might be the older cat gets annoyed/stressed at the new comer, especially when she runs everywhere at high speed making growling meows, and therefore begins to stalk her/attack her in the manner above.

 

[ArtNJ]

Well, its definitely normal for a young playful adult cat of 6 months to a year and a half to play roughly enough with a kitten to scare a first time owner. And as I previously mentioned, there may even be some actual accidental danger to a kitten younger than 12 weeks. Typically, its pinning, biting the neck, maybe raking with the back paws (which is especially scary looking) and that sort of thing. With an older kitten, I'd tell you that its fine, but you could show us a video if you were still concerned. And I'd tell you to let the kitten be your guide -- if it doesn't seem scared of the big cat apart from rough play, and doesn't run away unless a rough play session is going on, then the kitten is telling you there is no problem.

But I really haven't seen a butt or genital area focused play session with a kitten before, so I'm not going to address that part of it and hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[rubysmama]

Just an additional comment - having read a lot of the literature about introducing kittens to resident cats I plan on "rolling back" the interactions between the two cats and keeping them separated for a few days and then slowly building up the interactions again.

I think that's a good idea, for your own peace of mind, and also to give the kitten some time to get a bit older, and bigger. These days, the "recommended" age to adopt kittens is 12 weeks, so she's still a bit younger than that.

One idea I've seen mentioned before, is to let the cats "meet" by putting the kitten in a cat carrier for a little while, so that they can touch noses or paws, but no actual rough-housing can occur. Then, of course, after the "visit" put the kitten back in her own room so she can run around.

 

[Katzenmänne]

Hi. I know this thread is old, but we are literally in the same situation.

We have a 2 year Old neutered male cat and have been frying to introduce a 14 weeks old spayed female kitten. The situation you are describing is exactly the same down to the details.. We have introduce slowly and it has been 12 days now.

Did things end up well with your cats? And can you maybe offer some advice on how to deal with the situation :-)

Best regards

 

[TommoLB]

Both cats get on well now. The older cat washed the the other yesterday, which I understand to be a sign of affection and they play with each other often and sometimes will even sleep next to each other or in the same bed (although that is very rare). The big cat will however take play times too far sometimes, with the younger growling, swearing and squealing when "caught" and pinned down, but that's fairly rare and other than that they get on fine (the younger cat will often goad the older one to chase her).

Looking back on the early days, the older cat's chasing was mainly playing I think.

My way of handling it was to make sure the kitten had safe places to run and hide. I put down a big box with a hole big enough for the kitten to get in, but too small for the bigger one to get in. The kitten also found spaces - under the sofa, behind the TV etc - to hide when she needed to get away from the big boy. The kitten soon learnt how to get away from the big cat and "read" when it was a bad time to be around. She never feared him though, even after being chased, as she would soon get out from her hiding spot once the big cat got bored of waiting for her to come out.

Things really settled down when the kitten grew less needy and that freed me up to lavish more attention on him. Some of his early antics may have been because he was not the sole object of my affections and felt put out by that. It didn't help that I couldn't play with him without the kitten seeking to muscle in and chase/attack whatever toy I was trying to get the big cat interested in.

 

[Katzenmänne]

Great idea with the boxes. I might put up a few around the house ASAP.

Our new female kitten is extremely energetic and curious. We picked her based on these traits, as our 2 yr old male has a similar personality. She does not seem scared of him at all, and will sometimes even goat a chase, as you descripe. Our older cat does seem a bit stressed out when she sprints around the house though, which in turn leads to the stalking and rough pouncing. I think he may just need more time to adapt to the new situation. There is no hissing or growling, but she does somewhat "squeak" when he manages to catch and pin her down :'(

Glad to hear your cats got it figured out now. And thanks for the late reply!

 

[TommoLB]

It's tough on the existing cat to adapt to a new comer, especially one that is small, agile and high energy! There they are one day all nice and relaxed, with an established routine and the next day BAM! there this new "thing" flying around causing havoc!

There's always going to be a tension between new and old cat. If I had to make a breakdown of my two; 5% of the time they adore each other, 85% of the time they tolerate each other and 10% of the time there is conflict of various levels. At the moment both of mine have tension over one bed that is situated in the spare room. The big boy has taken to sleeping in it for the first time this year, when it's normally been the exclusive sleeping spot of the little one. You can see the look in the face when one gets up there to find it already occupied! I'd like to think this bed has allure as I am usually found working or studying in the spare room, but it's probably because the room is generally the warmest in the house!

Hopefully your two cats settle down soon. It's easy to focus on the new cute kitten and see the older cat as the "bully" but he is put out by the new arrival and needs as much (if not more) loving and attention than he had from you before to help him adapt.

 

[Lulu&Finn]

Both of those situations sound just like ours. We’ve had the kitten for two months now and they play in the same way but I don’t see it as anything but playing now.

I also had a big box with cutouts so the kitten could run in and escape but Lulu couldn't fit. Finn also had other places that he ran to to get away, only to come charging back in for more a minute later.

 

[Katzenmänne]

The things that worries me though is that the older cat cant take his eyes of her when they are in the same room. He keeps stalking and pouncing until he catches her, and when he does catch her she will make screaming sounds :-( she still does not seem affraid of him though. And will even goat the chase sometimes. If distracted by food or toys they can be right next to each other no problem. But as soon as there is no distractions, he starts the stalking until i separate them..

 

[TommoLB]

Give the kitten plenty of places to run and hide to get away from him to spare you the distress of hearing her squeal. When you're not around, separate them (I kept my two separated at night and when I was out at work for the first 3 weeks). Also, keep playing with them together to get them both used to being comfortable with each other and to see the experience as enjoyable.

The good thing is that the kitten isn't scared of the big cat.

Maybe get the Feliway Friends plug in to see if it helps settle down any conflict? FELIWAY FRIENDS Diffuser

 

[ArtNJ]

The things that worries me though is that the older cat cant take his eyes of her when they are in the same room. He keeps stalking and pouncing until he catches her, and when he does catch her she will make screaming sounds :-( she still does not seem affraid of him though. And will even goat the chase sometimes. If distracted by food or toys they can be right next to each other no problem. But as soon as there is no distractions, he starts the stalking until i separate them..

All totally normal. Well, by age two, some of the older cats aren't quite so nutty about it, but still common enough. The screaming may sound bad, but its just head noogie or indian sunburn level discomfort. If the kitten comes right back in a few minutes, and initiates sometimes, that is the kitten telling you all is good, and you can trust that. In an ideal world, you would get the big cat to cut out the head noogies and indian sunburns and "play nice" but in the real world its all kind of a package deal. The kitten is getting a net benefit already and that will only grow as the older cat calms down and things get more equal. So all you can really do is distract/separate if the kitten is pinned and seems particularly miserable. Just do it gently and be careful not to accidentally discourage all play.

 

[Lulu&Finn]

I could've written that stalking/pouncing post above. Lulu did all of that and Finn squealed, still does. But he always comes back for more and is never afraid. We separated them for a very long time at night. He was only 2.2 lbs when we got him so it was not fair to keep them together. He is bigger now and seems to have fun. lol

 

[Beccysee]

I know I am super super late to the party but, I thought I would add something having had experience with what the original poster had mentioned about the OG cat seeming to be very interested in the new kittens rear end.
I had the same thing happen except it was the other way around. We brought home a new cat, he was around 4 months old, lovely little rescue. My original cat was 9 and female. It took some time for them to become bonded but it actually did happen eventually (they would sleep together, mutually groom etc). For about the first 3 months things were ok but then he started behaving like an un-neutured male - pinning her down, grabbing her by the nape of the neck, making "humping" movement, sniffing her backside all the time etc. I was concerned as my poor OG was getting harrassed constantly. A trip to the vet confirmed he was very much neutured and it was explained to me that this behaviour is more one of dominance. The younger cat had even started "humping" on myself and my son. A water sprayer quickly fixed the behaviour, he stopped annoying the older girl and no longer humps on anyone BUT he still does continue to this day to hump other objects such as his fluffy rug. He's 4 now. I hope this helps to explain the behaviour for anyone else who may be experiencing this issue!