Older cat swatting kitten - what’s acceptable?

[Felinesage]

I have a foster cat that was a mom to a litter which has all been adopted out. Currently I’m trying to get her to colive with 4 kittens that aren’t hers. I’ve been separating them unless I’m there to supervise and I do think some kittens don’t know not to go near her yet. She seems to only hiss and growl if they come close to her but sometimes during play kittens make bad choices and run a bit too close to her. She will try to swat and I’m worried about what happens if she lands one of them?
What is an acceptable amount of setting boundaries through violence? 0 or some? When the kittens do get swatted at they just kind of are scared for a second and then carry on playing elsewhere which makes me think it doesn’t hurt at all for them. Should I keep letting the older cat set boundaries this way? Or is it dangerous?

 

[treeclimber]

As long as she only does it in response to something the kittens did (eg. she’s not the one who starts it), and her reaction does not involve drawing blood or terrorizing them, I’d say let her do it.

Sometimes what looks violent to us humans is just cat for “hey! knock it off!”

 

[Felinesage]

I guess I’m a bit worried because the two new kittens are long hair fluff balls and I don’t want any blood to be drawn in order for me to know I should separate them. I have heard one reason cats will climb you and sometimes use claws is because they have thick skin and don’t realize us humans have fragile skin, is it a non issue even if they swipe with claws out because they are tougher?

 

[treeclimber]

I guess I’m a bit worried because the two new kittens are long hair fluff balls and I don’t want any blood to be drawn in order for me to know I should separate them. I have heard one reason cats will climb you and sometimes use claws is because they have thick skin and don’t realize us humans have fragile skin, is it a non issue even if they swipe with claws out because they are tougher?

Cats’ skin is tougher and also furry, it’s unlikely a swat will draw blood. Especially if you keep everyone’s nails trimmed.

What she’s doing is a completely normal and appropriate cat behavior, and probably good socialization for the kittens.

If you do decide to intervene, please do not punish her or yell “no” at her - if you decide the behavior needs to be stopped, the way to stop it would be by keeping the kittens contained so they don’t bother her.

 

[Felinesage]

Cats’ skin is tougher and also furry, it’s unlikely a swat will draw blood. Especially if you keep everyone’s nails trimmed.

What she’s doing is a completely normal and appropriate cat behavior, and probably good socialization for the kittens.

If you do decide to intervene, please do not punish her or yell “no” at her - if you decide the behavior needs to be stopped, the way to stop it would be by keeping the kittens contained so they don’t bother her.

Thanks so much for the advice! I’m glad this is okay as the rescues are so overrun and I didn’t want to have to try to re foster home mom

 

[Felinesage]

Thanks so much for the advice! I’m glad this is okay as the rescues are so overrun and I didn’t want to have to try to re foster home mom

Cats’ skin is tougher and also furry, it’s unlikely a swat will draw blood. Especially if you keep everyone’s nails trimmed.

What she’s doing is a completely normal and appropriate cat behavior, and probably good socialization for the kittens.

If you do decide to intervene, please do not punish her or yell “no” at her - if you decide the behavior needs to be stopped, the way to stop it would be by keeping the kittens contained so they don’t bother her.

Cats’ skin is tougher and also furry, it’s unlikely a swat will draw blood. Especially if you keep everyone’s nails trimmed.

What she’s doing is a completely normal and appropriate cat behavior, and probably good socialization for the kittens.

If you do decide to intervene, please do not punish her or yell “no” at her - if you decide the behavior needs to be stopped, the way to stop it would be by keeping the kittens contained so they don’t bother her.

So one thing I am noticing now is if the kittens are having fun in the distance, like just playing with a ball, she will approach them and attack. Is this an example of not acceptable behaviour? I wonder if it has to do with her not liking the sounds

 

[Furballsmom]

Can you contain her elsewhere, and give her some Cat Music?

 

[Felinesage]

Can you contain her elsewhere, and give her some Cat Music?

I have been keeping them separate unless supervised. What do you mean by cat music?

 

[treeclimber]

So one thing I am noticing now is if the kittens are having fun in the distance, like just playing with a ball, she will approach them and attack. Is this an example of not acceptable behaviour? I wonder if it has to do with her not liking the sounds

What is her body language like when this happens? Is her fur poofed up? Where is her tail and what is it doing? Does she make any sounds (hiss/yowl/growl/etc.)

Does she creep over to them? Charge over? Amble over like nothing’s wrong and then attack?

Is there a particular location where kittens playing in that spot tends to set her off?

When you have them separated because you’re not there to supervise, is the place where play is occurring “hers” with the kittens locked up somewhere else?

For now I’d suggest intervening when you see her approaching the kittens (distract her, or pick her up if you can do so safely). Please do not yell, if she’s already in an emotionally-charged state it will just make her more upset.

In this kind of situation it can be easy to start thinking like cats are human children that need to be taught that that’s not an OK way to treat others, but cats don’t work that way. There is no golden rule for cats, and they have no concept of right and wrong, just feline instincts. Try to figure out the cat-logic of the situation - for example, she may be defending her favorite chair to sleep on, and if you deny the kittens access to the area around the chair the attacks might stop.

 

[Furballsmom]

cat music?

It works amazingly well to help cats be more calm.

There's RelaxMyCat, Musicforcats, and Spotify and other sources have harp music for cats, and some music even has purrs in it.

 

[Felinesage]

What is her body language like when this happens? Is her fur poofed up? Where is her tail and what is it doing? Does she make any sounds (hiss/yowl/growl/etc.)

Does she creep over to them? Charge over? Amble over like nothing’s wrong and then attack?

Is there a particular location where kittens playing in that spot tends to set her off?

When you have them separated because you’re not there to supervise, is the place where play is occurring “hers” with the kittens locked up somewhere else?

For now I’d suggest intervening when you see her approaching the kittens (distract her, or pick her up if you can do so safely). Please do not yell, if she’s already in an emotionally-charged state it will just make her more upset.

In this kind of situation it can be easy to start thinking like cats are human children that need to be taught that that’s not an OK way to treat others, but cats don’t work that way. There is no golden rule for cats, and they have no concept of right and wrong, just feline instincts. Try to figure out the cat-logic of the situation - for example, she may be defending her favorite chair to sleep on, and if you deny the kittens access to the area around the chair the attacks might stop.

In another post I mentioned she also tries to attack them if they are wrestling super hard. When I use the cat teaser if they have a collision while trying to chase she will also get mad. I now just make sure to use two teasers at one. Since she seems to attack them when wrestling with the crinkle ball, I decided to go out and just buy more of them in case the reason is that she thinks they are monopolizing her toys. I was keeping her separated in a room that wasn’t always “hers” but is just hers now. I’ve had her for more months than the kittens and the room they share is where she gave birth and raised her litter.

 

[Felinesage]

In another post I mentioned she also tries to attack them if they are wrestling super hard. When I use the cat teaser if they have a collision while trying to chase she will also get mad. I now just make sure to use two teasers at one. Since she seems to attack them when wrestling with the crinkle ball, I decided to go out and just buy more of them in case the reason is that she thinks they are monopolizing her toys. I was keeping her separated in a room that wasn’t always “hers” but is just hers now. I’ve had her for more months than the kittens and the room they share is where she gave birth and raised her litter.

When she attacks it’s more like a bit of a run over, and no fur is puffed up. Since the kittens are way smaller they do just surrender and run away and she doesn’t pursue them.

 

[treeclimber]

If she doesn’t chase them and isn’t growling or hissing or poofing up her tail/fur the I wouldn’t be too concerned.

Since she recently raised kittens herself and also used to have that room as “hers” there could be a lot of things going through her head right now. I would have suspected she was defending a location or object, but it sounds like she’s pretty consistently reacting to them wrestling, which could have any number of reasons.

But whatever her reason, her behavior does not sound like she’s likely to harm the kittens, and also doesn’t sound like it’s really scaring or intimidating them. As long as it doesn’t escalate (and it doesn’t sound likely that it will), then just keeping them separated when you’re not around to supervise and trying to distract her when the kittens wrestle is probably all you need to do.