Hello! I'm sure this is probably a common question, so I apologize in advance for any repetition lol.
We recently adopted two new kittens. One is a male who we'd been fostering since he came into the shelter too small. Since we decided to adopt him, we thought it best if he had a playmate. The other we ended up getting is a female, and she's about a pound smaller than him. When we brought them home they interacted for a little while and got on great--very playful. She had just been spayed, though, so we thought it best to separate them while she healed. They're currently being kept in medium-sized dog kennels (with all amenities--food, water, toys, litter box--inside) due to only one room really able to house them during this period (we have two older cats and we're working on introductions). We've been giving them regular, separate time to run around the room.
Now that the female has healed from the spay, we took them out together the other day. It started out great, they were obviously having the time of their lives chasing each other around the room. Not super long into it, though, the female started vocalizing when getting pinned. I kept an eye on it at first, but didn't intervene as I do know they're kittens and still learning. The male, though, just never seemed to get the message, not relenting until the vocalization from the female grew pretty loud and upset-sounding and I felt the need to intervene. I'm worried the male is being too rough--he was a single kitten and has probably not learned yet how to be properly gentle. He's always the one chasing her and pinning her. The thing is, as soon as I separate them, or the handful of times the male has backed off/been distracted, she's going right back after him. I assume if she was truly upset by him, she'd show some more avoidance toward him, but she seems as eager for play as him. I've also tried distracting them with toys, but they're always more focused on each other than the toys it seems.
Is this normal? Is the female, perhaps, just an extra vocal player? I've checked her for injuries after her loudest protests and she seems fine. I really want to have them roaming around the room full time soon, as I hate having them in the kennels so much and they're going to be too big for them soon anyway. I work a full time job, though, and am unsure if leaving them alone for long is advisable with this behavior.
Thank you in advance!
We recently adopted two new kittens. One is a male who we'd been fostering since he came into the shelter too small. Since we decided to adopt him, we thought it best if he had a playmate. The other we ended up getting is a female, and she's about a pound smaller than him. When we brought them home they interacted for a little while and got on great--very playful. She had just been spayed, though, so we thought it best to separate them while she healed. They're currently being kept in medium-sized dog kennels (with all amenities--food, water, toys, litter box--inside) due to only one room really able to house them during this period (we have two older cats and we're working on introductions). We've been giving them regular, separate time to run around the room.
Now that the female has healed from the spay, we took them out together the other day. It started out great, they were obviously having the time of their lives chasing each other around the room. Not super long into it, though, the female started vocalizing when getting pinned. I kept an eye on it at first, but didn't intervene as I do know they're kittens and still learning. The male, though, just never seemed to get the message, not relenting until the vocalization from the female grew pretty loud and upset-sounding and I felt the need to intervene. I'm worried the male is being too rough--he was a single kitten and has probably not learned yet how to be properly gentle. He's always the one chasing her and pinning her. The thing is, as soon as I separate them, or the handful of times the male has backed off/been distracted, she's going right back after him. I assume if she was truly upset by him, she'd show some more avoidance toward him, but she seems as eager for play as him. I've also tried distracting them with toys, but they're always more focused on each other than the toys it seems.
Is this normal? Is the female, perhaps, just an extra vocal player? I've checked her for injuries after her loudest protests and she seems fine. I really want to have them roaming around the room full time soon, as I hate having them in the kennels so much and they're going to be too big for them soon anyway. I work a full time job, though, and am unsure if leaving them alone for long is advisable with this behavior.
Thank you in advance!
And congrats on the new kittens! 
