Playing too Rough?

[r00en]

My two boys are about 8 months old. I've had one since he was 8 weeks old and got his brother when both were around 5 months old. We tried the slow introduction but it was a bit of a failure as the new boy threw himself against the door until he managed to jiggle it open (old house with old doors) and I came home to them just hanging out together.

That being said they seem like buddies. They sleep in the same room, sometimes they cuddle, they sit together in the widows to people watch and sometimes they chase each other around the house and up and down the cat trees. They will even lick teats off the same plate with no aggression or anger. The issue comes with "playing".

My big boy Boris plays ROUGH. At random he will get over stimulated with toys and suddenly pounce on his brother. Sometimes it's just rolling around other times it's full mounting and biting the back of his neck, bunny kicking and almost holding him down like a WWE match. Gomez tries his best to tell his brother to KNOCK it off. He will yowl, kick back, wiggle away and climb up to a safe spot or if it gets bad enough hiss and swipe at him. It has NEVER gotten to the point of injury. No fur flying or blood or even claws out. The only time I see 'airplane' ears is when it's become too much and the annoyance seems to pass pretty quickly. But there are some nights were I feel horrible for Gomez, he will start screaming and hissing at the top of his lungs.

I don't think they are 'fighting' like I said no one is ever hurt and they otherwise interact just fine around each other. I've looked up cat fights and there is no raised fur or pinned ears. It start out fine. Boris was just fixed about two weeks ago and the vet thinks it might be all the testosterone in his body still kinda pent up and causing him to be a little too rough. Coupled with still being a kitten. Gomez was fixed very young well before I got him and he's a little love bug but much more relaxed than his brother.

Any idea how I can kinda curb this behavior in Boris? I don't want Gomez to feel like he needs to step carefully around his brother or get super slammed into the ground. He always seems a little weary of playing for that very reason.

 

[nurseangel]

Do any of the toys contain catnip? I had one cat that was a "mean" drunk. Catnip toys made him aggressive.

 

[Caspers Human]

If they are both the same age and, physically, they are evenly matched , as long as they are both willing participants and nobody's getting hurt, almost anything goes.

Even so, it's your house. You don't want them messing up the house or getting hurt by falling furniture. Sure, the cats can play as much as they want but there are limits. You get to set the limits.

If the cats are playing to rough for your House Rules, tell them to settle down just as you might say to a couple of three-year old kids. Treat them just the same, except translated for cats.

When our two cats, Casper and Elliot start getting out of hand, all I have to do is walk into the room, put my hands on my hips and say, "Gentlemen!" using the same tone of voice your school Principal would use. They stop what they are doing, look up at me with a guilty expression on their faces then, one by one, they sneak past me, out of the room. They know the routine so well, I only have to use my "Dad voice" to say, "Play nice!" even from the next room. They quiet right down.

If neither cat is the aggressor more than half the time, if one cat isn't beating up on the other, if each cat gets in his own fair share of licks, go ahead and let them play up till the point where they get to the limits of House Rules

 

[xlynnbbyx]

The vet is right it could be the testosterone in Boris. It takes awhile for the testosterone to leave a male cat’s system. I got Casper last year and of course I have a now 5 year old cat named Scooter. Casper was neutered in February of this year when he was 8 months. My boys tend to rough house a lot after Casper was healed he went too rough. He got too rough with Scooter to where Scooter swapped him to make him learn his boundaries. Of course Casper eventually calmed and both still play. If you can let Gomez try to handle it himself. If there is no hissing or actual fighting involved you are good. But if you feel it is too much on Gomez remove Boris from him. In a stern voice tell him that is enough and let them spend time apart to calm. Boris will calm once the testosterone fully leaves his body.

 

[ArtNJ]

Unequal size or unequal enthusiasm for play is an eternal problem, but not a serious one. As long as they are friends, that tells you that its not a serious issue. You can gently break it up if the smaller one seems trapped, but you dont have to think of that as your job. It should get better with time but may never completely go away. My 8 pound cat voluntarily plays with my 12 pound cat; they are friends. But the 8 pounder ends play early every single time.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Just double-checked my handy-dandy "Cat Age Calculator," and your guys, mentally, are about 10 years old, and if you've ever watched a bunch of 10-year-old boys play, you'll know just how typical this is. And, remember, ALL play in cats and kittens is practice for the all-important HUNT, and can look and sound much worse to us than it actually is. "No one hurt" says it all. I agree with, well, everyone, but specifically A ArtNJ in that you don't need to make this your full-time job.