Should I Intervene Or Not?

kttn

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My 4 yr old female is high energy and loves to play with our new female kitten who is 10 wks old. The kittens a little on the small side I think. They love each other and groom/sleep near each other.

When they're playing, the older cat loves to chase her down the hallway and tackle her. She loves to wrestle. When this happens, the kitten will make distressed screaming meow sounds. The sound is definitely dramatic like she's in the worst pain in the world lol. But the play itself isn't that rough looking, and the kitten doesn't actually seem affected by it...immediately after she's playing again and running around. She's not hiding, but if she did want to hide there are a ton of safe spots. There's no hissing, blood, etc, just this screaming lol.

I've had cats all my life so my gut says to leave it alone, but my partner has never lived with cats and it definitely worries him. It feels wrong telling my adult cat "no" when she's doing such a good job with the kitten overall, and isn't actually hurting her. However, the kitten IS really young.

What do you guys think?
 

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parisinthe30sx

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My cat did the same thing when I adopted a momma and her 5 kittens. Princess loved playing with the kittens, but she was a bit rough. They also would screech and cry loud, but they kept coming back for more! As long as the kitten isn't hiding or seems distressed, id leave it alone. Just keep a close eye on them until she's a bit older. when you leave the house I might consider separating them, just in case. Good luck!!
 

catlover73

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I agree with keeping an eye on them and separating when you can not supervise.

Also it is possible that there is something the kitten is doing during this play time that your older cat does not like and the older cat is trying to teach the kitten manners. I would closely observe their play time and try to provide more information here about what is happening right before the kitten starts getting noisy.
 
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kttn

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Well it happened about 3 times this morning during play, the big cat stalked the baby and then pinned the baby on her back and the baby screamed. No claws or teeth, nobody was hurt, it's just the big ones way of playing. And they resumed (gentler) play immediately after every time it happened. I know this is the big kitty's way of wanting to wrestle, she used to tumble around with our older cat who passed away.

guess it is what it is and I'll continue to let it happen as long as it stays nice enough.
 
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StefanZ

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Be happy your pard is concerned about the cats welfare, although newbie!
 

Ardina

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My 2 year old cat has been doing the same to the new kitten I just adopted. She pins the kitten and the kitten squeals and cries. But my older cat never makes a sound, ears are up and not pinned back, there's no fur flying or blood shed, and once the kitten is released from the pinning, she comes back and immediately tackles my older cat for more playtime. I've been intervening recently because the kitten just got spayed and I don't want her incision opening up with the rough play. Other than that though, I usually let them alone. I think it's a sort of dominance behavior - the older cat letting the kitten know who's boss - or teaching the kitten manners. And more often than not, my older cat pins the kitten and ends up giving her a good washing rather than biting.

I'm guessing that the behavior will stop after a while. Possibly once the kitten gets a bit older and isn't quite so hyper and likely to jump on my older cat's head 24/7.
 
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