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- Sep 29, 2015
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Not-so-brief background: I took in a sickly stray kitten and got him healthy and hyper again, but didn't have enough time and energy to engage with him 24 hours a day, so I adopted second kitten of roughly the same age (I waited until he was neutered at around 6 months) so he'd have a play buddy. The good news is that interacting with the new guy has taught him things like bite inhibition and play aggression limits. However, he's now so locked into the "student / beta cat" mindset that he's downright meek. They do chase each other and wrestle at night, taking turns being the chaser / chasee, but it's impossible to play with him now. The split second I take out what I know are his favorite toys, the new guy swoops in and my formerly assertive kitten makes himself look small and curls up somewhere. (Ever hear a kitten sigh dejectedly? I have.) They're not taking turns playing, he simply switches off and yields the floor the instant the new guy enters the room. When I shut the new kitten out of a room to try to get some one-on-one playtime with my first one, it works for a minute or two -- and he frantically leaps and chases after the wand toy, like he's trying to make up for lost time -- but then the new guy meows outside and claws under the door... and the toy suddenly vanishes from kitten 1's mind and he switches off. It's so damn frustrating. I'd like to shut the new kitten in a room by himself while we're playing to put some distance between them, but he managed to traumatize himself by sealing himself in a room for several hours as a result of some epic cat dumbness, so I don't want to exacerbate that. Kitten 1 just had a checkup and got a clean bill of health, so it's not a health thing.
So my question is, how to I bolster my formerly assertive kitten's confidence? I have several cat trees where he *could* gain some height dominance, but when he's in meek mode, he always finds a low spot to be meek in. I try and try to play with him and give him attention, but he just shuts down when the new alpha is around. They don't fight, but aren't exactly cuddle buddies. Kitten 2 came from a shelter, so he knew how to interact with cats and humans when I got him, while kitten 1 seems to have been abandoned before he could be taught how to cat. Kitten 2 *tries* to cuddle and groom my resident kitten, but it seems to freak him out. I think being rebuffed is getting to him.
Any ideas? They've also both gotten the notion that me having the TV on (and by extension, laptops and tablets) means that I don't want to interact with them, and they leave the room instead of perching on the back of the sofa or chairs like every cat I've ever known. Treats on the sofa next to me, maybe?
So my question is, how to I bolster my formerly assertive kitten's confidence? I have several cat trees where he *could* gain some height dominance, but when he's in meek mode, he always finds a low spot to be meek in. I try and try to play with him and give him attention, but he just shuts down when the new alpha is around. They don't fight, but aren't exactly cuddle buddies. Kitten 2 came from a shelter, so he knew how to interact with cats and humans when I got him, while kitten 1 seems to have been abandoned before he could be taught how to cat. Kitten 2 *tries* to cuddle and groom my resident kitten, but it seems to freak him out. I think being rebuffed is getting to him.
Any ideas? They've also both gotten the notion that me having the TV on (and by extension, laptops and tablets) means that I don't want to interact with them, and they leave the room instead of perching on the back of the sofa or chairs like every cat I've ever known. Treats on the sofa next to me, maybe?