Young cat football tackling elder cat constantly...WILL IT EVER END?

[Mac and Cats]

It has been many decades since I have had a kitten, so forgive me for my ignorance. We (unintentionally) adopted a small kitten last year in September. He's now about a year old and he is fully integrated into our house. We love him. He's funny and sweet and a little purr machine. He plays fetch and brings us the sparkle ball whenever he wants to play. I bought a toy slingshot just so I can throw it farther when he wants to play. He is a cute little guy.

The issue is, we have a 14 and a 15 year old cat who he insists on terrorizing quite frequently. He started off trying to get the 15 year old to play and while the 15 year old is not a fan, he mostly learned to lay the smack down and the baby has learned his cues and leaves him alone. The baby does still try to play with the 15 year old, but he knows when he needs to back down. Our 14 year old female, however, is much more submissive than I ever thought she would be and very vocal about how she doesn't like his football tackling her (think yowling Halloween cat). The big problem is, recently every time she moves anywhere his eyes get that big round play attack look and he charges off down the hall to tackle her. He will do this at 4 or 5 in the morning as well. There were several weeks of peace (mostly) and then he decided to start tackling her every time she moves to go anywhere in the house. I think part of this is because of the reaction he gets from her. I do remove him from the situation when he starts doing this. We installed a bi-fold closet door in our hallway so we can block off the back two bedrooms quickly and easily, leaving the elders in the back and him in the front half of the house. Everyone has access to food/water/litter boxes/windows. I will continue to block him off for as long as I need to when he gets in these moods to give the elders peace. My question is, will he ever stop football tackling her or at the very least, will he reduce the frequency?? For the love of all that is holy, please tell me it is a phase he is likely to grow out of eventually...

 

[FeebysOwner]

There were several weeks of peace (mostly) and then he decided to start tackling her every time she moves to go anywhere in the house. I think part of this is because of the reaction he gets from her. I do remove him from the situation when he starts doing this.

The only thing besides making sure your older female can have respite from this 1 yo, is to look at why he wasn't bothering her for those few weeks. Is he more bored, less interaction and play time with you? Something changed when he wasn't bothering her more.

Short of that, block off access as needed, especially in those early morning hours. And, when you remove him from the 'attacks', hiss in his face or say a firm 'No' (pick one and stick with it) and put him in a timeout for no more than 1-2 minutes. The only way this will be effective, over time, is to do it EVERYTIME he goes after her.

Beyond that, you will just have to wait for him to settle down, whenever that might be. Frankly, I am surprised this isn't having a health impact on your girl.

 

[Mac and Cats]

The only thing besides making sure your older female can have respite from this 1 yo, is to look at why he wasn't bothering her for those few weeks. Is he more bored, less interaction and play time with you? Something changed when he wasn't bothering her more.

Short of that, block off access as needed, especially in those early morning hours. And, when you remove him from the 'attacks', hiss in his face or say a firm 'No' (pick one and stick with it) and put him in a timeout for no more than 1-2 minutes. The only way this will be effective, over time, is to do it EVERYTIME he goes after her.

Beyond that, you will just have to wait for him to settle down, whenever that might be. Frankly, I am surprised this isn't having a health impact on your girl.

I think the reason it isn't having a mental health impact on her most of the time is because I am home 95% of the time and I come to her rescue. She knows that if she is near me, he won't bother her. For example, she sleeps on me at night or in her window seat and he doesn't bother her. But when she gets up and he notices and isn't sleeping, he runs after her. This has been going on for about a month and he was not really doing this before. This is why I think it is her reaction that causes him to behave this way. I think she sticks by me because she knows that I shoo him off and he listens to me...mostly. We do play with him as much as possible. I have play sessions with him several times a day. I have not been telling him no or hissing though because I read that can backfire? I've just been saying his name and he runs off because he knows it is a "knock it off" tone. Sometimes he runs under the bed because he knows I will remove him from the area if I catch him. So, when that happens, I go in the other room and shake some treats and then throw them in the middle of the room and then shut the hallway door. He has only been doing the morning attacks again for the 2 past weeks or so. He was doing them for awhile and then stopped. I don't know the reasoning. I'm guessing because before it was him trying to mess with the 15 year old and not our female 14 year old? I immediately get up when this happens even if I have been in a deep sleep and shut him out. He obviously knows this is not behavior I like because if I am sitting on the couch and he takes off after her I say his name in a firm tone and he immidately runs back out to where I am and looks at me and is like "Yes?" If I have to leave the house at all, I usually block them off from eachother so he cannot terrorize her while we are gone.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I have not been telling him no or hissing though because I read that can backfire? I've just been saying his name and he runs off because he knows it is a "knock it off" tone. Sometimes he runs under the bed because he knows I will remove him from the area if I catch him. So, when that happens, I go in the other room and shake some treats and then throw them in the middle of the room and then shut the hallway door. He has only been doing the morning attacks again for the 2 past weeks or so...He obviously knows this is not behavior I like because if I am sitting on the couch and he takes off after her I say his name in a firm tone and he immediately runs back out to where I am and looks at me and is like "Yes?"

Backfire how? What is backfiring is you throwing treats at him, so he sees what he has done ends up with him getting a reward. Or, you say his name, firm tone or not, and then he runs to you - he got what he wanted, and that was your attention. The chasing thing is viewed by him as a game.

Still say there is something that has changed with the morning attacks going on for the past two weeks. Maybe he is hungry and is drawing attention in the manner he knows might get him some treats.

If you don't want to change tactics with him, then I guess you wait until he matures more and settles down some. Might be a while.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

TIme and again I've heard someone say that you shouId not hiss at a cat, or teII them no. I have not seen one verifiabIe case where either did a cat any harm. Not one. I have heard peopIe say, re hissing, "You sound Iike a snake, and your cat is terrified." Having hissed at cats for the past 60 years or so, my experience is that they come in this worId knowing that a hiss means, "STOP THAT," and that you get a certain amount of street cred for knowing the Ianguage. Their mamas certainIy hiss at them, and frequentIy. But treats to distract is about as effective as giving a human chiId candy to stop misbehaving. Pretty soon they are misbehaving 90% of the time for the reward.

WiII time fix this? AImost certainIy, but it wiII take probabIy another year, untiI this guy matures fuIIy (they are stiII kittens at Ieast mentaIIy, untiI two years or so). And that's a year of your oid girI getting tormented on a daiIy basis.

 

[Mac and Cats]

Thank you to FeebysOwner and Mamanyt1953 for your responses! Sorry I am responding so late as I haven't checked the site for awhile and have notifications turned off. Those are all good points that you make and I did not think of them before on my own. I will try implementing them and see if it helps. For the early morning activity, I've started putting some food in his microchip feeder right before bed and that seems to help for those occasions. A lot of the time the reason I shake the treats is because he goes under the bed when I scold him and I'm trying to remove him from the area and it seems to be the only way to get him to come out short of me walking away and I worry that by the time he comes out and I put him in a time out he will have already forgotten what he is in trouble for. Do you have any suggestions for that?

 

[FeebysOwner]

A lot of the time the reason I shake the treats is because he goes under the bed when I scold him and I'm trying to remove him from the area and it seems to be the only way to get him to come out short of me walking away and I worry that by the time he comes out and I put him in a time out he will have already forgotten what he is in trouble for. Do you have any suggestions for that?

Yeah, that is not going to work. If you can't get to him to give him a time out before he runs and hides, then let him sit where he is at and let him come out on his own. At that point, no treats, just regular behavior on your part.

 

[ArtNJ]

As far as growing out of it, likely. One year olds seem to be the absolute worst (for adults) in terms of stupid over enthusiasm for play. Often as much over enthusiasm as kittens but with adult size. But how much chill you'll get, and exactly when, thats highly variable. A good bet there will be some significant mellowing over the next year, but just not something you can rely on. Ive never had it personally, my cats have always chilled out, but plenty of folks on here will chime in with stories about how one of their cats is X years old and still play crazy. My six year old wants to play for about 10-15 min a day max over 2-3 sessions with the younger cat.

 

[danteshuman]

Until your youngster chills out, maybe give your elder cat 1/2 the day in a room, alone. That way they get some peace & quiet.

Just play with the youngster before you release kitty.

 

[Mac and Cats]

Until your youngster chills out, maybe give your elder cat 1/2 the day in a room, alone. That way they get some peace & quiet.

Just play with the youngster before you release kitty.

Thanks! I do usually close our back two bedrooms off for a significant part of the day. Sometimes my whole work day, depending on his behavior. I work from home and make a lot of phone calls so I can't be having wild and crazy shenanigans going on all the time! I also block him off when he's in his crazy play mode and bothering the elders. I try to mix it up with different toys and play with him for several 10-20 minute sessions throughout the day or when he brings me a toy that he wants to play fetch with. I always drop whatever I'm doing and play fetch because I never want him to stop doing that!

 

[Mac and Cats]

As far as growing out of it, likely. One year olds seem to be the absolute worst (for adults) in terms of stupid over enthusiasm for play. Often as much over enthusiasm as kittens but with adult size. But how much chill you'll get, and exactly when, thats highly variable. A good bet there will be some significant mellowing over the next year, but just not something you can rely on. Ive never had it personally, my cats have always chilled out, but plenty of folks on here will chime in with stories about how one of their cats is X years old and still play crazy. My six year old wants to play for about 10-15 min a day max over 2-3 sessions with the younger cat.

Thank you for your response! I do notice him calming down more and more throughout the months, so hopefully he won't be obnoxious for years to come! He really is a good kitty aside from his football tackling. He's very sweet to us and sometimes even to the other cats. I think he just wants the elders to accept him. Sometimes I catch him just trying to groom our elder male and the elder isn't a huge fan of it. Honestly, sometimes the eldery lady way over reacts. He can walk by and not even be paying attention to her and she will scream at him. I only just recently figured this out, but she's always been a bit of a drama queen with our other cats. I've been trying to implement the other suggestions from this post and it seems he understands when I do a firm no. Probably going to be a work in progress for awhile!