Male kitten attacks quiet placid 4 year old female

by Kevin Scollick
(Derbyshire)

We bought a ragdoll kitten at 14 weeks and had him in the home. He was a bit of a tinker but settled in well and at 6 months we had him spayed.

We then saw a beautiful 4 year old ragdoll who is so quiet and placid and rolls over when you stroke her who was going to be put down.

We decided to see if they would match and all was good to start with - our male kitten pretty much ignored her and they ate together and slept together on the bed.

Then as soon as we took her on full time they eat together, go out together and lay together on the bed - but the rest of the time the male kitten seems to be sniffing her out and attacking her. We hear her screaming 4 or 5 times a day and as soon as we go to break it up the male kitten runs off.

We are worried as she tends to hide up now and it is as if the male looks all around the house trying to stalk her. she can be sat there doing nothing and he starts making a growling noise and then a yelp - and then its all handbags at dawn.......but yet they still eat together and sleep together.
they have their own rooms if they want them, own toys, scratch posts, we divide their time, - we also have 3 children who dote on them both.

Do we need to get rid of on of them. The fights are not vicious - lots of pawing and the male kitten mouthing her back - 50/50...ubut she looks a bit sad (I'm not suprised). we saved her life but have possibly made a mistake???


Reply
Hi
No I don’t think you have made a mistake it just sounds like your male cat is trying to claim dominance in the home that’s all. This is normal behaviour for cats and often these so called fights sound worse than they are.

Also your male cat is still very young and so he is full of beans etc and also wanst to play etc, whereas the 4 year old may not be so up for a game.

I have two 2 years old brother cats and they live happily most of the time but some days i hear growls and hisses etc. It’s simply one cat warning the other cat to stay away i’m not up for a game or one cat is making sure the other one knows who’s boss. It’s never a serious fight.

You did not say how long the two cats have been together and also how long ago the male was neutered. Even after neutering the hormone levels take several weeks to a month to drop to a level whereby they become less aggressive.

Also if the cats have only been together for a few months then this is still the settling in period and it could take much longer for the cats to settle down together.

Make sure you have plenty of new and interesting toys in the house to distract the cats and also give your older cat some play time with just you and her and then times with all of you. This will help to make bonds stronger.
I have some pages with lost of ideas for different sorts of cat toys available. They are great at making a cat forget their troubles and to help them settle into a new home etc. Here is the firdt page
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-toys.html

Best wishes kate