cat & kitten play

I have a almost 7 year old male cat at home and 2 weeks ago adopted a 4-month old male kitten. My cat has always been real mellow & easy going, and he took to the kitten right away. They play together and groom each other, etc. The thing I was wondering about is this: I have noticed in the last few days that their play gets kinda rough sometimes. The main thing I notice is when they wrestle, big kitty will pin the little guy down and kinda bite him. It might be more of a "nibble" because kitten does not seem upset or anything, in fact he just purrs through the whole thing. But he does get kind of rough about it, and he keeps him pinned for awhile. I don't know if this is normal cat-kitten play, because I have never really had a cat & kitten together like this before. I guess I just thought there would be more problems when I introduce them at first, and now I'm wondering if big cat is more upset than it seemed at first. Maybe I am just being silly and worrying too much. Does anyone know about this? Is this normal cat-kitten play? At all other times though he is very loving & gentle w/ him.

I have not been in a similar situation as you. However, It seems as though, big kitty is showing lil' kit how he is the dominant male. As long as lil' one isn't getting injuries, I think it'd be OK. Ofcourse, as lil one gets older, he ain't gonna take it from the old man and may become the dominant one. I'm sure the fights will be more severe when they do fight.

I've watched my fair share of nature vids. And with wolves, I know they bite down on other less dominant pups noses. Not to hurt them, but to show their dominance. I bet that's what he is doing. Since you said they groom each other. At least bigguy is showing lil' guy good social skills.


I'm no expert though.

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thank you Ben! That makes a lot of sense.

When Peaches had her babies, she would take their whole heads in her mouth and kick them savagely with her back feet! We never did figure out why she was doing this, it was too rough and unnatural for her to be teaching them how to fight, and when she started it they were still too young to learn. She actually hurt Cookie once. In retrospect I guess she was going to show these little 3 oz. upstarts that she was going to be boss! I guess she knew what she was doing, though, because they are all almost two years old and all bigger than her, but she's still top dog - er, cat! I agree with Ben, that's all he's trying to do, and as long as the little one doesn't seem to be suffering, I wouldn't worry. He's probably too big at 4 months to really be in any danger, like Peaches poor little babies were!

[This message has been edited by 4 feline house (edited May 03, 2001).]

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Originally posted by 4 feline house:
When Peaches had her babies, she would take their whole heads in her mouth and kick them savagely with her back feet! We never did figure out why she was doing this, it was too rough and unnatural for her to be teaching them how to fight, and when she started it they were still too young to learn. She actually hurt Cookie once. In retrospect I guess she was going to show these little 3 oz. upstarts that she was going to be boss! I guess she knew what she was doing, though, because they are all almost two years old and all bigger than her, but she's still top dog - er, cat! I agree with Ben, that's all he's trying to do, and as long as the little one doesn't seem to be suffering, I wouldn't worry. He's probably too big at 4 months to really be in any danger, like Peaches poor little babies were!

[This message has been edited by 4 feline house (edited May 03, 2001).]

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thank-you too 4 feline house! It sure has been interesting having a kitten around, and it makes me want another one soon.

When my sister's cat EB was a kitten she used to play like that with my cat Saxony, who was at least 4 times her size.
At first I was worried, because it looked like they were both being really rough on each other, so I would break it up. As soon as my back was turned, EB would be jumping on Saxony and biting him, and he would do the same thing.
Only once did EB cry out in pain, and as soon as she did Saxony let her go.

Thanks so much. that is interesting what kitties do with each other.