Ask Me Help Desk - Overly aggressive kitten

I adopted my male kitten when he was 10 weeks old. He is now about 6 months old, and will NOT leave my female cat alone. This makes me very upset - I have had my female cat, who is now 9, for 8 years and she is my baby. He chases her around the house, and starts fights with her. I also catch him lying on top of her. Sometimes he'll start biting her neck when he lies on top of her. I move him off her and he runs like a mad man around the house. He knows he's doing something wrong. I'm not sure what's causing it, or what I can do to stop it. I am getting him fixed - I am wondering if that will help? It's hard to believe that such a cute little kitten can make me so angry!! :(

Yes, once you get him fixed you should see a huge impovement. You have to keep patient, because he is just a baby, wait until he matures a bit more before expecting him to get along with your other cat, it's like a toddler trying to play with an adult with no interest.
Unless the kitten is really causing pain to your other cat, let them be, they will work things out. Every time you see your kitten bothering your cat, pick up your cat and put him at a higher level than the kitten, this shows the kitten that your older cat is more dominate. Even try feeding your cat at a higher level than the kitten.
I've seen the most meanest cats tolerate each other and end up becoming buddies, with cats they do things on their time, so just be patient.
GOOD LUCK

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanessa0412

I adopted my male kitten when he was 10 weeks old. He is now about 6 months old, and will NOT leave my female cat alone. This makes me very upset - I have had my female cat, who is now 9, for 8 years and she is my baby. He chases her around the house, and starts fights with her. I also catch him lying on top of her. Sometimes he'll start biting her neck when he lies on top of her. I move him off of her and he runs like a mad man around the house. He knows he's doing something wrong. I'm not sure what's causing it, or what I can do to stop it. I am getting him fixed - I am wondering if that will help? It's hard to believe that such a cute little kitten can make me so angry!!!!:(

Thank you Jessyfay! The only other thing - my older kitty is always on edge due to this as well. She used to be very affectionate and laid back, and she seems very keyed up. I'm worried about her. And she hardly lets me pet her. (I think she's mad at me) Anyone??

First, I'm not there and don't know exactly what's going on, but it sounds to me like the cats are playing. Cat play can look extremely rough to us humans. To give you an example, one time my older cat had the younger kitten pinned down on her back, and was biting at the kitten's tummy while the kitten was clawing and batting at the older cat's head. I was about to jump in and break it up, sure that the kitten was being viciously abused, when the kitten suddenly noticed a toy ball was in reach if she stretched out. So she suddenly starts batting at this ball at paw's reach, while the other cat was still "viciously" biting at her tummy! That's when it dawned on me that it doesn't bother the cats as much as it does us. So get some books on cat behavior and see if what they are doing is playing, or is it actual fighting. One tip is noise level and speed. If there's no growling, hissing, or yowling, and things happen slow enough that you can see it, there's no real need for you to get involved at all. Watching cats playfight is a lot like watching Rocky... lots of slo-mo and choreography, no real blood. And an amazing amount of fur can fly without it seeming to have any long-term affect on the cats.

What can you do to help the older cat? Getting him fixed should help some, since it will lower the sexual aggression he may be feeling. But the next part is going to depend on you. You have brought a young toddler into a house with an older, settled pet. You need to find some way for him to burn off energy. That means long, intense games where he can try to catch things that you drag and dangle for him, or rolling balls/mice for him to chase, etc. Getting another cat closer to his age may give him a playmate that he can roughhouse with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanessa0412

She used to be very affectionate and layed back, and she seems very keyed up. I'm worried about her. And she hardly lets me pet her. (I think she's mad at me) Anyone???

Well when she was the only cat in the house she had all your attention, so yeah, it's going to take time before she's back to normal,

Is the older cat spayed? I hope so! Getting him neutered is going to change everything-it does take a couple of weeks for all the testosterone to leave his system so be patient. Another bonus, he will leave the house during this surgery and come back "different" with different smells, etc to your older cat-she may be the alpha then! A good rule of thumb with cats is the 3 week theory-one week they hate each other, the next they ignore each other, the last week they tolerate each other, then it's over and they are friends.