Are they playing?

Question
Hi Kate!
We recently got 2 kittens from the SPCA. We took one ginger and white male kitten (Crack) and one female grey kitten (Lorn). Crack was from a litter that was too big for the people so they donates some of them and little Lorn was a rescue kitten that had been found in a drain that day.

Crack is bigger than Lorn which we worried about but we were told that it does not matter the size of the kittens and that they would be fine with each other.

When we got them we took them to a vet to get them checked over as Lorn was not eating and they said that she had a parasite common in rescue kittens and gave them both some medication. She seemed to get livlier after this as before she hated being picked up but would follow you around and sit in between your feet where ever you went.

We have had them 3 weeks now and Crack is always jumping on her and she screams the house down, I dont know if he is really hurting her as I separate them and she always goes back to him. Do you know if they are just playing or is she really getting hurt by him. He is very very active but she does not move much, she has started climbing onto us to sleep but very rarely plays with anything. We think that she is about 8/9 weeks, should she be more active by now?

she is eating more since she got the medication but she still does not want to eat the IAMS kitten food that we have for them. I have been putting boiling water in it to soften it for her but she picks at it. I have spearate bowls for them but is he preventing her from eating?

The other problem is the litter tray. At first they both used it but over the last couple of days they have been going to the toilet all over the house. The litter tray is clean and int he usual place so we are very confused. Crack got outside yewsterday and was out all afternoon, when he came back he went straight into the bathroom and defacated in the bath. Now every time he want the toilet he goes to the bathroom. We have put a few cm of water in the bath to deter him, do you know why he would start doing this?

I would appreciated anyhelp you can give us.
Thank you in advance
Kirsty and Duncan

Answer
OK
what a lot of questions. i will try to give short answers to each if thats ok.
Firstly as the kittens are not neutered yet the play fighting is probably in preparation for when they reach sexual maturity (around four months old on wards) It sounds like it just play fighting to me, this is how they learn to hunt etc. So as long as there is no actual physical wounds i wouldn't worry too much.
Secondly, regarding the food situation. Every cat has it's own personal food tastes, my cat for instance won't touch some food and loves others. It may just me that the female cat just doesn't like it. You may have to try some other brands to see if she is more tempted. It may also be a good idea to feed them at different times, so that if she does feel a little intimated by the other cat she can relax knowing that he cannot get near her when she is eating.
Lastly, cats like to have their own individual litter trays as the smell of the other cat is very intimidating as the smell is a territory marker. You may also have to run through the litter training routine for them to reaffirm that the litter tray is the place to go.
I will put links at the bottom of this page regarding these issues for more information. I hope it helps.

Kate
/cat-litter-box.html
/cat-diet.html
/neuter.html