kitten on kitten/cat fighting

Question
Hi Ali,

Just a quick question about my two cats. I have a 6 month old desexed female
burmese whom we have had since she was about 10 weeks old. Recently we
adopted a 9 week old male burmese kitten as we were concerned about
leaving the older cat alone during the day.

My concern regards the 'fighting'/play behaviour between the two. I am
attempting to keep the kitten quarantined for at least another week, however
the two cats have met on a couple of occasions. Sometimes the older kitten
will sit outside the closed door and slip in as soon as it is opened. She will
almost immediately pounce on the younger kitten and wrestle with it - there
is a lot of neck biting/hugging and kicking involved. The younger kitten will
display submissive behaviour but still ends up being beaten. As there is
minimal growling or hissing I have tried to stay out of it but it seems quite
rough. I have been breaking up the fights when the younger kitten begins to
yowl or hiss and generally I try to limit the contact the cats have with each
other at least for now.

My first question is how much is too much? When should I break up the
fighting and when should the cats be left to their own devices? I sometimes
feel that the older kitten really doesn't understand when enough is enough
and will pursue the little one quite doggedly.

My other question is how best to break up the fighting when needs be. I don't
want to make the older cat feel like she has been maligned or her security
jeopardised but mostly I just end up pulling her out and taking her out of the
room.

Thanks again -  I will be interested to hear what you suggest.  

Answer
Carrie,

Your older kitten is just telling the younger one that this is her house. She is also displaying dominance which is okay because you say the other one is acting submissive during these times. The younger kitten is just saying okay okay you win when he yowls...At this time you could try distracting both kittens with play as they are both still young enough to be easily distracted with something like a kitty tease or even a piece of string, but don't allow them to play with string when you are not holding the other end of it because that can result in emergency surgery being needed if the kittens end up with it in their digestive tracts. My advice is to play with both kittens as much as you can because it sounds like they both have some excess energy to burn off and in my experience kittens forget about dominance when they are playing, it will be a good foundation for a life long friendship. If you think that things are getting out of hand, say one draws blood or caterwauling ensues then use a spray bottle or squirt gun to break up the fight, separate the two in different rooms, or even a crate each for say 5 minutes. Kind of a time out if you will, by the time 5 minutes is up they are more preoccupied with wanting out of the carrier than starting another fight. Right now patience, play, time outs, water guns and toys, lots and lots of toys are your allies in this situation. Good luck and please keep me posted as I would like to know how your little ones are getting along. I don't anticipate there being any serious issues, but please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions or concerns at any time.