Baby Cat Keeps Picking on Older Cat

Question
Hey Iris!
Well the baby cat weighs about 3-4 lbs.  And in fact we have a vet appointment this evening.  The funny thing is...last night I played with her more and she was WAY more calm during the night.  I think she only picked at him twice that I can remember.  
I have had the boy for about a year and a half, and the baby for about a month (give or take).
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Followup To

Question -
Hello,
I have a new kitten-about 2.5 m/o.  She is so hyper and keeps bitingand clawing at other cats tail.  He is kind of grumpy and will growl and even hiss.  This has been going on since I got her (the baby).  They keep me awake everynite because she wont leave him alone and it ticks him off-thus being I have to listen to him whine and growl about it.  I live in a studio apartment so I really cannot split them up-except with the bathroom, and that is tiny so it's inhumane.  I have a spray bottle-I will spray her when she attacks him and she will take off running, but always comes back for more in less than a minute.  Do you have any helpful hints on getting her to back off a bit?  Thanks!

Answer -
I need some more information -- how long have you had the kitten and has she seen a vet yet? Any idea how much she weighs?

How old is the other cat?

One thing that may be helpful is to understand that the kitten needs interactive playtime and attention. She's trying to get it from the older cat. She will bother him less if she can get more of it from you. Try giving her a solid 1/2 hour of interactive play with a feather toy or a laser light or something else that you can move for her to chase and have fun with. If you do this before you go to bed, you may wear her out some and give her "enough" attention so that she'll relax and let you and the other cat get some sleep.

I'll have another suggestion or two if/when you get back to me and tell me how long you have had the both of them.

iris

Answer
Don't know if this will reach you before you go to the vet, but one additional thing you could consider trying if it gets really bad is try giving the kitten 1/4 of a tablet of Chlor-Trimeton before you go to sleep. This is an antihistamine sold over the counter -- make sure it does not have caffeine or acetaminaphen in it and that the tablets are not coated. You can split them with a knfe. It has mild sedative effects in small doses and may calm the kitten down so you can sleep without her beating up on the older cat.

However, there are also a lot of herbal products that accomplish the same thing and might be safer (something with skullcap and valerian in it should be good) but the reason I wanted to know how long you had had the kitten is that this sort of thing generally becomes less of a problem over time as the two animals become more used to each other. And also once they realize that they are getting the amount of attention they need from you!

If the heavy duty playing helped last night, I'd try to make a habit of it. I think doing it regularly over time to wear her out at night could be more effective than any drug or herb, and also builds the bond between you.

Hope this helps

iris