# Bringing in 2nd cat / Rough Housing and Force Licking



## ieatcookies (Jun 24, 2010)

I really could use some advice, and stumbled across this forum on the internet.

A little bit of background. I have a 2 1/2 year old boy lynx point Siamese called Sabby. When we adopted him about a half year ago, the nice people from the shelter told us that Sabby liked other cats, and could live in a multiple cat household. So, about 2 1/2 weeks ago, we adopted a 2 1/2 month old girl tabby named Penny. Both cats have been spayed/neutered.

I made sure to follow the advice of keeping them in separate rooms during the first week. I did the whole swapping blankets thing to get each of them used to the smell. The two cats would walk towards the door that separates them, and I did not hear any hissing. They would paw the door and meow a little and that was about it.

Upon the advice of my vet after my kitten's check up, she recommended it was time to let the two at it face to face. I'm getting very confused at my Sabby's behavior. He seems to go into one of three modes: a) he'd stalk her like prey, and once he clamps her down and forcefully licks her (primarily in the head area, but sometimes her butt). If she tries to get away, he'd stop licking and bite down until she stops wiggling, and continues. b) And when the wiggling gets too much, he would stop trying to play nice and actually gets violent kicking her head with his back legs and causing her to cry in pain. c) or he'd just ignore her until she goes near his cat tower / food bowl, or try to get at her food. Then, he'll revert back to stalking her and pinning her down.

I'd be worried he'd seriously hurt her, but the weird thing is my kitten would go attract his attention again within 2 minutes after wrestling herself from under his grip. I check my kitten often to make sure she isn't hurt and bleeding, and she looks physically fine (even though when he pins her down she does wail in a high pitched way). I understand they could be playing, but is this behavior normal? My Sabby's about 11 pounds, and my kitten Penny's weighing in about 3 pounds. The size disparity scares me when he tackles her.

I'm scared to leave them unattended. I was told that eventually they'd play nice, but it's been about a week since the first face to face and I'm starting to feel like maybe I'll never be able to leave them alone together. I feel awful that I have to keep them separated for hours at a time, and am worried that they'll never get along.

Any suggestions/advice/reassurance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

That's pretty normal behavior. But I'd separate them while you're not around just to be safe. I kept my twins in their bedroom while I was at work for a while, and I separated Cinderella and Cleo for quite some time - they each had 1/2 of the house. 

Sabby is showing the kitten who's boss. But kittens are pretty fearless, so she's not getting it yet.  

Cinderella would chase Cleo back to her own half of the house, then Cleo would wait about 2.5 seconds, and she'd try to cross over again. 

Kids!


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Yep, thats perfectly normal behavior! Sabby is telling Penny that he is in control. Head licking is a sign of dominance. My boys do it all the time to each other. 

I actually just adopted a kitten, I've had him for two weeks....maybe its been three now.....anyway, my older two cats were in direct contact with him for about a week before they stopped hissing at him, so the fact that Sabby has accepted her so readily is a good thing. Now Sully, my "dominant" cat, does the pin down and lick thing and will also kick with the back feet, but thats playing. He plays the same way with my other adult cat. I think he doesn't realize that the kitten is more fragile...problem is, the kitten doesn't realize that he is fragile either. Like Penny, he just goes back for more. I still don't leave them together unsupervised, but they would probably be fine at this point. 

Good luck and post up some pics! I want to see Sabby!


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

It sounds pretty normal to me too. Last weekend my GF just introduced Daisy, a 3 1/2 month old Balinese kitten, to Sammy, her 4 year old male Balinese. They did not go through any sort of introduction period but and do engage in the same kinds of behavior. This is the same behavior that my two engage in, including 'rough housing' that looks like it's a death match. Two minutes later they're sleeping on each other 

Here are Daisy and Sammy about 30 minutes after we brought her home.


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## ieatcookies (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks to marie73, kobster, and kwarendorf for your advice. I'll try my best to hang in there. The last week has been very eventful. I live in a one bedroom apartment, so Sabby has been living room in the living room while Penny has occupied the bedroom. I'm sure it threw off Sabby's routine since Sabby likes to lounge in front of the bedroom window during the early evening and in the middle of the night to watch cars drive by. Oh who am I kidding? He's a handful. He can open bedroom doors (to the point we had to go buy a round knob so he couldn't get it open) and the dishwasher (which I previously hid his bag of cat food. I really have to stand guard and watch them when I do put them together.

It also doesn't help matters any that Penny loves Sabby's cat tower. She has personal space issues. :lol: 

Thanks again for all your help. And you can see a picture of my big cat as my avatar. Evil tyrant. But I love him to pieces. :luv


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## Oriole (Jan 11, 2010)

Yeah, I agree, don't worry about it - I brought home a 2 month old kitten a couple of months ago and after about a week my huge 4-year old was doing similar things to him as you describe. Just as you did, I was also quite worried at first, especially due to the size difference; however, I read up on this and understood that it might look fierce, but is actually just play  They still do it all the time so now I just laugh at their antics


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## Ozzy and Tito (Jun 29, 2010)

Very happy to see this thread up with replies! Me and my girlfriend are in pretty much the exact situation. The only differences are that we have two males and a two bedroom apt. So our male (Ozzy) is around a year old and weighs about 13 pounds and the new kitten (Tito) which we have had for a month now is about 3 or maybe 4 pounds now. Sometimes it does seem like Oz wants to really hurt him, which is when the head licking gets out of control, and sometimes he just leaves him alone. They will even eat side by side, but as soon as they're done the head licking begins and the little one gets upset and starts fighting back. Very frustrating! But we love them both and are trying to be very persistent at making this work. I wish you the best of luck with your new addition, let us know how thing are going or if you have learned any tricks and we'll do the same.

Hot Sauce and Juan


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## ieatcookies (Jun 24, 2010)

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

Things have much improved! While Sabby and Penny still get into wrestling matches where Sabby will pin Penny down and lick her from head to tail, I've caught them sleeping together and generally hanging out close together on the Cat Tree. We finally opened our bedroom door 3 nights ago for Sabby to roam freely in our 1 bedroom apartment, and so far things are relatively positive. I wake up in the morning to find Penny sleeping next to us and Sabby no where to be found. It is now safe to leave the cats alone. Thank goodness!

Thanks everybody for the great advice. I guess I'm just a worrisome cat parent.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

That's wonderful!


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## domino22 (Jul 3, 2010)

hey,thats great to hear they are getting along,im in a similar situation with my 7month old weighing god knows how much and my new 6week old weighing in at exactly 1 pound. Im so scared she will hurt him and Moshe just asks for it,he runs up and tries to climb on Gabbie and get milk from her and she hits him,knocks him over and pounces on him but he does it again and again! Ive only had them for almost a week so hoping in time they will be friends


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