# New kittens: Growling/Hissing at each other



## irishgirl982 (Jun 25, 2009)

Hi everyone! I have a small concern.

I just adopted two new kittens this previous Friday, and everything is going pretty well. Both are very playful and typical kittens. 

My female kitty, Luna, is very affectionate and will purr the second I start to pet her. She is also very timid. She was super scared at hte vet and hissed and batted at the vet tech! But she continued to be super sweet with me, so I wasn't TOO worried about that...

My male kitty, Neville, did just fine at the vet. He is a hard player and doesn't purr as easily. But if I catch him in the right mood, he CHIRPS when he purrs!

The problem is, sometimes when the cats are play wrestling, Neville will pin Luna down (he's obviously dominant) until she will meow and hiss at him. He doesn't listen to her and continues on. Eventually, she gets away. They will later be cuddling like kittens.

THEN, yesterday I was playing with them with a string toy. Luna is a bit more leery of chasing the toy around and takes some convincing, but will chase it. Neville goes after it like CRAZY. He doesn't even think about it, he just pounces! When he catches the toy, and Luna comes close, he will GROWL at her at times. Not a loud growl, but a very soft one. And once, he hissed at her.

Should I be worried about this growling/hissing behavior? Or is this normal kitten play?

Thanks for listening


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## DustinG. (Jul 25, 2009)

I dont think you should be worried about it. I have two kittens, both about 5 months old now. They get along wonderfully, but have almost the same situation. Sometimes the male is too rough with the female, and she will HISS at him, and make other loud noises of complaint. but as far as i can tell, hes not hurting her, shes just had enough. And our male cat likes to hiss at the other cat when he has a toy. he carries a teady bear around (the one pictured in my avatar) in his mouth, and growls at her and hisses if she comes too close. someimtes they make nasty noises at eatchother, but i have watched them very closely, and they have NEVER hurt eatchother.

i think with the toy/hissing/gowliong thing. its some sort of instinctual thing, like they are protecting thier prey from another animal who might steal it. 

As long as your cats arent hurting eatchother, your probably fine. And if they are lovey with eatchother most of the time, you are all good. and with the domination thing: MOST ANIMIALS/PEOPLE dont like to be dominated, and will fuss and make loud noise to express that they dont like it. i think thats only normal for her to get annoyed about it and complain.

again, id say as long as theres no fur pulled out, or bleeding, or any injuries, and they are freinds afterwards, your fine. kittens play pretty freaking rough anyways.

with my kitten, SOMETIMES i will seperated them if they are going at it too hard, but most of the time i just let them be. a quick squirt of the water bottle at them when they are acting up could discourage them....but ive also been told that you shouldnt interfere with cats while thier trying to establish thier pecking order, unless of course they are hurting eatchother........i have no idea if your cats have already established thier pecking order, or if they are still in the process.....

but your kitties sound normal to me!


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## irishgirl982 (Jun 25, 2009)

Thank you so much for your reply! They seem to be fine now, and the hissing has stopped


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

It sounds purrfectly normal to me, too. Even two years later, my girls fight and wrestle like little boys. And Charlee is my toy hog. If she even hears me playing with Cali, she'll come running from two rooms away and fly through the air and take over. 

Could we please see pictures of Luna and Neville??


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