# Older Cat Scruffing Kitten



## Spikerman (Jun 19, 2006)

Hi,

We have a 11 year old male Bengal that has been the only cat since our other cat died in 2003 (they got along great). We now have a 4 month old male Bengal and a 14 week old male Abyssinian. Our 11 year old scruffs the Bengal kitten whenever the kitten goes into our bedroom or gets onto furniture that he always sleeps on. The 11 year old was neutered and declawed when he was a kitten, the other two kittens are not neutered yet (we plan on soon) and we do not plan on declawing either one of the kittens. Here are my questions:

1. Is it normal for a older cat to scruff a new kitten?
2. Should we stop the older cat from scruffing the kitten(s)?

Thank you for your help.


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## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Hi John and welcome to the forum  

Just to clarify -- when you say that the older cat is scruffing the kitten, does he actually pick up the kitten, or is he scruffing it in an attempt to mate?


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## Spikerman (Jun 19, 2006)

Our 11-year-old scruffs the kitten and drags him around the floor. Since he's neutered we don't think it's an attempt to mate or anything. The kitten, also male, has a dominate personality. He is not yet neutered but will be, hopefully within the week (our vet is conservative and doesn't want to do the operation until he's six months old). The scruffing only happens when the kitten is somewhere our older cat considers his turf, so we think it's a form of aggression or that he's trying to assert his dominance.


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## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Surprisingly, my neutered male went right for one of my female kittens who went into heat at 5 months. 8O You would think a neutured male would show no interest in mating, but that was definitely not the case!

It may be that they're just working out the pecking order as you suggested. Is the kitten being hurt or crying when this happens? Any other signs of possible hostility between the cats?


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## Spikerman (Jun 19, 2006)

Thanks for the reply Lisa. The kitten does cry out after a few moments of being scruffed. We were following our vet's advice and not interfering, but the crying is hard to stomach so now we use a spray bottle when the scruffing begins. The other troublesome behavior is that the kitten sometimes stalks the 11-year-old when he's in the litterbox and once caused the older cat to pee outside the box in a different location. I'm hoping this is something the kitten will outgrow; for the time being I try to distract the kitten with a toy when the other cat approaches the box. (We have set out four boxes but so far the cats prefer the main one.) The only other hostility occurs when the kitten plays with the older cat's tail or nudges him away from a food dish, at which point the older cat growls and hisses and sometimes swipes him with a paw or administers a warning nip. And sometimes the older cat will hiss and growl at the mere presence of either kitten.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

John - your further descriptions just make it all the more clear that this is perfectly normal behavior. Yes, you can intervene if you're troubled by it, but I don't think it's necessary. It seems to be completely normal interaction, with neither cat intimidated by the other. I think this behavior is necessary for them to work out their relationships to each other. If any intervention at all is required, it's the redirection of the kitten so the older cat doesn't have litterbox accidents...which you're already doing. Just keep up the good work.


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## Spikerman (Jun 19, 2006)

Thanks for the reply and encouragement, Tim. We've decided to stop interfering and let them work things out; things already seem to be getting better.


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## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

That's great, John. Glad to hear things are improving.  

I agree with Tim -- it seems like the litterbox issue is the only one that requires any intervention so that you don't have accidents outside the box. 

What you describe sounds alot like when I brought my two kittens home last year. Snickers definitely tried to put the girls in their place, and they loved to dart out at him when he wasn't expecting it :lol:


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