Expert: Dear Tabbi - 7/16/2009

Question
Dear Tabbi,

We recently purchased a 6 week old Tabby (tom) kitten to be a friend with our 13wk snowshoe (tom) and our 7yr old moggy cat (queen). However, he doesn't listen to their warnings of hissing and swatting when they don't want to play. He will relentlessly chase and lunge at the adult cat even after she has hissed, and swatted him, he won't back off. He constantly jumps on the other kitten and aggressively bites his neck untill he cries, but still he won't stop. He also constantly bites our hands and feet. We are worried he will cause harm to our other kitten and stress both cats, already the other kitten is trying to escape to high ground where the kitten can't reach yet.

Is this normal behaviour or should the kitten be heeding those warnings?

Answer
Steve,

Some cats are much more stubborn and aggressive than others. No cat/kitten has a textbook personality, they are all different. The kitten you got may be "too much cat" for the personalities of the cat and kitten you have now. Can he be exchanged for a kitten with a calmer disposition? I know that makes him sound like merchandise, but you need to consider the cats you have now and their feelings. The kitten's behavior may stress out your resident cats which can cause health, behavior, and/or personalities changes.

Did you do the introduction correctly? If not, you may want to start over re-introducing them. You can't put a new cat or kitten suddenly with resident cats and have them immediately get along. That rarely happens. I am attaching a couple of links as a guide on how to go about the introduction process:
(copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.messybeast.com/first-impressions.htm

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=cattocatintro...

I hope this helps.

Tabbi