Expert: Ali - 8/26/2008

Question
Hi Ali,

About a month ago I brought home a new female kitten who was about 8 weeks old, Olivia.  Olivia is extremely small for her age since she was the runt of the litter but I suspect its also because of genetics since her mom is also a size smaller than most adult cats.  Anyways, I have had my older female cat Libby for over a year now and while Libby hissed and growled for the first few days that Olivia was home, she now doesn't make any noises at all when shes around Olivia.  I let the two of them play together and Olivia seems to love running towards Libby and trying to attack her tail.  For the most part Libby is fine with Olivia but occasionally I noticed that Libby will sort of tackle Olivia down and bite her as she holds her down.  Sometimes Olivia doesn't seem to mind at all but other times she will let out a small yelp.  However, once Libby lets her go, she immediately runs back to Libby for more play.  At this point I am not sure if Libby is hurting Olivia and if I should keep them separate for a bit longer.  I've been watching Libby and she doesn't seem to have a problem with sharing her toys or even her water bowl with Olivia, she usually gets aggressive during the middle of playing.  Please help!!  Thank you!

Answer
Jenny,

At this point the behavior that you describe doesn't sound like a serious issue. Be sure to keep an eye on these little scuffles and look for signs that the rough play isn't a game anymore. It's absolutely normal for cats to establish a pecking order. You may also be seeing Libby establish a set of rules and boundaries that Olivia must respect, at least for now. Olivia may possibly challenge Libby's authority later, but for now I think that things are pretty clear between the cats in your home. Cats are predators and it's completely normal for predatory species to establish a hierarchy within a family group and practice hunting, stalking and behaviors related to survival and self defense with one another. Since Olivia doesn't seem to be fearful and she isn't being hurt there really isn't a need to worry at this point.

For now it sounds like things are fine between Libby and Olivia, from your description it sounds like they are just playing with one another. It's okay to see them rough house, predators can be quite rough when playing with one another as play can be a regular practice routine to be sure that both Libby and Olivia are confident about their ability to defend themselves, their territory and each other. The small yelp that you describe may be Olivia's way of letting Libby know that she is boss at the moment. Mother cats will often practice the same type of play with their kittens and littermates determine their place within the family by scuffling with one another fairly early on. For instance, the bigger and stronger kittens in a litter will often shove their siblings away from a teat to take it over which sometimes means that the runt of a litter is last to eat. Essentially cats still function in much the same way as their larger, wild cousins. In fact you may find it interesting to watch a documentary or two about large, wild cats because their behavior is actually quite similar to a house cats behavior. As kitty guardians we have the responsibility and pleasure of caring for our living room lions.

I wanted to be sure that you understood the importance of proper new cat introductions. If you opt to add another cat or kitten to your household in the future you can avoid a lot of heart ache by separating the new family member from your resident cats for a period of 2-3 weeks which also acts as a quarantine period to protect the health and well being of your resident cats. In your current situation I think that the two girls have been separated for long enough. Essentially the isolation period also allows you to become familiar with the normal behaviors of your new feline friend and ensure that he/she is healthy in every way and is given a clean bill of health by your family vet. Be sure to have any new additions to your home tested for feline leukemia and FIV prior to allowing them to mingle with your resident cats. Feline leukemia and FIV are somewhat similar to HIV and AIDs in humans, they are potentially life threatening, chronic viral infections that can destroy a cat's immune system and have long term health consequences. Not every cat that tests positive for feline leukemia and FIV will be affected the same way, some will live healthy lives while other cats will suffer serious health issues related to these viral infections. Having said that, you don't need to be concerned about vaccinating feline leukemia negative cats if they only live indoors because these viral infections are normally passed from an infected cat by fighting and uninfected cats can be infected with this virus by coming into contact with an infected cat's saliva. If a new cat tests positive for feline leukemia it doesn't necessarily have to be a death sentence, if you find yourself in this situation it's important to  speak with your family vet about the risks of infection and options for protecting your healthy resident cats by vaccinating them against feline leukemia in the event that a new cat tests positive for this viral infection.

There are a few recommendations that I would like to make just to ensure that things don't get out of hand in the future. It's important to have enough litter boxes for the number of cats in your home. I usually suggest that cat parents have a minimum of one litter box per cat plus one in their home, if you have a house that has two floors or more you should try to have one box per cat plus one per floor. There are a few reasons that I recommend having multiple litter pans. For instance, if the playful rough housing that you see begins to turn into an ongoing fight for dominance which can happen as Olivia gets older having litter boxes in different locations on each floor means that the cats can't guard all of the litter boxes in the house at once. It's also a good idea to make sure that both cats are spayed because hormones can be responsible for unpleasant territorial behaviors like using urine or feces to mark territory. It's also important to know that spaying and neutering has health benefits as well. Life threatening infections and cancers in the mammary glands and reproductive organs are prevented as well. Having two or three sets of food and water dishes is a good measure to prevent bullying and having the dominant cat determine the amount of food that the more submissive cat is allowed to eat. It's important to ensure that the food and water dishes aren't kept near litter pans because cats are extremely fastidious and they will look for other places to eliminate simply because cats don't like to eliminate and eat in the same places which can result in house soiling issues. Having each set of food and water dishes in a different location is a good preventative measure in case dominance later becomes an issue. It's also not a bad idea to make sure that there is plenty of interactive play time with the girls both individually and together. Toys like kitten mittens and kitty teases work wonderfully to facilitate interactive play. It's important to realize that play strengthens the bond between cats and human family members.