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Expert: - 11/16/2009


Question
Hello, my two kittens have been fighting since the new kitten arrived.  Toki is a 4-month old kitten I adopted from a local rescue agency.  Last week I also adopted a 2-month old female kitten named Elfie.  Toki has always been very playful with all animals and people.  But since I brought Elfie home, he has been attacking her.  Mostly he likes to sneak up on her and bite her.  It can be around the neck, or anywhere actually. He holds her down and bites until she screams and hisses.  I read online to keep them separated for a few weeks as an adjustment period.  This has been helpful.  When I am able to neuter Toki, will that also calm down his aggressiveness?  Any more helpful tips you could suggest?

Answer
Kelly,

I tend to not be in agreement with many other experts, but, to me Elfie and Toki are playing.  If you could see young suckling kittens playing, they are awful.  They bite and scratch and hiss and spit and carry on.  So, what you were witnessing is normal kitten play.  Kittens and cats have very tough skin and biting and scratching that would send us to the first aid kit leave them unscathed.  So, I always recommend that after a few days in isolation, let them together. If they engage in any loud discussions, IGNORE IT!  They need to work out how they will relate to each other, and any and all human interference is counter productive and will just tend to prolong their getting to know each other.  

If they play chase, this is a good thing, even if it ends in a mock "fight".  

So, as long as they are agressive to each other and not to you, all will be well.  Yes, neutering and spaying will calm things down later, but they are behaving with respect to each other as they should and your job is to sit back and leave them alone.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.  

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Norman Auspitz

Expertise

I can answer most non-veterinary questions about cats. My particular expertise is pedigree cats, breeding and showing. However, I am versed in feline behavior, cat breeds and their characteristics, general feline husbandry, and the like.

Experience

I judged for the Canadian Cat Association from 1975 until 1982. I am currently an approved allbreed judge for the Cat Fanciers'' Association (the world''s largets cat registry), and have been judging for them since 1991. I have been breeding pedigreed cats since 1971 and have been exhibiting pedigreed cats in shows since 1970. I obtained my first pedigreed cat in 1970 and have never looked back. In 1971, I obtained my first Abyssinian which has become my primary breed. In addition, I have bred Manx and Persians. Currently, besides the Abyssinians, I am also breeding Maine Coons.


Organizations
Cat Fanciers'' Association, inc. (CFA) and the Manx, Maine Coon, and Abyssinian breed councils. I am currently Abyssinian breed council secretary.

Publications
Cat Fancy Magazine, The Abyssinian Chapter in The Cat Fanciers'' Association Complete Cat Book, and Articles for various editions of The Cat Fanciers'' Association Yearbook

Education/Credentials
I received a B.S. from Drexel University in 1968, a M.Math from University of Waterloo, in 1970, a Ph.D. from University of Waterloo in 1975, and a MBA from McMaster University in 1980. I received my approved allbreed judging status in the Cat Fanciers'' Association in 1999.

Awards and Honors
We have produced a number of Cat Fanciers'' Association (CFA) National winning Abyssinian and Maine Coons. We have produced a number of Abyssinian and Maine Coon Distinguished Merit females (an award for a top producing cat), including the first Distinguished Merit Abyssinian in the red (sorrel) color. I am the CFA Abyssinian breed council secretary and belong and/or hold office in a number of cat clubs. I am also a member of the CFA Judges Association.

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