Older kitty swatting 4 week old?

Question

Currently I am taking care of 4 orphaned kitties. They are 4 weeks old now and one of my older cats (permanent-finding homes for the others) keeps going up to one kitten in particular and swatting him on the head and leaves. The kitten (TJ) is not doing anything to provoke my cat (loverboy). How can I get him Loverboy to stop doing this to TJ?

(besides keeping them in seperate rooms)

Answer 1

I know you don't want to hear it, but I do think you should separate them BUT only for a couple of days. They need to get used to each other being in the house and get used to each others smell. Take a cloth and rub it all over the kittens and then put it under loverboys' food dish so you're sure he'll get the smell. Also rub a cloth all over loverboy and then put it in the kitten's bed or something. Supervise visits while they get used to each other. Once they get used to each other (which could take a couple of days to week) there will be no reason to seperate them. Cats need time and patience. Loverboy should soon warm up to the kittens. Just make sure you're still giving him just as much love and affection so he has no reason to be jealous. Good luck!

Answer 2

Teach Loverboy to be kind to TJ.  When you catch him in the act, talk to him and say "Loverboy, why are you doing that?  TJ didn't do anything to you!"  TJ needs to see that you're standing up for him, otherwise he'll have a complex later on in life.  Then, pet TJ and kiss him, and then also pet Loverboy and kiss him.  The idea is to have each of them see you kiss the  other, and so they know they're both loved and so they should show affection to each other as well.

If that doesn't work, you can always get a spray bottle of water and spray Loverboy whenever he swats at TJ.

Answer 3

Awww, they're playing....  If neither is getting hurt (as it sounds like nobody is) then let them have their fun...  No different than kids playing tag...  Probably the same concept:  "haha, i got ya...  btw don't forget i'm your big bro, and im the boss here, lmao"....  Seriously, cats do that all the time

Answer 4

Cats are a hierarchical species.  Your other cat might be trying to show who is the boss.  Unless anyone is getting hurt I wouldn't worry.  I adopted a 8 week old kitten and at first my adult cats were pretty stressed about it.  Now they play like crazy.  

Sometimes to us their play fighting can seem a little rough but they like it.

The kitten is still pretty young so I would monitor any interactions between the cats and keep the kittens in a secure room when you are not there.  

*****And yes you DO have to separate them at first.  Put your cats dish on the other side of the door from where you kitten is being kept.  I find that male neutered cats accept kittens more easier then female spayed cats.   It won't take that long and it will ensure a healthy relationship between the two.

Answer 5

the older cat is a bully and doesnt want you to share his attention.seperate them for a while and show your kitty more attention then usual