Kitten behavior question

I have two young foster kittens who came in separately. The one was 3 wks
old when he was left at our vets office. He was flea infested and quite
underweight. He's a very active kitten now but is still small for his age.
The other kitten was found outside by herself. She was in pretty good shape
but was also separated from her mom and siblings (if any) far too young. I'm
guessing she was over 4 weeks old when I got her. I'm guessing that they are
about a week apart in age and the younger is actually larger than the older
one. Both of these kittens end up wrapping their paws around your hand and
start nibbling and biting shortly after being picked up. I figured it was
the normal kitten fighting that they would do with siblings and thought that
maybe they would learn manners better from each other. I put them together
for a 'play date' and the wrestling began. They went at it for quite a long
time and then one of them started protesting and I separated them. Is this a
good idea? Should they be wrestling like this every time they are allowed
together? If they do engage in this every time they are together does it
just mean they don't like each other or maybe they should not be with other
cats?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want them to become biters.

W

.. I put them together
for a 'play date' and the wrestling began. They went at it for quite a long
time and then one of them started protesting and I separated them.

Wendy

They are kittens and kittens wrestle each other all the time. It's fun!
Also if one gets a bit rough, the other one protests and the game
stops, so the kittens learn not to go too far in case the fun stops.
Our two and a half year olds wrestle all the time. Winner gets to wash
the loser. It's good for them

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous (an' wrestling) Furballs

I've mixed kittens in the past and found that the best thing to do is let them
go at it. As long as they're not doing damage to each other that is. They have
a number of things to settle between each other and having either of them think
that you're showing favoritism only complicates matters.

It sounds to me like they're just being kittens. I go the two I have now when they
were 5 and 10 weeks old and they would go at it for four and five hours at a time.

Frank


Wendy wrote:
: I have two young foster kittens who came in separately. The one was 3 wks
: old when he was left at our vets office. He was flea infested and quite
: underweight. He's a very active kitten now but is still small for his age.
: The other kitten was found outside by herself. She was in pretty good shape
: but was also separated from her mom and siblings (if any) far too young. I'm
: guessing she was over 4 weeks old when I got her. I'm guessing that they are
: about a week apart in age and the younger is actually larger than the older
: one. Both of these kittens end up wrapping their paws around your hand and
: start nibbling and biting shortly after being picked up. I figured it was
: the normal kitten fighting that they would do with siblings and thought that
: maybe they would learn manners better from each other. I put them together
: for a 'play date' and the wrestling began. They went at it for quite a long
: time and then one of them started protesting and I separated them. Is this a
: good idea? Should they be wrestling like this every time they are allowed
: together? If they do engage in this every time they are together does it
: just mean they don't like each other or maybe they should not be with other
: cats?

: Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want them to become biters.

: W



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Keep working millions on welfare depend on you

On 2005-11-01 07:16:32 -0600, "Wendy" said:

I have two young foster kittens who came in separately. The one was 3
wks old when he was left at our vets office. He was flea infested and
quite underweight. He's a very active kitten now but is still small for
his age. The other kitten was found outside by herself. She was in
pretty good shape but was also separated from her mom and siblings (if
any) far too young. I'm guessing she was over 4 weeks old when I got
her. I'm guessing that they are about a week apart in age and the
younger is actually larger than the older one. Both of these kittens
end up wrapping their paws around your hand and start nibbling and
biting shortly after being picked up. I figured it was the normal
kitten fighting that they would do with siblings and thought that maybe
they would learn manners better from each other. I put them together
for a 'play date' and the wrestling began. They went at it for quite a
long time and then one of them started protesting and I separated them.
Is this a good idea? Should they be wrestling like this every time they
are allowed together? If they do engage in this every time they are
together does it just mean they don't like each other or maybe they
should not be with other cats?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want them to become biters.

W

When my two were kittens, I always separated them once there was noise
being made. What happened was they learned to wrestle silently! It was
quite hilarious. But it did also enable me to tell when the play truly
was getting too rough when they got older. That was my preference and I
think I would still do it the same way.

Karen wrote:
: On 2005-11-01 07:16:32 -0600, "Wendy" said:

: I have two young foster kittens who came in separately. The one was 3
: wks old when he was left at our vets office. He was flea infested and
: quite underweight. He's a very active kitten now but is still small for
: his age. The other kitten was found outside by herself. She was in
: pretty good shape but was also separated from her mom and siblings (if
: any) far too young. I'm guessing she was over 4 weeks old when I got
: her. I'm guessing that they are about a week apart in age and the
: younger is actually larger than the older one. Both of these kittens
: end up wrapping their paws around your hand and start nibbling and
: biting shortly after being picked up. I figured it was the normal
: kitten fighting that they would do with siblings and thought that maybe
: they would learn manners better from each other. I put them together
: for a 'play date' and the wrestling began. They went at it for quite a
: long time and then one of them started protesting and I separated them.
: Is this a good idea? Should they be wrestling like this every time they
: are allowed together? If they do engage in this every time they are
: together does it just mean they don't like each other or maybe they
: should not be with other cats?
:
: Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want them to become biters.
:
: W

: When my two were kittens, I always separated them once there was noise
: being made. What happened was they learned to wrestle silently! It was
: quite hilarious. But it did also enable me to tell when the play truly
: was getting too rough when they got older. That was my preference and I
: think I would still do it the same way.

I think the noise is part of the fun for them. When the two I have now were
kittens the one on the bottom would make noises like it was being killed. After
he freed himself from sure death he would turn around and pounce on the one that
came within an inch of killing him. Neither ever got hurt during their play. It
only sounded like.
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Keep working millions on welfare depend on you